Initial Heart Appointments

It's off to the UofU hospital to talk to Dr. Tandar about an aortic valve transplant. I'm not that excited that we even have to discuss the subject, but here we go.

Monday
We meet with Dr. Tandar and Dr. Amit Patel. They're pushing for a trans-apical approach either through the right groin or through my ribs on the left side because it's less recovery time than open heart surgery. Also, as they put it, these other techniques were developed for high-risk patients that might not make it off the table from open-heart surgery. Oh joy! They think that's me--high-risk, might not survive open-heart surgery. And, because I just got radiation to the right groin area, they're thinking that they probably have to go through my ribs (less desirable, more painful, and more recovery time than through the groin).

It's funny, but I think the very best part of meeting Drs. Tandar and Patel are their assistant, Sally. She's awesome. She's their transplant coordinator and is available by email or cell phone to answer any of my questions. "You're my Rachael," I say delightedly.

She probably thinks I've misheard her name and says, "No, it's Sally."

When I explain to her that Rachael Beers is my bone marrow transplant and how efficient and effective she is, and how much I love working with her, Sally is a little relieved, but I don't think she still likes my comparison.

A bunch of tests have to be done before the doctors are willing to say which procedure they'd do (through the ribs or through the groin), so we talk about scheduling those. We tell them that we're seeking a second opinion at St. Mark's Hospital, so maybe half the tests should be scheduled at St. Mark's and half at the UofU.

Wherever we feel the most comfortable is where we'll have the procedure done.

Wednesday
We're supposed to meet with Dr. Kawande at St. Mark's Hospital. However, when we get there (and not before), we're told that Dr. Kawande can't meet with us unless we want to wait three weeks, so they scheduled us with Dr. Schorlemmer instead. But first, we need to meet with another cardiac doctor first. That first doctor was an absolute waste of our time. He basically told us, "You have a lot to think about and a lot of information to sort through so that you can make a decision on which way will work better for you. I don't know what to tell you and don't have any recommendations for you."

 

Well, if that's what he, as an expert on the subject, thinks, how are Dale and I supposed to figure it out? Not helpful!

 

Dr. Schorlemmer was much more helpful and said, "Why don't we proceed with these five tests, which you'll have to have prior to surgery anyway. The data from those tests will tell us what is and isn't possible, rather than us trying to guess, based on your history."

 

Hooray! A plan and someone that makes sense. So I stuck around and Dad left me at the hospital so that he and Travis could go ATVing together.

 

I'll have more appointments on Thursday also. But the appointments at St. Mark's are all setting up for the perfect storm. For more details, see the post with that title!