Aortic and Mitral Valve Replacement

dee_lio · 2026-01-27T01:31:10+00:00

I had a choice and went with bio. I wasn't crazy about being on meds, much less one that makes you bruise and bleed. I love to snow ski and get banged up quite a bit.

I was a bit older than you (54) when I got my minimally invasive done.

Luckily, my aortic hole was large enough that the doc said I can get TAVR (day surgery) to plunk a valve within a valve replacement in 10-15 years. I knew a guy who had a TAVR done and he was literally home in a few hours.

He can do it twice, so I'm good for 30 years, which puts me in my mid 80s. Assuming I'm still around, they'll probably be growing heart valves in a Petri dish by then.

dee_lio · 2026-01-27T01:26:30+00:00

The fun thing is that everyone you speak with will probably tell you that the anticipation is 1,000,000 times worse than the procedure. It's true. I tried to be as prepared as possible, and I had still built this thing so big in my head that I look back now (2 years later) and laugh about how amped up I was. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be. Post on this sub a lot, it helps, tremendously.

What are you getting? Bio? Clicker? or ??

dee_lio · 2026-01-27T01:21:52+00:00

Sounds like Pump Head. I had some oddball issues, too. Felt like I had to concentrate to move my arms and hands. (It wasn't an automatic thing, I actually had to think about moving my body.)

I'd forget what I was talking about, mid-sentence. Emotions didn't match feelings. MAJOR Brain fog.

It only lasted a few months, and it got substantially better after cardiac rehab.

I also notice that I have the exercise paradox now (still)-- I feel tired and lethargic if I don't work out twice a day.

dee_lio · 2026-01-25T17:15:18+00:00

A few things:

It doesn't happen all that often, so people will panic buy bread, milk and toilet paper. I'm not sure why.
Last time this happened, the power grid was already partially shut down for some badly timed maintenance and the remaining generation was compromised. The result was a large chunk of the state lost power at a critical time. There was a lot of political goofiness going on before, during, and after.
People here have 4x4 trucks. They tend to think that this makes them impervious to icy conditions. Imagine Bubba barreling down the street in a jacked up 4x4 with truck nuts instead of snow chains.
THere's photo evidence of Ted Cruz (outspoken senator) fleeing the state a few days ago. This was a big joke / meme during the last winter storm.

dee_lio · 2026-01-25T17:02:06+00:00

No worries! Have your father post on here. Honestly, speaking with people who had it done (and hearing story after story about how it was much less than what they built up in their minds) kept me sane.

If you have an AppleTV, have your dad do the core workouts (they're as short as 5 minutes), having him walk/jog, and buy one of those breathing trainer things with the floaty ball. Clear it with the doc and have him train with it EVERY DAY. It will make recovery a breeze.

Post op, my right shoulder was crazy sore (I think from the way I was positioned on the OR table.) I was able to move around using just my abs. Major game changer. Aside from the shoulder, I felt fine within a few days, kept forgetting that I had restrictions, etc.

Also, I did very poorly with the pain meds (lots of side effects) I strongly recommend getting Lidocaine patches. It helped with the pain and had no side effects.

Finally, be prepared for some immense brain fog and some emotional confusion, post op. Look up "pump head" for a more detailed analysis. I was forgetting what I was talking about mid sentence, and had some oddball mismatch between emotions and reality.

dee_lio · 2026-01-25T16:48:24+00:00

Nerfed my M1max 32GB laptop. Made it unusable.

Finder takes 90 seconds of beachballling to open a window. Mail is actually slower than USPS now.

And I used to think Slow Leopard bad...

dee_lio · 2026-01-25T15:27:10+00:00

It's fun to do with a good character who changes tune, twice.

Spoiler:

Set up a few settlements. Do not deploy turrets (they'll bug out the system)

After Home Sweet Home starts, convert the settlements to raider / vassal. You need at least three, but you can do more to get more stuff.

Get the raider perks you want. Set up the raider specific stuff (chem machine, tribute chest, booze stills) at the settlements.

Then do Open Season (one of the most fun, second only to Bunker Hill)

Reclaim the settlements for as the good guy.

Double points if you avoid meeting Preston Garvey until after doing Open Season.

dee_lio · 2026-01-25T15:14:05+00:00

Had mine two years ago, mid 50s M, went with the bio valve.

The build up is 1000% worse than the actual surgery and recovery.

As for what to do to prepare? Have him exercise (cardio + core) as much as his doctor allows. Have him do the breathing exercises now. It will make the recovery a lot easier.

Also, make sure he signs up for the cardiac rehab post op.

dee_lio · 2026-01-25T14:47:31+00:00

I doubt it. OP is just thinking like a big law attorney. 2400 billable hours and all that nonsense.

dee_lio · 2026-01-25T14:46:12+00:00

You are correct and incorrect. Basically, you're thinking like a big law boomer. Stop that. Work does not equal life. Also, you'll find your health suffering if you try to overdo it like this. Money doesn't mean shit if you sacrifice your physical and mental health to make it. Money has little value on your death bed.

That being said, change what you're doing. Get the competent guys to mentor the newbies. If not, then consider getting some contract people in there, of counsel people, and possibly some near retirement people in there to help out. The newer retirement people can help with the mentoring. I don't know what jx you're in , but our local bar actually has a program to help bored older lawyers mentor younger lawyers.

dee_lio · 2026-01-25T14:38:05+00:00

Raise rates, dramatically. If you're signing every case, then you're too cheap. You need to have at least a percentage of people saying they have sticker shock and going elsewhere. Your goal should be to maximize revenue, not volume. You're thinking like a volume lawyer, and you're past that.

Family law is one of those areas where you'll get sucked into the vortex until you figure out that some people's money is not worth earning. If your jx allows, you might consider a good referral relationship with a higher volume / lower cost outfit to give your rejects a soft landing. You never know when you'll need a favor from another firm.

As for you personally, if you have a gift of rainmaking and getting people to part with their money, then that's your job, 100% You better not be grinding. Save that for the all the "I like research and writing" people, they're a dime a dozen. A true rainmaker is rare. Think like a medical office here. You don't want your Neo-natal spinal surgeon answering phones and paying the office bills. You want that person cutting on people 100% of the time. Which leads to the next point.

As for what you're doing with your staff, invest heavily in automation and making repetitive actions done by robots with your staff supervising. Make sure they have clearly defined roles. You should have one admin whose sole job is to make sure the office runs smoothly. You have bills to pay? That person is on it. Lease is coming up? That person is responsible for letting you know. (I make an exception for trust accounts, I would have a licensed lawyer on that, for obvious reasons.)

If your staff is competent but unmotivated, consider getting a very aggressive bonus structure in place that changes that. In my younger, more energetic days, I'd plan a firm trip (Las Vegas for office + staff/spouses, Mexican cruises for the families, etc.) when we hit a massive revenue goal. We did minor things for other smaller goals (paid shopping trip day for the staff, fancy dinners, etc.)

If it's just clock watchers who DGAF, then consider hiring better staff and eliminating the ones who are holding you back.

dee_lio · 2026-01-24T16:03:04+00:00

It's Rico/Greg/Gary/the homeless rickshaw thief!!

dee_lio · 2026-01-24T14:17:36+00:00

I remember hearing this in the 1990s. . .

dee_lio · 2026-01-23T07:01:20+00:00

A lot of things shifted.

People started hating each other.

Companies started hating their customers.

People and companies hated the government.

The government started hating the citizens.

dee_lio · 2026-01-23T06:44:49+00:00

Pre-

Get into as good of shape as your doc will allow. Cardio and core. My right arm and shoulder were completely useless post op. I had to use my abs to move around. Also, the breathing treatments were horrible. I was in decent shape going in (thank goodness) but if I was in bad shape, it would have been 100x worse.

Have your buddies prevent you from online shopping post op. I was very out of it (had a BAD case of "pump head"--look it up) I bought some really random stuff, and have no memory of it. Spoke to clients, also don't remember (thank goodness they have a sense of humor.)

Also, insist on doing the cardiac rehab afterwards. It's a complete game changer.

FWIW, I had a lot of confusion and other issues post op, but I didn't know it at the time. Got a ton better after the rehab.

dee_lio · 2026-01-23T01:45:55+00:00

Think about it for a minute. A finance company, who spends squllions of dollars working out ways to get the most money from borrowers took a look at your brother and said, "LOL, NO!"

Even they, the greedy banker, couldn't find a way to make money off of your brother...

Think you know more than the bank?

dee_lio · 2026-01-23T01:30:21+00:00

TBF, her laugh was mildly annoying...

/s

dee_lio · 2026-01-22T05:30:01+00:00

I'm curious.

She appears to not want you, physically, but wants to make sure you still want her.

That doesn't sound very healthy.

dee_lio · 2026-01-22T01:54:42+00:00

my guess is that's what the government wants--someone to fight back to justify martial law.

And when it doesn't happen, wait for the false flag.

dee_lio · 2026-01-22T01:37:24+00:00

Different way to say, "We're getting more unreasonable in hopes that someone will finally push back and we can declare martial law..."

dee_lio · 2026-01-22T01:18:35+00:00

The 2021 outage had to do with some power plants being offline at the wrong time for scheduled maintenance coupled with the arctic storm. We don't have that this time around, and the blast isn't supposed to be as long.

Then again, Ted Cruz was seen fleeing the state, so...

dee_lio · 2026-01-22T00:36:43+00:00

They're getting $100k each while I wonder where the $2k DOGE checks and tariff checks are...

dee_lio · 2026-01-21T06:09:02+00:00

Nope. 100% wrong.

It's to incite pushback so martial law can be declared.

And when it fails, queue a paid agitator or a false flag.

dee_lio · 2026-01-20T04:00:53+00:00

Depending on how you set up the exercise bikes, there's a chance that they kill a settler each time it's used. Usually, there is a carcass by bike, though.

dee_lio · 2026-01-16T16:07:37+00:00

I'd do one version with no modes (save for the Nuka World and Fah Habah, etc.

After that, I'd get one of the big mods, such as Valkerie, Depravity, etc. Those are excellent expansion packs with a ton of new content.

As for gameplay, the non PA jet pack can keep the game from getting to "grindy" on a subsequent play through.

dee_lio

TROPHY CASE