No Alaska cruise for us--Update
:( DH has been getting a little worse since March. Today the cardiologist told him he cannot do anything that stresses his heart--no exercise besides walking on flat ground, no yard work and definite...
Forum Discussion
Update--and it's not good news...
We got a call from the Cleveland Clinic yesterday. They say DH is not a candidate for the valve replacement surgery due to the severity of his lung damage and concurrent long-term infections.
However, the doctor thinks DH may be a candidate for a lung transplant. If so, they will replace the faulty valve while they're in his chest. Holy cow! We didn't expect that!
At this point, DH doesn't have a lot of good options.
1. If he does nothing his heart will fail and he will die. Just in the last month his condition has worsened.
2. If he goes ahead with just the valve replacement locally, he will be at very high risk in recovery and he could die. If he lives he may be on a ventilator long-term and he may die from that. Doing valve replacement will not improve his lungs.
3.If he goes to CC and gets a transplant he may get a real chance at life, but he will be continually at risk or he may die. Lung transplant stats are worrisome--only 50-60% survival at 3 years. But that's 3 years that he probably doesn't have now.
4. DH may not get a lung in time and may die waiting.
We just can't our heads around all this.
I called this morning and talked to the transplant nurse. We need to meet with the surgeon and find out more. She going to call me with an appointment either tomorrow or Monday. Potentially, we could be in Cleveland by May 12.
ETA: DH has decided not to go to Cleveland. It would require us to relocate there for 5-10 months, depending on how it goes. We would have to leave our children, my job and our entire support system for that length of time and he is not willing to do that. DH plans to talk to his local pulmonologist about it and see if he's a candidate for Emory's program here in Atlanta. If not, then he plans to go forward with the valve replacement here and roll the dice.
We got a call from the Cleveland Clinic yesterday. They say DH is not a candidate for the valve replacement surgery due to the severity of his lung damage and concurrent long-term infections.
However, the doctor thinks DH may be a candidate for a lung transplant. If so, they will replace the faulty valve while they're in his chest. Holy cow! We didn't expect that!
At this point, DH doesn't have a lot of good options.
1. If he does nothing his heart will fail and he will die. Just in the last month his condition has worsened.
2. If he goes ahead with just the valve replacement locally, he will be at very high risk in recovery and he could die. If he lives he may be on a ventilator long-term and he may die from that. Doing valve replacement will not improve his lungs.
3.If he goes to CC and gets a transplant he may get a real chance at life, but he will be continually at risk or he may die. Lung transplant stats are worrisome--only 50-60% survival at 3 years. But that's 3 years that he probably doesn't have now.
4. DH may not get a lung in time and may die waiting.
We just can't our heads around all this.
I called this morning and talked to the transplant nurse. We need to meet with the surgeon and find out more. She going to call me with an appointment either tomorrow or Monday. Potentially, we could be in Cleveland by May 12.
ETA: DH has decided not to go to Cleveland. It would require us to relocate there for 5-10 months, depending on how it goes. We would have to leave our children, my job and our entire support system for that length of time and he is not willing to do that. DH plans to talk to his local pulmonologist about it and see if he's a candidate for Emory's program here in Atlanta. If not, then he plans to go forward with the valve replacement here and roll the dice.
