Tammi's Guestbook

Hi Tammy,

I have been reading through many of your posts from your journey pre and post surgery and have so appreciated your open and honest sharing. Thank you for that. I’m also wondering how living with AVR in the long term has been? I see that your surgery was 9 years ago—have you had any issues with your mechanical valve or related health issues generally? 

Hi Tammi, I had the same thing you, Terrie, Deb, and Suzanne described. It was a couple of months ago. I had been doing so great and feeling so normal and then one Saturday morning I woke up with terrible stabbing pains. I tried to think of what I could have done to cause the change and I remembered the day before pulling myself up with only my right arm to get into my son's truck. By Sunday night I was getting worried and went to the ER. They checked my heart and said it was fine. They said the same things Terrie said about the trauma of surgery to the chest wall and that it takes a long time to heal. They sent me home with a prescription for a high dose ibruprofen to take for two weeks. I took it and the pains finally went away, but it did take about the whole two weeks. Then about a month after that, feeling great again I decided to pick up limbs a storm blew in my yard. I didn't pick up any real heavy ones, but just small ones. The next day my shoulder was killing me. This time I just went ahead and started the ibruprofen and in a few days it was better. I've been a lot more careful since! So, I guess we have to try to remember to take it easy even after we're feeling normal again. I hope you feel better soon!

Good morning Tammi- I wanted to let you know that the pain you are experiencing is something I have noticed people posting about pretty regularly in regards to the sensations in that area between right breast and incision. My surgery was 8 months ago come the 20th. and I still have the same thing you are describing and I too, got concerned and checked with my physician. One of the times I had a bad virus and ended up in the ER where they actually gave me a chest x-ray, and not long after my scheduled first echo since surgery I had been experiencing the same thing. While in the ER one of the physicians checking me over talked to me about the pain being a result of the trauma that our chest wall goes through from the opening of the sternum. He described how as they cut through to gain entry that the entire chest wall is effected as the area is having to heal up for weeks after we are closed up due to anything that was injured on the way in to gain entry to the heart. If you are like me, I waited until I thought it was the right time to begin doing more things because I felt I'd healed enough.(in my case I was painting my front room walls by hand(brushing/no rollers to keep myself from rushing and using an up and down motion to quickly) and climbing an 8 ft. ladder to get the line near the ceiling with again, an up and down motion, carrying the bucket of paint up and down with me. By the end of the first day I had the pain of my body not having had a chance to stretch out so that the area up near the edge of my incision felt a nasty ache and pulling sensation like someone was stretching my skin away to the right. I had been having a dull ache and pain that came and went depending usually on the activity I had performed that day. Reaching out to trim my roses for twenty minutes at a time gave me the same pain in the edge of the breast nearest the incision and it ached and ached. Same thing. Reaching out and having my arms unused to the weight right up to the shoulders and mostly the right breast and with often a pinching like feeling and I knew it was from the body stretching and pulling where I hadn't completely healed so I got wise and stopped doing the things I knew brought about the pain. Hard to do as you get back into reaching into the washer, emptying the dish washer etc. in the early days of recovery but it does continue for some (me) as the weeks go by. The fact you are lifting up "a little person" who is putting weight on those same areas is just another stress that needs time to heal. I have been told the entire chest wall can take longer than we think to heal depending on how active we are during the recovery period and that each of us is different. I also had the full sternotomy which makes it more likely to feel more of the effects of the chest wall being aggravated. It is good you check with a professional if you are concerned and I hope that it will ease up but know that as I was told it can take months for some areas where we are constantly using these muscles to get back in shape, but they will. I know when I have weight in my arms and I am extending outwardly I just "anger" the muscles right where it seems you are experiencing your pain too so think about what you have been doing prior to it hurting and I bet it was quite a bit more than you think. This is where patience comes in to allow certain areas to heal, especially when you have so much to do and you are starting to feel better and better and "testing" yourself. I find also that a warm heating pad or warm compresses put at the site when taking breaks off an on during the day or evening can make the ache go away. I also take 2 regular Tylenol if it gets bothersome as it does get annoying. Hope this helps a bit and it gets better soon. Take care.......

Hi Tammy, I experienced the exact same kind of numbness and pains after my surgery. I was told it was nerve damage, and it would take 6 to 12 months to go away. The stabbing pains got really bad at about 6 weeks out, and they x-rayed me to make sure it wasn't a broken chest wire. It wasn't. They told me to take ibuprofen for a week to see if that helped, and it did. The numbness and pain didn't go away completely until about 9 or 10 months out. I also ended up with "frozen shoulder" from the surgery, and I think that may have been contributing to some of the stabbing pains in my chest. That took many weeks of physical therapy to go away. Good luck......I know it is disappointing feel like you are regressing, but you will get better. It just takes way too long! Deb Ziegler

Hey Tammi; Great news on your recovery. You write beautifully and your journey through this ordeal is inspiring. I'm also in Minneapollis and have a initial consult with Dr. Wes Pederson at the Minneapolis Heart Institue at Abbott for my leaky mitral valve tomorrow afternoon. I would love to connect with you to compare notes and get a first hand account of what I'm in for. Best regards Ben from Minneapolis

Ty for the post of encouragement the other day. It absolutely means a lot from my fellow heart brothers and sisters that have gone thru all of this already. The waiting is always the hardest part right??? Hope your recovery has gone well and that everyone is good in your family circle!

Hello Tammi- Just a note to say I was thinking of you today as I have enjoyed reading your posts to others on the site and your story and wanted to say I hope you are doing well in your recovery as we enter into Spring! Take care.

Hi Tammi! Thanks for your note before. I'm encouraged to see that your recovery is going well! Have you found that cardiac rehab has helped you? I'm definitely going to do it but I was running and weight lifting in the past so I'm not sure if it will be too "easy" for me although they said they would tailor the program for me. I see that you are a runner as well :) did you weight lift too?

Hi Tammi Thank you so much for your continued thoughts and prayers in regard to my loss of my beloved Lisa. You are very right in that there are good and bad days and at times the loneliness I feel without her is just so intense it brings me to tears, but you are right that the good memories always make me smile and do help me get thru it. Had a particularly sad moment last Saturday morning when my youngest son scored two goals playing indoor soccer and I always shot Lisa a "Goalllllllllllll!" text whenever Tyler scored a goal and she wasn't there any longer to enjoy the moment with me. Lisa loved to hear about Tyler's sports and in his first indoor soccer game after Lisa's death, Tyler told me he was going to score a goal for Lisa and he not only scored a goal, but scored four goals, which is very unusual for a center midfielder to accomplish, but like Lisa, Tyler has a drive and will that is hard to stop. Yesterday while cleaning bathrooms and vacuuming up what I swear was 5 pounds of dog hair, I was playing Pandora and hearing "You're the Best thing That Every Happened to Me" by Gladys Knight and the Pips and "I Wouldn't Have Missed It For The World" by Ronnie Milsap in succession just stopped me in my tracks as those two songs really sum up just how much I loved that wonderful woman. I just sat down and gazed at what is now my favorite picture of Lisa standing on a big log taken while we were hiking last year and cherished the gift that she was. Walking into the house and her not being there is still hard, but yesterday I hung several pictures that we had bought together and just knew she was smiling. She would have especially liked the primitive type picture I hung in the kitchen that had one of our favorite sayings, "Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away". I had a lot of great moments with Lisa and every time I look at that picture will remind me of those wonderful moments. I feel so blessed to have you and so many others thinking of me and providing support in this very difficult time. With the help of friends I am organizing a memorial 5k in Lisa's honor and will likely hold the race in July so that my 2 sons can run the race with me. My youngest 13 year son is a great athlete who plays travel baseball and soccer and his seasons run until late June and he told me to make sure to schedule the race on a date he can run. Tyler and Lisa ran a 5k together last August, which thrilled Lisa beyond words, and he really enjoyed spending time with Lisa and wants to be there in her memory. I have not run since I was in my 20's (I just turned 52 on February 4th), but I have been on the treadmill starting to train so that I will be able to run every inch of that race, because Lisa would have run the whole way. I can only imagine the look on Lisa's face seeing me on a treadmill, as I have two creaky knees from a lifetime playing sports, but nothing is going to stop me from running this race. There are already a ton of people that are either going to run or walk the race, with at least 40 from Lisa's work. When I get a rock solid date, I will post the race information on this site so anyone interested could participate. This race will not only honor Lisa's wonderful fighting spirit, (you will love the t-shirt that we will be selling) but will also be a means to raise money for her daughter Sarah's future. At 3:00 a.m. the night before Lisa's final surgery, I promised Lisa that no matter what happened, I would always be there to help and support her daughter as long as I am on this Earth and I meant every word. I am so glad that you are doing well and it would be wonderful if you would be able to participate in the race and we could meet. My email address is jr42build@yahoo.com if you ever want to contact me and I could send you some pictures of Lisa and the fun we had together. Sorry for going on and on, but it so great to share my thoughts with someone as wonderful as you. Please take care of yourself and God Bless. John

HI Tammi!! I just read your story. Boy it sounds like mine!! Except I have known for about 6 years that I had aortic stenosis. My doctor always told me I woudl be in my 70s when I Needed to have it replaced. Well I am 58 now and it is time. It took me about 5 months to accept the fact because I do not have any symptoms. I love this site because there are so many of us young people going through this!! You look great and I hope I do as well as you do!! Pam

You look fantastic! It's encouraging to me to see that you were doing so well since I am preparing to help valve surgery within the next month or so in the process of researching the best choice for Dr. I'm 52 so it's nice to see someone young going to the same thing.💕

Hi Tammi, I'm not sure if you saw the note I left over at Patricia's post. If you would like to leave a surgeon recommendation for Dr. Farivar you can do it at http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/surgeon-database/add-valve-surgeon.php. I hope that helps!!!

It's nice to hear from you Tammi. I don't know about you but I've seen enough needles to last me a life time! My vision problem is mainly a fuzzy spot in my right eye. I can't really pinpoint it but I see it there. My vision overall is a little blurry. It makes it hard to read and write. My mind is a little slow at times and it's like I almost forget that I have a right arm sometimes and I'm right handed! The skin on my head and face on the right side are a little tingly when you touch it and my right leg is a little weak. Other than the vision problem the other things get a little better every day and they think I'll get back at least 90%. They say my brain will adapt to the vision problem and eventually I won't even notice it. I hope this helps you with your problems. Try to stay positive (believe me I know it's hard to do) and we'll both be good as new in no time! Your heart friend, Vicki.

Hi Tammi, my son had heart surgery (mitral and aortic valve repair) on Jan 7 the same day as your surgery. He is 37. I haven't joined the site because I'm not the actual patient but I have been the caregiver so I have observed a lot! I saw that you were asking about vision problems and concentration. Cole has been having vision problems as well. Sometimes it's double vision or sometimes it's like a migraine aura where he loses vision or sees lights. He was having it every day but now some days he doesn't have it. He says at this point he tries to just work through it and it usually improves after a few hours. So we are hoping it improves with time. He also says he has trouble concentrating and I read that this is common after surgery and will improve with time. Cole had his follow up appt yesterday and his doctor told him he is doing well but that it can take weeks and weeks for the heart to recover and it can't be rushed. I am glad you are home and working towards recovery. For now just give yourself all the time you need to rest and recover......that's what I tell my son. All the best to you.....hang in there......we know what you are going through! Best Terri

Your welcome Tammi. I hoped I helped. Recovery is interesting, isn't it. I was kind of nervous and prayed so much everyday. I found each week I felt stronger. And I seriously watched some comedians on u tube to get my mind off of what was going on. I do not know how people return to work at 3 months or less. Taking care of my girls is about all I can handle at the moment - anything more would be total stress. Please take good care of yourself. :}

Hey Tammi, We are praying that this is just a small bump in the road and that you are resting at home soon! We would love to come see you when you are ready! I know you have a hard time "not doing" things, but remember to give your body time to heal, listen to those doctors! You are such an inspiration to us all!

Tammi I had a bovine valve put in Feb.2010 at age 67 and now at 72 I work out 6 days a week.I know you will do great.Tammi what kind of valve did you choose?

I have been lighting a candle daily since I read your very first post. Prayers surrounding you pretty beautiful you. Keep knowing that you are going to get through all of this really painful stuff and be stronger and live strong. Love to you sweet friend Kelli

Praying for you Tammi for a smooth recovery. The worst is behind you, hoping you feel better and stronger soon!. I have the same condition and would love to hear about your care at ABNW and cardiologist when you are feeling better, I live in TC. Many blessings to you.

So glad to hear the surgery went okay. I knew it would, what with all the prayers being said for you, the doctors and hospital staff. We've been keeping you and your family in our prayers ever since we heard of the upcoming surgery and will continue to pray as you recover.

Praying for God to send you and the family peace, wisdom and steady hands for the surgical team, and mercy for all those who face similar struggles without the support of loved ones that you have in us and your faith in God.