Kelton's Photos

W. Carter  I have a rather funny tale along the same lines. A few months after I had my valve installed the Cardiology Clinic sent me for a chest xray. The lady told me to take my necklace off and I did. She took an xray and asked me if I had taken my necklace off, and I answered yes. She said come here and look at this. When I took a look I told her that was the titanium valve in my heart. She laughed and told me she didn't know why I was getting xray's.

Christine Oliva  You look awesome. BTW the scare will become less red pretty quick. I'm 3 months post and it is no longer red or puffy. In fact, my top part 1" or so is almost just a white line. More importantly I only get twinges of pain infrequently now or go a little overboard with exercise. You look good and keep on getting better!

Kelton Glewwe  Hello, I was diagnosed with pericarditis last June. I had all the common symptoms and I suffered for about a month before I got an x-ray that lead to an echo, and then the diagnosis. The echo also showed I had a leaking bicuspid aortic valve that may or may not be related to the pericarditis. I had no idea I had a heart issue until that day. I was admitted into the hospital immediately for the pericarditis. I had 2cm of fluid around my heart and it was effecting my heart function. I had the normal tests, CAT scan, Echo, TEE. They pumped me full of antibiotics and IV fluids. I felt like a water balloon. I was responding well to treatment and sent home after 2 days with ibuprofen and the colchicine. I followed up with my GP a day later and she sent me back to the hospital immediately. My pericarditis was not getting better and I looked, "like sh*t." In the hospital, it was then decided they would drain the fluid with a needle. I the procedure the next morning in a surgical lab. I was awake for the procedure. They drained .5L from my pericardium. I felt immediate relief.

I was sent home 2 days later with the Ib and colchicine. A week later after a follow up with my cardiologist, we did a cardiac MRI. It showed a lot of inflammation. I was put on a steroid treatment. That prednisone is an amazing drug short term. I felt better right away. I was on the prednisone for about 4 months. I gained about 15 lbs, but I was feeling much better. I started at a high 60mg dose and slowly tapered off.

On December 10th I had the aortic valved replaced with a bovine tissue valve. I'm still in recovery from that, but I'm doing great. The pericarditis sucked, but it was my early warning for the bad valve. I was able to get that fixed before it did any serious damage to me heart or aorta.

Good luck. I hope you feel better soon.