Groin Entry Mitral Valve replacement surgery

• By martzj
• Posted October 19, 2009 at 11:53 pm
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I have never heard of this in relation to anything to do with heart procedures. You might ask her doctors if there was some vagus nerve damage or if something might be compressing her spinal nerves somewhere. Something was done during her procedure to induce these changes and you need answers quickly. This isn't normal recovery. She should feel a little bruised at the groin entry sites, but there should be no loss of ambulatory function. Get that investigated immediately.

Best wishes to you and your mom,
Jaynie

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• By mmuff
• Posted October 20, 2009 at 8:47 am
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Hello
I am sorry to hear of your Moms troubles. I had 2 of these procedures done. The first was when I was having my heart attack and the second was three weeks later to make sure my tear was healing. The first time I started to bleed from the site while I was in the hospital. The second time the doctor hit a nerve and when I tried to get up to walk my leg just would not work. I had to sit in the out patient a few more hours till the numbing was gone and I could walk again. With all that I do not remember having any issues for the amount of time you are talking about. I am not a medical professional though and I know every one is different. There may be some one on here with the same or similar experiences.

Good luck to finding the answers you need

Martie

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• By kk_stl
• Posted October 21, 2009 at 11:47 pm
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Sorry to hear your mom is having complications. I'm guessing she had a catheritzation procedure to replace the mitral valve? They can only replace aortic valve with that procedure in the U.S. and it is in clinical trial reserved for very sick patients!

Let us know how she is doing.

My mom had open heart surgery to replace her aortic valve in May and she was very weak after surgery and needed someone to steady her as she walked around. About 3 weeks post surgery she regained her strength to get out of bed on her own.

She had a catheterization test before her surgery but she was able to get up and walk around okay after a few hours. That was to let the opening clot. The incision was much smaller though for just the test. Your mom's incision is much larger at 2 inches.

2-6 months till feeling normal after valve replacement is a general term. I would not think her inability to walk for that timeframe is common. It is standard therapy for heart patients to walk after the surgery so something else is going on.

I can empathize with your fear and concern after the surgery. We had to take each hour at a time with my mom as something new seemed to pop up just when we thought she was making progress. Unfortunately, the list of things that can go wrong is long and goes beyond a stroke or heart attack though those seem to be the most common. Hang in there!

KK

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• By sekoliver
• Posted October 22, 2009 at 8:41 pm
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Thank you for replying - it does make it easier having some sort of idea as to what might be going on and even a possible time frame to look at.. She's been doing a little better these last couple of days, beginning to walk a few feet at a time unaided, but it's so hard seeing someone who was incredibly feisty and independant only 2 weeks ago - relying on a wheeled walker, and someone to hold her up.

Thank you all again. What a great bunch of people.

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• By kk_stl
• Posted October 23, 2009 at 12:14 pm
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Yes, it pretty much unraveled me also watching the same thing. She will get stronger but I can't deny it's tough to watch. I had to hold back my tears so she wouldn't know how upset I was. The nurses and PT said I could participate in her theapy sessions by rolling her chair behind them in case she needed to stop and rest. When her shuffles became bigger steps I was elated. When she went all the way around the nurses station without stopping I was so happy! I thought she would get mad and frustrated herself at how weak she was but I think she was just glad to be alive!

I think it was that day of floating on cloud 9 with her progress when the rug was pulled from under my feet. She went into complete heart block that evening after making so much progress for no apparent reason!

I vowed to get my emotions in better check going forward. I think alot of my emotional reactions was due to sleep deprivation and stress. She wanted family with her 24/7. There were days she took out her anger and frustration on her family. It was difficult to tolerate when we were all already doing so much for her.

I imagine your mom is much younger than my 79 year old mom. Your mom's fiestiness will get her through this! When my mom was giving her nurses some trouble I knew she was going to "fight" to get better and walk out of the hospital.

Luckily, the ICU nurses bridged the communication flow of what was going on. There's nothing more frustrating than being left in the dark. That level of care dropped noticeably when she was transferred to the stepdown unit but that didn't mean my worries were any less.

My mom never got out of breath till after the surgery. I felt like we had taken a giant step backwards. Her incontinence after surgery also worried me. But within 2 weeks she was loads better! Each person will have their own timetable for recovery though. She seems to have recovered better than some of her peers at the rehab center so each patient is different.

My prayers are with you and don't hesitate to contact me or others if you ever need to vent. The surgeon's nurses told me the patient's family is often the most affected emotionally after surgery, even more than the patient! lol. Their emotional crisis often occurs well into recovery when they have time to absorb what they have been through.

Luckily, my dog's heart problems manifested recently and not during the peak of my mom's medical crisis. But last night when my dog got lethargic and wouldn't eat I experienced that sick feeling in my stomach and the worrying started up again. She snapped out of it overnight and I didn't have to take her to the vet like I thought I would need to do. The caregiving cycle never ends for some. :-)

KK

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