u/FleursSauvages322

My 79-year-old mother had a mitral valve repair a decade ago that began leaking again about a year and a half ago. She had a 7% mortality rate with surgery (ineligible for the clip so it would be open heart) and the doctors said that's not exactly low risk, so she has decided to just proceed with medication. She was feeling pretty good but did come back as having afib, even though she really had no symptoms of it. She had a cardioversion last October which was going well until the spring, and then she went back into afib. So in July she was recommended for an ablation (still had no symptoms of it though but did it based on recommendation) and had it the first week of August.

When the procedure was over the surgeon told me she was doing well but there was one slight complication which was a possible nick and he said he'd keep her overnight to make sure there was no fluid around the heart. They did a scan that night and then the next morning and released her, presumably after finding no fluid around the heart. I don't know if he meant blood or other fluid, but this is what I recall.

Since then ablation her health has been declining. She recently gained 17 pounds of fluid and was having a difficult time breathing. She has a prescription for Lasix but was not taking it initially for unknown reasons. When she began taking 20 milligrams it did nothing so the cardiologist last week changed it to 40, which is now working to get rid of the excess fluid.

However, she's been having severe left-sided lower back pain for a few weeks but only when she sits or lays. If she's walking or standing, she does not feel it. Two weeks ago the PCP told her she had a UTI so they assumed it was that causing the back pain. She was given an antibiotic prescription but it did not go away. When she saw the cardiologist about the fluid buildup and they upped the lasix, they told her they don't handle UTI or kidney issues, the low back pain is something she needs to go back to her PCP about.

So she went to the PCP yesterday, and he is telling her he thinks it's fluid around the heart built up and she needs to go back to the cardiologist. He didn't even test to see if she still had the UTI or a kidney issue, just asked her what she wanted. She said the pain to stop so he gave her a lidocaine patch prescription and sent her back to the cardiologist, who she will see Monday, but presumably only to check on the fluid drainage issue and possibly schedule another cardioversion. They were trying to wait the three-month blanking period which would be the end of October but said they may do it early if she was not feeling better. Her shortness of breath is better since the fluid has left but the back pain is not. She was supposed to see the ablation surgeon the last week in October and he was going to tell her, once the blanking period was up, whether another cardioversion was needed.

I live out of state and have been driving 14 hours to take her weekly to these appointments, but it's very difficult as she's being sent back and forth from one doctor to the other and nobody knows or even seems interested in finding out what the lower back pain is from. Does anyone think this is possibly the result of the ablation? I did see an old FB post where other people said they had this, although I don't have a FB so I can only read the first few comments and I don't see what the cause is. Atrial Fibrillation Support Forum | Don't suppose anyone else has had crippling lower back pain after an ablation have they | Facebook

Can someone please tell me what would be causing the low back pain issue after an ablation? I can't keep driving all this way to go to appointments where they just tell her to make another appointment, and I'm at a loss of what to do and what is wrong with her. Any advice is appreciated.

I haven't had luck with scopists so I have only used a proofreader for years now. But because I've been taking on a lot of work lately, I've been wanting to use a scopist for some overflow. I no longer have FB so it's harder for me to find them as I can't look on those CR forums anymore. But I found someone, wrote to her, she told me her standard turnaround is five to seven days, including weekends. Seven was kind of pushing it for me but figured I need the help, so I sent her a fairly easy transcript to see if we'd be a good fit.

She wrote to me a few days later saying she was having an issue opening the audio. The updated Case Cat uses a different audio file type than years earlier. I emailed her back with a link to CC's FAQ section (which she could have gone on herself and found) showing her the audio type and how to open it, and she said she got it and now could open it. But this past Friday would have been seven days from when I originally sent her the file. It's now Sunday and I still have not recieved the transcript back. Maybe she thinks her not accessing the audio for an extra two days means those first days didn't count? Idk.

At this point my transcript is due Mon or Tues so I'm going to just do it myself and really don't even want it back as she's not someone I could rely on to use in the future. Wondering if you would accept/pay for the transcript if she were to send it now or do you just write to her and advise her it's past her stated turnaround time, thanks anyway? I don't want to stiff someone if they've done the work, but she also didn't live up to her turnaround time so I'm not sure how people would handle this. Curious what you'd do. TIA.

I recieved a call from a friend I've had for over 20 years saying her husband had a stroke and will not recover, is in hospice in the hospital. He's a relatively young guy, so this has been a shock. I haven't seen them in a few years. I've had some grief-related and mental health things going on the past few years and been very isolated, although we've always kept in touch.

I want to send something to the hospital he is in (I am also going up to visit). The thing is, he loves plants. He really, really loves plants (not flowers but green, leafy lol plants). He actually got me somewhat into them myself. They had a fire in their home a few years ago and ​saving the plants was his biggest concern and he babied a lot of them back to health. ​ I sent him a peace lily when his mom died last year and he really loved it.

For those reasons, I was thinking of bringing/sending another plant. But then I thought he won't be able to care for it. Would it be inappropriate to send something that is just a reminder to him (if he's conscious, I'm unsure at the moment) but also his family that he is not able to care for it like he loves? Would flowers be a better option?

I am currently trying to help my mother schedule her surgery (and second opinions) for her re-repair of her severely leaking mitral valve. She had a repair in 2016 and then it began leaking again last year. She's been told by her cardiologist she is not eligible for the robotic/minimally invasive repair as the ring size used the first surgery was too large and there's not a size larger to use so it would need to be traditional open heart surgery, which at her age (almost 80), she is hesitant of.

I never see anyone discuss this as being in a similar situation. Is this ring size issue just very uncommon? Or do people not need repairs often? Curious if anyone else has dealt with this. She's very upset/scared about not being able to have the minimally invasive surgery.

My elderly mother is in need of a re-repair of her mitral valve. She just had a successful ablation last week to remove scar tissue from her last mitral valve repair a decade ago, but currently still has severe leakage of the valve. She lives about an hour upstate of NYC, so I have been looking at different surgeons.

I am considering making an appointment with Dr. David Adams as I see her specializes in re-repairs. Has anyone had experience with Dr. Adams? Would they recommend him? Are there any other surgeons you would recommend for a re-repair of the mitral valve in the NYC/Westchester/Dutchess area?

TIA.

Edit - I forgot to add she is not eligible for the minimally invasive repair due to the prior repair. Something about the ring size was already the largest used so they cannot use the minimally invasive, it would need to be full open heart surgery.

My 79-year-old mother had a mitral valve heart repair a decade ago at Westchester Hospital, which has now began leaking again, and she is in need of another mitral valve repair/re-repair. She has been refusing the surgery for a while as she had a difficult recovery the first time and did not want to go through the recovery period again (and probably afraid of making it through the surgery as well at her age).

She recently had an ablation at Vassar to remove a lot of the scar tissue that had built up causing Afib, and because that went so smooth she is now considering having the re-repair. She is not eligible for the minimally invasive procedures so it will need to be full open heart surgery.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a doctor who specializes in re-repairs? I live out of state but am trying to help coordinate appointments for consultations. Any advice would be appreciated.

My mother (79 years old) had her first ablation yesterday. For whatever it's worth, she also has a leaking mitral valve which was repaired ten years ago and is now leaking again. The doctor said it went well but they did notice some small fluid around the heart after the procedure that wasn't there before so there was possibly a small puncture that they were keeping her overnight to monitor in case it needs draining. They had done a second scan a few hours after the procedure (I'm drawing a blank on what kind) and did not see the amount of fluid getting larger, which was good.

It's the next morning now, almost 24 hours since she was put in bed. When I left the hospital yesterday they told me they'd be sitting her up soon. She just emailed me and said she was never sat up, still in the same laying position, and now her ankles are swelling. I know she's on Lasix and hooked to a catheter.

Is the swelling from not moving for 24 hours now, or from the possible puncture? Is this normal for a person to not be able/allowed to move for 24 hours after ablation? Not sure what to do but this does not seem normal. ​

edit- they're now saying it is blood surrounding the heart as opposed to "fluid." Also, her top blood pressure reading is normal but the bottom number is low and ankles are still swollen despite Lasix.

I took a videotaped depo of a first responder regarding an accident he worked. I had not yet been provided the caption by the agency I took this for until this job was over (the law firm had not yet sent it and were working on getting it), and so I was not aware during this job that the defendant was a minor at the time (may not be anymore) and his name is listed as initials in the caption. During this videotaped depo they kept referring to him as Mr. Smith. I'd normally confirm with the attorneys how to proceed but as I wasn't aware at the time, I did not.

First question is I was going to change every Mr. Smith to Mr. J.S. or just J.S. Is that what you would do, even on a videotaped depo transcript? How would you proceed?

But also, as I have never actually watched any videotaped deposition, I'm really just curious, do they do anything to redact the name in the video or will they hear them say each time Mr. Smith?

I'm working on some transcripts, and I received one back with all of my "pain-free" and "stress-free" words changed to eliminate the hyphens. I'm assuming this is because they are not followed my a noun. I feel like it's more clear with the hyphen but I don't know why or if I'm correct. If someone could explain to me which is correct and why, I'd appreciate it.

1.) Were you declared to be in remission, or pain-free, from any physicians?

2.) At that time, you were pain-free?

3.) I'm just trying to stay stress-free.

Edit - Maybe "more clear" is not what I meant. What I meant is I thought a compound with "free" at the end, regardless of if it's followed by a noun, was supposed to be hyphenated, but I'm not sure if that's correct. Any explanation would be appreciated.

I recently began taking jobs for a new agency which has the reporter create their word index (usually the agency has always created that for us if requested). Do we include this in our total page count?

I have a relative (50-year-old male) who was hospitalized today with congestive heart failure and pneumonia. He was hospitalized a few months ago after a heart attack as well. He is supposed to be released in a few days but I would still like to bring him a gift of things he's going to find useful. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I know the court reporter does not offer read/sign for federal cases unless specifically requested. Most of my state cases the attorney usually will just say "we'll waive" or "we'll read" while still on the record without me having to bring anything up, but if they do not, is it the reporter's responsibility to offer it? I can't find anything clear in my state manual regarding whether it is the reporter's responsibility or the attorney's responsibility to offer read/sign.