Jim's Guestbook

Hey Jim. My symptoms were bouts of anger and depression. As far as these go I was on the "low" gradient but I didn't see it as much as my wife saw it. Nonetheless, it was apparent and significant. Firstly go easy on yourself. You have identified it and now you can heal it. I helped my depression by exercising daily with walks and lower body exercises. After surgery your body has undergone big trauma and is full of toxins and some blood transfusions. The heart and lung machine chews up hemoglobin. I take daily probiotics (multi strain) to assist digestion and clear toxins. See Brenda Watson on the benefits of probiotics. I do a herbal cleanse 3x a year. This helps the bowels to clear and restore and remove toxins. Assists the liver and kidneys in flushing toxins. See Dr Bernard Jensen on cleansing and tissue management. I take supplements to help my heart and cardio system. See Dr Steven Masley online or on Youtube. He is a cardiologist and a Red Seal Chef. Have I blown you away yet? Our priest had heart surgery (former medical doctor) and he had issues for over two years before his conditions started to clear. It was not fun for his family. Take care and hope I have given you some good suggestions. Bob O.

Jim, Joining in with the heart community here in sending out prayers and good thoughts for your Surgery Day. Hope all goes smoothly and you wake ready to begin the road to recovery.

Jim, I wish you the very best tomorrow as you move forward with this journey. You will be in my prayers. Let us know how you are doing when you are up to it. Good Luck. And by the way, the little one in your arms in your profile picture is adorable. That's the face you should be seeing in your head when you close your eyes tomorrow and head into surgery. Just think of that cute face and let that image fill your heart with love, drift off to sleep and then let your journey back to those you love begin.

Jim, I had AAR and AVR done in December. As you, I was diagnosed with BAV early on (I even had OHS done at 2 months old for a coarctation of the descending aorta) and had an aortic aneurysm monitored ("discovered" in 2009 at 4.4cm - at the time guidelines said not to worry). In September it registered at 5.6 so I was sent for surgical evaluations. I chose the surgeon who could do it the soonest and am now 7 weeks post op and getting close to the same shape I was in pre op. My best advice: do not second guess your decisions once you've made them. Best of luck and keep us posted!

Jim, I fully understand your feelings about the impact on your life. It took me some time to adjust to the reality of the proposed surgery. You will find that many people have had excellent results with your type of surgery. My surgeon speculated that my aortic valve may have been bicuspid as it never showed up as a three leaf valve. It's good that you have some time on your side to make the necessary decisions about your surgery. It will get better.

Hi Jim! You and I have almost the exact same story. I am having my ascending aorta replaced on February 9th. I'm getting a polyester model, how about you?