frank's Journal

Hi everyone, been awhile I hope everyone's doing well. So I finally was getting back to "normal" life and work and everything was going good til I suffered a major knee injury at work, Complex tear of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus extending into the root, horizontal tear in body of posterior horn, extrusion of the medial meniscus, large joint infusion, full thickness cartilage defect of the patellar apex...Band aid is not gonna fix it. What I am wondering is has anyone had this type of surgery after valve replacement? is it even possible to have surgery to repair it, to much risk involved, very hard to get answer during this covid, heck I injured knee on 6/26 other than ER visit I have only had 1 video doctor visit to date, I am finally seeing a Doctor in person on the 5th of August, I've just been in a leg immobilizer waiting.

So I havn't been posting much,trying to deal with all that follows surgery and just living, this has been one wild a-- roller coaster ride. Wow 8 months already, I would think by now I would be back to normal life but as I stated "roller coaster", I met with my neurologist yesterday and he has come to the conclusion that my shaky eyes and random stumbling will most likely be permanent.( I kinda figured this without his opinion), am I upset, no not really, my body and mind went thru a dramatic trauma, and the wonderful doctors at St Bernardines in San Berdo were able to bring me back, literally, I am greatful to and for them, my children still have adad, my wife a loving husband, for the most part I think the most upsetting thing is the weight I gained lol, I am leaving it up to GOD as to where I go from here, and I hope all the friends and people on HeartValve the same peace of mind, keep fighting!!!

Well it seems I am holding steady at best around 2.3 on my thinners,but the dosage is still very high, 10mg 4x's a week and 12.5mg 3x's a week. May 30th 2017 was my born again date I am healthy and strong again, alot of weight lifting and I can usually avg 20-30 miles walking on treadmill per week alone, still can't run though because eye's just won't handle that kind of movement, not sure they ever will again, anyone else suffering from eyes shaking with every step they take???

Hey everyone, it has been awhile,lol, so quick recap of my story, lastlate May I felt ill, doc said I had Pnhemonia, gave me a shoy in the hiney sent me home, 4 days later still feeling very ill and almost 0 sleep I drove to the local emergency room walked in and about 10 min after checking in was informed I was suffering from Congenial Heart Failure and it was bad, I believe them because an hour later my heart stopped... They being the awesome Docs they were saved me, performed emergency Aortic Valve replacement and saved my life Thank You, now because noone knew or could figure out what happened to my valve the CDC got involved and put me on an extreme batteryof Antibiotics even against my Cardiologist wishes and it kinda poisoned my body and caused damage to my noggin..( I now stumble alot and have sight issues) Everyting has been looking up eyes getting alttle better as time goes on but they still have me at home recovering which is driving me nuts, I want to go back to work but realize its too soon, with that said and we are up to par with me heres my new issue, I am building a very strong tolerance to my Warfarin, i was at 10mg a day now bumping up to 10mg 4 days a week, 15mg 3 days aweek,...Is there something else I am going to have to take if my tolerance keeps building, what would it be, what happens if I become 100% immune to the thinner, this makes me nervous...

So it looks like the vision problem is leaning towards Nystagmus and I guess if it is it is pretty much permanent if you get it the way I did, anyone familiar with it, and is studdering part of it???

Hey everyone :), and a big hello and how is all our friends thathave had surgery in last few days, I hope all went well with those first off, well I had my MRI yesterday, I actual think I was a nervous wreck going into the ube simply because even though they said my sternun rings were OK for an MRI, I still expected them to come flying out, :O...YAY still here, Rings,staples,wire whatever they are called, they are still intact where they belong and most importantly my MI came back clear. Bilateral eye Nystagmus, is the best guess to what I have developed, waiting for an Neurology appt is the next step, the shakes have not let up one bit and from what I have read,no cure only treatment to ease symtoms I guess, Anyone have this or know something? Either way I will deal with this hurdle when I get there, damn to late, here I am...

So many ideas going on in my head, so much helpful info on this forum, I have recomended it to my doc to tel heart patients about ths wonderful site, I have a beautiful wife and four awesome kids that love and listen to me, but heart surgery becomes a language of its own, and can be very hard for those who have not been through it to understand wha I am talking about...It sometimes feels like i'm just talking the same garble over and over,2 months after surgery and some will start to think that yo are the old you, you start to look like your old self, feel like your old self and want to be your old self, but yo are not and you must refrain from over doing it, I feel great in so many ways then yo just half to take a walk with me to realize am not, I am more like the guy walking home from the bar after a few to many, I sound normal, smell normal, standing still look normal, but walk like a drunk,I feel like I should be wearing a big ole shirt thats say's " NOT DRUNK, JUST GOOFY"....

Well I was supposed to meet with Dr Nazzal at St Bernadines, was excited as I am told he is one of the best!!! Quickly passed off to another Doc, oh well, I talked with my new Doc about the fact my face is numb from the top of the right ear to my jaw line for there is no record of it even though I have brought it up time and time again since the day after my surgery, I believe it is from the line that was put in my nek I really don't know but it has not gotten any better, I am staring to believe it is the cause of my (DR actually watched my eye's and seen what I am talking about, he called them tremors) eye tremors, has anyone else had or still deling with these, easiest way to describe it is hold hand in front of face and shake fingers back and forth fast, almost to the point of blurring them, this is what I see thru my eyes. It's very light to nothing when I sit and watch tv or work on my puter, but the more movement the worse it gets, and it has been with me from about 6 weeks after surgery and still going like the dmn energ bunny. They have ordered an MRI witch I thought was a no, no with my sternun wires??? I had a CT in the ER 2 weeks ago that came back clear, if my MRI shows nothing its off to a neurologist I guess, the one blessing that shows I am not making this up is my Cardiologist and my main Doc have both not noticed and documented seeing my eyes shaking in a way that they agree, there is a issue, just not sure wha it is. Anyone else have or had these? The great thing about it is drunks and myself walk normal in earthquakes...

What is with this vertigo stuff, anyone else get this??? They say it was meds, a cold, liver my be stressed by all the antibiotics I had to take, Today I am on 10mg war, 81chew,25mg metprolololololol only, and it has been almost a month since I finished my IV's I have had a CT 2weeks ago, clear, bp is 124/72, no diabeteis , still shaky vision when I walk or exercise or anything unless I am sitting still. frustrated by this . I am a heavy haul truck driver and if I can'tge rid of this I won't be, actually i am not sure if I even qualify to still hold a cdl after valve replacement...

I as most of you new to this am learning a whole new life style, I still have no clue what cused this to happen to me, there are several theories, Even my Doc's are stumped, but the thing is I was scared at first because not knowing what attackedme made them have to advise me all they could do is treat me for there best guess... This is what they did, the CDC let me go home a week after having my Aortic changed out with a shiny new metal one, ok but they also made me continue with a 6 week at home regement of intrvenious IV's, I was taking all the dmn Myacins, but hey I felt better and was looking ahead to living again, Until...Tada- best way to describe I guess would be to call it vertigo...