Surgery timeline

So I am having bit of decision difficulty, what has everyones surgery timeline been from diagnoses to surgery, I know it all depends on my particular case and i have consulted with my doctor but other then shortness of breath on stairs i have no other issues unless i get really stressed which seems to be the case, the issue I'm having is since i told my boss "the owner" about my surgery in the near future she has been stressing me out with little stuff and causing even more stress, so I was given an opportunity for a job interview and I think a good chance for a new position not saying its all green on the other side but when your employer post your job online thats a tale tale sign I'm not going to get my job back when i come back. The cardiologist said by the end of year so to me thats not an extreme timeline but moving to a new position and negotiating a couple weeks vacation i could hope to be back to work at the end of 2 weeks, the surgeon here said no problem for my type of work just no lifting as I'm a desk person IT that is.....so what timeline from discovery to surgery did anyone have?

Hi soloflight79,
Sad you boss has posted your job and stressing you out. Since we all do differently, 2 weeks may be fine. A good majorities of repairs do well post op with minimal complications if any. You are having pericutaneous ASD repair? ( thru groin)? With no complications, two weeks is ample to recoup if no open heart surgery. Hard to give exact times for everyone. My doctor said have surgery on Thursday and be fine by Monday. That was fast for me but I have heard of some doing well. The heart usually needs time to remodel itself( go back to a more normal size). At my one week check up I felt pretty bad with a lot of my symptoms still there but one by one the symptoms started leaving. By 2 weeks all those symptoms were gone. I had been ill for a long time so don’t think I’m a good one to gauge follow up. I just took it easy but kept a positive attitude. It wasn’t going to get worse for me now that my heart was getting what it needed. But that was me. Some complain of the insertion site in the groin. Whatever site they use make sure adequate pressure after sheath removed to prevent site problem. And if groin, don’t bend it until given okay. Good luck, Linda

Hi there soloflight79, sorry to hear about what your boss did but keep ur chin up. I was diagnosed about a year ago and still don’t know exactly where the hole is and what’s going to be done about it. The hole I have is 11mm and I’m hoping it’s going to be a simple repair but who knows eh. The symptoms I have are moderate to pretty bad paliputations. I also get very winded when walking up stairs or on a hill of any sort. One of my favourite pastimes is salmon fishing, I just dearly love to fly fish. I tried it a couple times this pass summer and had to quit it all together. I’m a pipefitter by trade and I also had to come off of work… It’s a very demanding job on the body and with the way I’ve been feeling I just couldn’t do it anymore… I’m waiting on results now from a cardiac MRI I had done almost four weeks ago and believe me I’m looking forward to treatment, scared but never the less looking forward to getting it fixed because I’m tired of feeling like I do… Best of luck and I’ll post news as soon as I hear what’s going to be done…

Hi Soloflight,

My daughter had open heart surgery to repair a huge ASD at beginning of April. The first 24 hours were rough but she was released after 54 hours!!! She made an amazing recovery and is doing awesome. The first 4 weeks we kept her out of school and she did not do activity for a few weeks.... It was hard to keep her from being active. She has no symptoms and is completely healthy at this point, thank God!!! We discovered it in November and had surgery in April due to its size and to prevent any complications later in life. When she was on life support and they mended her heart it was enlarged but after 48 hours went back to a normal size heart. She was only 6 years old as well, but we had an amazing team of doctors and feel very blessed. I wish you the best of luck !!!!

I had ASD surgery 3 1/2 years ago and 2 weeks is about right for recovery time. That is if your having surgery thru the groin area and not open heart. You'll do just fine, I worried so much b4 the surgery you would of thought I was having the big one as Red Foxx would say. You'll do just fine, in and out with minimum of one overnight stay.

Hi. I was diagnosed when I was 7 but the cardiologist opted for no surgery since it was a “tiny hole”. I was seen yearly until I was around 18 or so and then forgot all about it til a few years ago when an xray showed an enlarged heart. A chest CT scan came back normal but warning bells went off and thus began my new joirney. Lol. All tests showed a small hole. I went from one cardiologist to another getting different opinions although they all suggested closing my asd. It was me who stalled. I had a TEE that put my ass at 20mm and I still stalled. They wanted to close it immediately but via keyhole surgery. Finally a year later (aug. 2014) i went to yet another doctor and he closed it through the groin in Nov. 2014. They couldn’t close it the 1st day because they didn’t have a device large enough on hand. They said my ad was 36mm. So they kept me overnight and tried again the next day. It turned out my asd was 32mm. I stayed overnight again and then went home. I had a few complications…huge hematomas in both legs and groin and then my legs swelled really bad. About 2 weeks later I was fine and now thank God my heart is back to normal…no more pulmonary hypertension and my once leaky valves are good again.

I think you should be ok with 2 weeks especially since you have a desk job. My doctor had recommended 3 to 4 but I work with kids. Try not to stress too much about your job. Rest is so important and the diagnosis is stressful enough. I wish you a great recovery. Take care of yourself.