kelley's Journal

I am currently post op AVR 18 days and post op pacemaker placement 14 days. I've Been home from the hospital 1 week and feeling a bit better everyday. My valve replacement involved more than expected. The day after surgery I was sitting up for 6 1/2 hours as expected, doing well I thought, when the nurse states" time to get back to bed" and quickly lifted me from the chair to the bed. I suspect they knew from monitoring that something was up, but at the time of moving me, my ventricle decided to stop beating regularly and I had to be plugged back into the temporary pacing that the surgeon put in place during heart surgery. The next morning, still in ICU , I asked that we try to up plug external pacer again as I had been fine the day before. ( I wanted to get out of bed , walk as scheduled) I remember it clearly....with hubby at my side and nurse just paces away (..and lots of bells and whistles) I self paced , unplugged ,sitting up in bed, for 40 minutes until my husband heard "Honey, I'm graying out" then I evidently blacked out, eyes open, as he walked around my bed, plugged me back into the external pacer, and met the nurse heading to my bed. I remember coming to thinking Id fallen alsleep for a short time. Jim told me I never closed my eyes. New experience for me as I had never truly passed out/blacked out before. Doctors gave me an extra 24 hours in ICU before pacemaker placement. I have yet to fully understand what has happened to my heart but my gifted surgeon, the best in South TX, stated that my valve was extremely fixed and domed, and that he had to take some large stitches as a result. (sorry...more info on that as I learn more. ) Swelling happened, and AV node blockage resulted. Healing may help I hope. On a lighter note, a friend suggested I name my pacemaker. Well.......working on that. Open to suggestions!! Maybe a pair of names, one for my new mechanical valve and one for my pacemaker. God is good and I am Blessed to be alive and out of hospital!!! On to healing, and new adventures! {*note: has this pacemaker thing happened to anyone else...it was not even on my radar.}

Hi there, Im Kelley, 56, who has known about my aortic stenosis my whole life. My Mom used to always worry about strep throat, etc. but mostly I've been asymptomatic until the last few years. Hiking in Colorado really brought up symptoms but this year even down here at sealevel i=I have been getting the "elephant on my chest" feeling. Echo shows stenosis is now moderate/severe and last week a Catheterization confirmed that my bi cuspid valve needed replacing but also that I have aortic coarctation previously undiagnosed. After a long weekend of googling and worrying the doctors decided it was a pseudo coarc, due to no symptoms at this time. MRI of my aorta documents this nicely and I got some cool images of my birth defect. Great news that its just my valve that needs to be fixed...yeah!! Puts it in perspective for sure! God is present through the doctors, friends , and my family. Thankful that my Mom always made me know to have health insurance, that I live in this great country, that I have access to great doctors, and that this thing is fixable. scheduled next week 10/7/16.