A Disappointing Day
I just got out of hospital today. I had my operation and until an hour before I was discharged everything looked quite good. My final echo scan, however, gave them their first proper look inside my heart since they opened it on Wednesday, and they discovered that my lower pacemaker lead, which had to be fed through the tricuspid valve, had slipped from its position and torn the sutres which had attached my valve leaflets together for the repair.
Whilst the cryoablation (the cold-cauterisation of selected parts of my atria to improve electrical communication) and the installation of the ring reducing the size of my right ventricle were both successful the primary purpose of the operation has been undone. My own valve, as has been shown, cannot be repaired, so I will be given a graft.
I will be given a few weeks to recover and then I will go in for exactly the same open heart surgery again.
Whilst the cryoablation (the cold-cauterisation of selected parts of my atria to improve electrical communication) and the installation of the ring reducing the size of my right ventricle were both successful the primary purpose of the operation has been undone. My own valve, as has been shown, cannot be repaired, so I will be given a graft.
I will be given a few weeks to recover and then I will go in for exactly the same open heart surgery again.