"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message
...
That's funny. They gave ME a lifetime warranty on my heart valve. ;-)

I know it's a no brainer. It's just hard to report for it now knowing
what's going to happen. Last time, the hardest thing was to crawl from
the gurney to the table. They couldn't get an IV started, so had given me
no happy juice in the two hours I got there previous to surgery. They
wouldn't slide me for some reason. I was having second thoughts. A
minute later, ten people were on me, and a minute after that, I was
asleep.

Well, I am sure the valve is in pristine condition. It's the stitching
holding it...:-)
Seriously, reading between the lines I am guessing re-do mitral valve? Maybe
with the left ventricle a tad banged up? Maybe a bypass or three on top?
I agree, no picnic!
On the positive side this time you should have a buttload of central lines
in so the happy juice should not be a problem. You can still walk into a
doctor office, throw keys about and pick them up - so I suspect the valve is
not infected and you are not in a hospital bed gasping for breath (or on a
ventilator) and as such in better shape to withstand the ordeal. Also this
is probably the best researched and documented branch of medicine there is
so your treatment is more likely to be based on hard facts than on
unsupported opinons.
I trust you are having this done in a place where they do many of these
every year.
I do not know if any of this is cheering you up. Just say and I shall shut
up. Or e-mail me privately if you want to talk details. I am here.

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC