Lucky number 3?
I guess 3 should be my new lucky number. I had my last operation on October 3rd and today is exactly a month later, November 3rd.
I was woken up at 5:30am just like the last operation and the nurses came in to check in that everything was fine and stable and that we still had the green light for the operation.
Since the day I was told I’d be getting an LVAD I’ve had the support from the LVAD coordinators at Queen Mary Hospital. They told me that this journey was going to be a tough one but that with a positive mind and attitude I’d be fine. Currently there are 43 LVAD patients in Hong Kong, I would be number 44. I would also be the youngest person in Hong Kong to have one as its mostly middle aged people who face the last stage of heart failure.
A week ago, I met an LVAD patient and she told me that the pain after the operation is extremely intense but it had been 3 weeks since she had her operation and she was already discharged and able to lead a semi normal life. I hope that my recovery time will be as quick as hers :)
At 7:30am, the nurses from the operation theatre came down to get me and I was really nervous much more then when I was when I went down to get the defibrillator done. Going in to any surgery there is chance that something might go wrong and the fact that I was going through open heart surgery in a couple of hours knowing that there is a chance that I might not make it out is really scary. Other complications that may be faced during the operation is strokes, multiple other organ failures and so on. Some of you must be thinking like whats going to happen in the operation if hes getting a mechanical heart? Well basically what they do is that they will open up my chest, an LVAD is a pump which is connected to the heart so yes, my heart will still be in my body but it will just have a pump and wiring attached to it. They will the close up my chest. I will be put on a bypass machine because whilst everything is being done, my heart will stop beating. The operation will last 8 hours at minimum.
It was 8:15, I was waiting in the Operation theatre and slowly the process was going to start. I had multiple lines plugged into me and by this point I had developed a very good friendship with my anaesthesiologist, he told me he was going to put in more A-Lines and it made me a little nervous but I knew this is something that had to be done so the operation goes smoothly. After this was all done, I asked him for one favour, I asked him if when the operation starts, if he could ask the surgeon to take a photo of my heart for me. Sorry I just thought that would be something really interesting to post on this blog but sadly my surgeon didn’t take a photo of it.
The operation went really smooth and I was out of the operation theatre at 5:30, hooked up to a ventilator and really knocked out. I wasn’t expected to wake up until the next morning.
To read the next part of my story, click the link below
