Surgery appointment for PFO closure

[Robopod]

Hi guys,

I have an appointment in the Royal Melbourne Hospital next Tuesday 11th Dec for a PFO closure. The procedure is bing carried out by Dr Lianne Grigg. I have to be honest, I don't know anything about her and all you guys are talking about famous Dr names (in the diving community UK), so I am a bit stressed.
My background to this began on my second day first dive off Looe (April 2003) I was freezing on the bottom at 25 metres watching my buddy taking photos of dogfish, I had a serious cramp in my right thigh which afer a few minutes went after about 30 minutes we surfaced and prepared for the final dive of the day on a wreck of a barge with a crane attached. My equipment was fine, drysuit worked well (no head cover though on any dives). Again down to 20 metres, buddy taking piccys about five metres from me this time two cramps in my thighs I could'nt move, I tried to relax lying on the bottom to no avail, finally my buddy turns around and is straight over to me. We ascend up the line (he ascends I fiddle with my jacket, surface then on the boat. Next thing I remember there is a stunner of a diving doctor leaning over me in Looe harbour and a helicopter trying to land. Six days in and out of a chamber next, trying to get my balance back, No explanation for the hit until the bubble contrast, the TTE then the TOE then some odd test with me excercising with a xray machine over me, with a Dr raising the cadence every 2 minutes plus an injection of liquid into my veins.
Now in Australia for the op, funny that!

Anyone had a closure in Melbourne before?

Cheers Dave Robinson (Robbo) X DM Trainee Newhaven Scuba Club Sussex.

[Ali]

Good luck with the closure Robbo, let us know how you go!
Try not to stress out too much!

Ali

[Foggy]

Good luck with the closure

Cheers, Paul

[divebunnie]

good luck with the op.

I am sure all will go well, and you will then be able to enjoy yourself back in the water.

[Hellvet]

can't help with aussie recommendations etc but if you want to chat about the op give us a shout - i promise not to scare you too much.

other than that i can only echo the good luck of the others - hope all\goes well and you're back in the water soon.

[Robopod]

Hi Guys,

I have had my appointment for a PFO closure, Fairly straight forward admission to Hospital, GA etc. However when I woke up I was informed that the procedure had not been carried out, as a number of my coronary arteries were in a less than perfect condition.
Apprently I have asymtomatic CAD which has to be corrected asap, the PFO will be stitched up during this op. On top of that the surgeon is less than happy about my pulmonary valve which was operated on when I was eight years old (1965) (Pulmonary stenosis) and is considering a valve replacement with a human valve from a cadaver. So my licence renewal to dive and the continuation of over 500 dives looks fairly bleak at this time.
The upside is the PFO has brought the CAD to light which may spare me the possibility of sudden death.
The main game starts on the 16th of Jan 2008 with a five hour ish op, followed by intensive care then six weeks recovery and then 3 months light duties.
I work within the Australian health service so I can expect a bit of ribbing from the rest of the guys. But the bottom line is I will have to get some serious training in after this lot to have a chance of diving again, "DAN" reckon's its possible but who knows.
Thanks for all the replies to my posting, its great to know there are other people out there who have had a successful op.
I guess I wish I could be one of them.

Cheers Dave Robinson (Robopod).

[Ali]

Shit!!!!
Hope all goes well for you.

Ali

[ratcliffe]

Ouch. Thats a bugger.

But as you rightly say, the procedure the other day has located a problem which *can* be dealt with. At least its not going to suddenly kick off and cause a massive issue, or worse.
All the best for the op in the new year, Everything will go swimmingly, and you'll soon be back on here posting to say that you are about to run a marathon or something

[PeeBee]

Sh*t luck mate but thank God they found it, if you want it badly enough I'm sure you will be back in the water again but if you can't then there are other sports, important thing is you are still breathing. Very good luck for the 16th and try to enjoy Christmas.

[Robopod]

Preview Re: PFO closure
Hi Guys,




My Ops have turned out as follows,

Have arrived back home from hospital just half an hour ago. Seven nights pampered by sub continent nurses, bed baths etc. etc. The work that has been carried out is as follows, Double Bypass (downgraded from Triple/Quad) due to so much scar tissue from previous op and the surgeon giving up after 3 hours of dissection trying to find circumflex arteries? around the heart. (bastard(Not really) Another 1:30 minutes involved in the actual bypasses, Plus 1:30 minutes doing the pulmonary valve replacement, followed by 3 minutes stitching up a 5cm PFO. Why I was there in the first place!!! All this gives a clear indication of the health of the heart and fits DAN criteria for continued diving so in many way's a result.

However, still live too far from fucking ocean at the moment. Hope this changes.

Great to be Home,

David, aka robopod X Newhaven Divers East Sussex. Residing in Central Vic Australia