Clifford's Journal

It's been over nine weeks since Cliff's surgery and I want to share his current status to hopefully provide some encouragement to recent and soon-to-be heart warriors.  Five weeks ago, we had an appointment with his cardiologist and at that time, Cliff was told he had some fluid around his heart which may have amplified the sound and sensation of his heart beats and that was bothering him.  He was also supposed to start his cardio rehab three weeks ago, but his EKG showed an irratic heart beat and he was told to get a release from his cardiologist before they would allow him to proceed with the rehab.  Then two weeks ago, on the same day he was supposed to see his cardiologist, he came down with Covid, probably from me taking him to a concert and forgetting to have him wear a mask.  We didn't know if Covid would hurt his recovery, but the cardiologist prescribed Paxlovid for him and Cliff's main symptom was a very bad cough.  

Today, we were finally able to see his cardiologist who said there is absolutely no fluid around his heart.  Cliff mentioned that after recovering from Covid, he no longer has the sensation of hearing or feeling that his heart is jumping out of his chest.  The cardiologist signed the release and Cliff will be starting his rehab this Friday.

Finally, he has decided that once he gets a few sessions of rehab under his belt, he'll feel confident enough to go back to work, most probably after Thanksgiving.  He's an engineer for Stryker Neurovascular and he works with an x-ray machine, so he does have to wear a heavy lead apron.  So that's it, we definitely had some road bumps on his road to recovery, but it seems that the path is now smoother.  Praying that the same holds true to all you recent and soon-to-be heart warriors.  Our love to you all!

Hi Everyone, it's Frances again.  Wanted to share the great news that Cliff's surgery went very well.  He has been in the ICU for a few hours now and has had his breathing tube removed an hour ago.  He's been talking and saying that overall, he's pain free.  He does feel his heart pounding and there a tightness in his sternum.  Dr. Castro performed a hemi sternotomy, so hopefully that tightness will go away sooner rather than later.

 Thank you, Community, for your prayers and encouragement.  I'll keep the everyone updated in the days ahead.

Cliff just checked into the hospital to have an angiogram done and will be staying overnight for the surgery tomorrow morning.  I wasn't able to sleep last night and I'm sure I won't be sleeping tonight either.  I'm both excited to have the surgery behind us, but also extremely anxious since it is open heart surgery after all.