Mitral Valve

It’s been two weeks since I got the call from my mom. She was having shortness of breathe and the Dr. Waters at DMH told her to come get checked out. The EKG made it pretty clear that something was wrong. Mom said even she could spot the difference. Unfortunately, due to the heart attack, her mitral valve was damaged and would need repaired or replaced.

A few days later she had a Trans Esophagael Echocardiogram that confirmed we were headed for open heart surgery. On Wednesday, October 16th we dried our eyes and filled the waiting room whike they prepped her for surgery. It was around noon the nurse came out and told us she was off bypass and that all went well. He went over what recovery would look like and said the doctor would be out soon. At 12:40 we talked to Dr. Pyle. He said he tried to repair but it wasn’t working so he replaced. Overall she did very well. He could still see bruising from her heart attack four weeks earlier but that was to be expected.

A few hours later we finally got to see her in recovery. Nothing about her recovery went as planned but Dr. Pyle said sometimes you have to take a few detours to get to the final destination. Later that night the breathing tube came out. Friday the chest tube came out and they moved her to a regular room. That leads us to today...

Back in September she gave us a big laugh. While she was in the ER after her heart attack she told Matt that if anyone took a picture of her they were out of the will. She wasn’t having any pictures with her hair not combed and no lipstick on. It gave us a chuckle under scary circumstances.

Fast forward a month and here we are. She’s 3 days post open heart surgery for mitral valve replacement. She’s hangin in there. That’s her giving a thumbs up in the background. Not the most flattering picture of me, but who cares!!! So thankful to be on the other side of this major surgery. And even more thankful for all our prayer warriors! #keepemcoming #lovemymom #prayerispowerful