very nice day

Not all days in the life of a CV surgeon are all that great. Some are downright dreadful and cause you to think that it has not been worth it. Mostly those days are a result of some dreadful outcome in some patient you were trying desperately to help, and in your attempt to help you end up killing a patient. Not so much fun. Even though you deep down know you meant well and you should feel OK in a few short recovery moments, it really never goes that way and inevitably you really do mope around for days and even weeks, at least inside, where it hurts the most.
But its not one of those days today--no sir! Today has been one of the great days. Today was a very gratifying day, indeed! I performed my first minimally invasive mitral valve repair today and the operation went perfect and the patient is doing great. I hope this does not jinx him.
I started my course work some 3 years ago and have been to Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Toledo to see variations of this operation performed. I never dreamed years ago that I would ever fix a heart valve without splitting someones sternum open. The anxiety over this change in approach has truly been great and even more than other changes I have experienced over the years. Today was the day to finally do the operation and with over 20 people watching and scores more at my hospital awaiting the result to officially kick off the start of our mimi invasive heart surgery program my team performed perfectly. I am very happy !! It is a wonderful feeling to have succeeded after all the planning, team meetings and dry runs. Oh God it could have been so different if it had not gone well. Hooray for us and it even feels good to blog about it. Have a great night and rest assured I will be smiling. I will keep you informed of my patient's progress. Goodnight moon!