Emily's Journal

Cindy Arner  When you eat what happens to your BP? I am pre-surgery and while I have always loved food, I am having ‘an appetite issue’. I literally ‘make myself do it’ mostly fruits and veggies. Although my BP is low, it’s working out ok so far. But, I can’t ‘know where you are’. Maybe try to add some in gradually to see?

Emily Parks  When I was pre-surgery having low blood pressure felt best because it made me feel better, but now post surgery having low blood pressures are doing the opposite and a regular blood pressure is a better feeling for me. I guess the biggest problem right now is that I followed the Mediterranean diet for 3 years so strictly and my right artery blocked up so much again that it needed to be bypassed for a second time. I'm not on any blood pressure medications I don't take blood thinners the only thing I am on is statins and an aspirin.

Yumiko Ishida  I find that hydration helps when I want to keep my BP up and HR down. My BP had always been low (normally around 95/60), so when I was on a relatively high dose of beta blocker to control my HR, I was also on another drug to bring my BP up. My HR is still high, 8 months post surgery, so I am still on a low dose of beta blocker for the HR but stopped taking the other drug that raises the BP. Now, hydration does the job for me. Broth or electrolytes are better but plain water works fine, too.

Colace is what was suggested to me after my knee surgery and it definitely helped with opioid related constipation. After my heart surgery they gave me a whole range of laxative options at the hospital, starting with prune juice. Since you are no longer taking heavy duty pain meds, slowly increasing your dietary fiber intake should help you. “Slowly” is the key, I think. 

I am on statins, too, and my cardiologist wants to double the dose, but I am resisting… Someone on this site suggested The Great Cholesterol Myth. I got a copy from the library but haven’t had time to read it yet. Perhaps you would find it helpful?

Emily Parks  That sounds like something I would like to read, I would really like to figure out or know why my cholesterol keeps going so high when I'm already doing the Mediterranean diet and I've even cut some of that stuff out so this sounds like something I would like to go and read thanks so much I appreciate it God bless you and I hope you keep going well with your post op.

Emily Parks  Yes,  Cindy it was difficult for me to eat before when I was pre-surgery I had to force myself also always had very low blood pressure but they made me feel good then, now after during during my post op the low blood pressures make me feel poorly what I have figured out in the past week is that if I eat just a little more of something with a salt intake in it it, it's helping me with the blood pressure but I have a lot of pain in my abdomen right below my ribs if I eat just a little too much so I've cut back on how much I eat at one time which is very little.

Emily Parks  First I would like to say thank you and God bless you Adam for this website so many things I have found out that I never even knew that had been going on with me . Have been fighting an uphill battle since 2019.

Richard Munson  Welcome fellow massachusite. My new word of the day. What is your hospital? Mine was mass general. We are lucky we have some great doctors within easy reach. Mine was mitral, yours is different but the fear before surgery affects us all. As you say, have faith in your doctor, your surgeon, and faith in general. After all, a positive attitude counts a lot. Plus you are young. My kids are your age. This is a great site that has some fabulous and very smart folks that comment. I am not one of the smart ones but i attempt to lighten things up on occasion. My shadow has a lot of the same markings as your kitty if you have ever seen him. 

Emily Parks  I would like to say thank you to all who welcomed me when I first came on. Going through this second open heart surgery in just 3 years has been so incredibly difficult for me the day before my aortic valve replacement I was told I needed another bypass on the original one from 2021 I had blocked up over 95% and they didn't know why. I have to say this journey for me has been very difficult this time extremely painful and I'm finding myself terribly afraid of everything. I'm trying to rely on my faith 🙏🏼 in the Lord and my beliefs but just knowing that my bypass blocked up in only three years has made me so
sad I have no idea what I've done wrong to cause this and I find myself being so terribly frightened of everything if anyone else has had a bypass that had to be redone in a short time please let me know. I have been home from the hospital since July 2nd and it's been a very difficult and painful go of it. I have my 17 year old son who has been a wonderful help here along with my fiance my daughter comes by they have been getting me to go up and down stairs outside and for short walks but I find my chest is very painful. Had to go off of all pain medications a week after leaving the hospital because of severe constipation problems that they caused. And I find the pain in my chest is much worse at night and it is in the morning and early day. So very sad 😢

Diana Chamblin-Bevirt  So sorry to hear you’re going through all this Emily. Have you talked to your surgeon’s office about not being able to take your pain meds to see if there is a different pain med you could try, or if you could take something like dulcolax with your current meds to prevent the constipation issue? It sounds too soon to not have any pain meds on board, especially if you are having a lot of pain remaining. It’s hard to cope with anything when you’re in pain and it’s hard to see your way through it when you can’t get relief. Small , flexible ice packs helped me. Hope you find a solution and get more comfortable soon!

Emily Parks  Hi Diana the surgeon's office support has told me about the dulcolax which is starting to work unfortunately as far as pain meds go other than a thousand milligrams of Tylenol every 6 hours my body is so very sensitive to pain medication that it my blood pressure is run so terribly low.

Emily Parks  Have not been on since the day before my surgery. I wound up going into the cath lab because I was feeling so poorly the day before and found out that my bypass had blocked up over 95% and just 3 years when they did my surgery the next day I received the inspiris resillia valve. Surgery went well came home from the hospital in a lot of pain replaced my right main artery also again I'm 12 weeks out now on Friday from surgery I'm going to cardiac rehab Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays this will be my second week still having a lot of sternal pain really not able to use my arms to above my head or to lift anything I get my steps in while I'm at rehab and try to do my best while on the off days I can only get in maybe 5 to 6,000 steps a day on rehab days I do over 10 to 12,000 steps a day because I will still go for walks after I get home have been having terrible troubles still with constipation. Stop taking all pain meds a week after I got home because of this problem and it has not resolved I've tried everything it's making me feel so poorly especially when I'm trying to exercise they've told me now that I have a genetic mutation that causes my LDL to be high and they want to try different things on me they want to keep me on ezetimone along with the rosuvastatin and now they want to add praluent injections every two weeks. Not sure how I feel about this 

I was having very good blood pressures in the 118s to 122's over 60 to 65 now they have fallen very low for the past two and a half weeks to 100 over 58 never getting above 105 / 58 when they had this low I feel dizzy and just not myself having trouble with eating I'm so scared to eat anything not doing very well with trying to decide what I should eat and just keep turning to just chicken and all I drink is water. I've asked the cardiologist and my primary is there anything that I can do that I'm not doing I seem to need some help in this area and they just keep telling me it just takes time you'll be fine. 
 
If there are any suggestions out there that anyone can give me I would greatly appreciate it I'm sending all my love to everyone who's had their surgery around the same time I did and, and before also that are going in I will be praying for all of you. Thanks for listening and God bless you.

Grace Mason   I'm sorry to hear you are having to undergo a second open heart surgery so soon after your first, Emily.
The valves they are using today have advanced a lot. Do you know if you will be having a tissue or mechanical valve yet? 
There is a lot of information in the search section on this blog to help you prepare questions for your surgeon. 
There are many here that understand your fears💕

Anna Ma  I’m sorry too Emily! It is overwhelming at first, I was barely 52 when I had my surgery. To process all this information at this “young” age can be scary. I felt I was looking into death eye to eye. But once I passed that initial phase, I had peace. Praying for your peace!🙏

Emily Parks  Hi Grace not sure which one I'm getting he is going to be bringing in all three and deciding then, my surgeon has spoken with me and feels as though a tissue valve would be best for me since I am young and would like to move around more with a mechanical valve they would have to put me on coumadin which he feels would be too dangerous at this point if I fell or got some kind of cut that the bleeding Factor would be a big problem.

Emily Parks  Hi Anna Ma, This truly the most confusing time being so young and knowing that all this is happening I so wish that somebody had known about the valve when I had the first open heart to replace the right main artery, my surgeon tells me this was nothing I did or didn't do this was from birth It's a congenital defect that we never knew about. Thank you for your prayers 🙏🏼 🕊️ 

Anna Ma  Hi Emily, I was born with BAV issue too. I did lots of research too before surgery, it is a difficult decision because of our age. In Europe, they recommend tissue valve after 50, seems they have an earlier cutoff for mechanical valve than in US. I ended up with edward inspire resillia valve that is supposed to last longer. And then I can probably do tavr when it fails after 20 years

Anna Ma  Adam did this interview with Dr Roselli and patient Ari on how they made the decision. I basically went through the same evaluation process, I wish I have watched it before my research, it would be much easier deciding!😂 I think for BAV and our age, this is probably the best option if you are not doing Ross. You can also seek multiple opinions and if they agree, that is a good sign. Hope this helps you:https://youtu.be/mbVTFGTOZjY?si=KgFtsuUp_4j4dmB6

Emily Parks  I can't thank you enough for that video, as I had already been doing research over the past several days I had come to what I thought was the best one for me. The inspire resilia valve after seeing this video and listening to all that wad said I know that this is the one that will do best for me as it can take me to at least 70. I am very active and was before the end of January when this pulled me down so far that I can't even play with my grandson who's just two years old. I actually feel less stress and anxiety over this as I am going to be talking to my surgical team on Monday before I go into the hospital again thank you so much

Anna Ma  I’m so glad you find it helpful!! Make sure you discuss with your surgeon for valve-in-valve operation for the future that they will put a large enough size for you. My doctor gave me 25mm. I hope I will never need another ipen heart surgery again!😂