Nap's Journal

Richard Munson  I would not answer a dead end question and i don’t want to answer is a poor option as well. So whats next, have you ever had a cold? A little too intrusive for me. 

Matthew Malooly  Yeah that's a bizarre and pretty odorous question.  I've never seen that on an interview and would question the intention of an employer who feels that's necessary.  To me it would make me worry how they'd respond in the eventuality that inevitable life complexities prevent you from working the way they'd like.   I would view the term "disability" as disability from an employment standpoint, which is more of protected status involving their presumed concern you'd be making disability claims all the time.  I wouldn't consider open heart surgery materially different from that standpoint than needing to be off a couple days for a colonoscopy, if there was no underlying disability that prevented you from working before surgery, or complication after you recovered from surgery.  I'd never lie about something like that, but I'd feel comfortable saying no, and confident in my defense of my answer if it ever came to it.  Hope that helps.  I'd say follow your conscience - if you couldn't look them in the eye and defend your answer, perhaps rethink how you're answering.

Marie Myers  I  don’t consider having had heart surgery to be a disability. It has not impaired my life in any way that I see… Kind of an intrusive question..

Brooke Howze  This question is on all applications. Choose what you wish, it isn't a huge deal, it is just to keep track that they are hiring disabled people. When in doubt, choose "I DO NOT WANT TO ANSWER."

Richard Munson  Still seems pretty intrusive to me when the current direction  seems to be you cannot even ask if you are a he or a she. When my wife was hiring not that long ago i recall a new hire going out on maternity leave soon after because it was improper to ask if she was pregnant during the interview. 

Marie Myers  To show you how things have changed, when I was interviewed for my first anesthetist job in Florida, my interviewer asked if I was on birth control, because he didn’t want to hire me if I was going to get pregnant soon! This was 1981. We have come a long way, baby, but we backslide every now and then…

Rose Madura  My cardiologist says that even though I've had surgery to fix my heart problems, I'm still a heart patient.  Personally, I would just answer honestly. 

Susan Lynn  Unless someone's health condition/ history is part of a Bonifide Occupational Qualification, airline pilot, etc., then it is unlawful to ask specific questions during the interview process under the Americans with Disabilities Act/ Amendments Act. The lawful way to ask would be, 'Is there any reason you would not be able to perform the essential duties of this position with or without a reasonable accommodation? ' If this information is being collected separately from your application, it might be the company's intention to use it for applicant statistical information only for the purposes of Affirmative Action reporting. Good luck!

Nap Garcia  To be fair, I did leave out the part in the beginning that said they were a federal subcontractor and needed to meet that a percentage of their workforce be individuals with disabilities. Answers are voluntary and kept confidential, and they referenced a federal regulation on their reason for asking it. I did not put that part into the picture because I wanted to keep the employer's information private, but the second part I showed is common in applications for employers who may be federal contractors or subcontractors, as Brooke said above. I was just wondering what to answer, if we're considered with a disability after going through heart repair.

Rita Savelis  I think that question is for statistics. Also because some large companies can get tax breaks for hiring the disabled. I don't think it's important. It depends on how you personally define "disabled". There are many in the general population who are disabled in some way that does not stop their ability to work and function. A large company would like to hire that person. I would not call myself disabled but I have had 2 valves replaced and had cancer 3 times. 

Richard Munson  Now that i know i’m disabled can i apply for a special parking permit. Something tells me i’d get the big no way. 

Lise Bowles  I am not sleeping Amy unless the seriously drug me and even then it's so painful if any junk collects in my lungs I want to die trying yo cough it up....I am at CC. Ouch!

Nap Garcia  I'm seven weeks post op so I'm sleeping just fine actually. Averaging more than I usually do, almost 7 hours. But I make it a point to sleep at a set time because of my rehab schedule, which is 3x a week in the morning (M,W,F).

Amy Dorsey  I'm only 2.5 weeks post op so yes I'm still on it. I'm interested in finding out if your heart rate is still unusually high. I'm having the same issue with mine. I don't see my cardiologist until next week for the first time. Mine was 47-55 before surgery and now it's high 90's low 100's.

  amy used to be 59 bpm and rarely changed. now i am above 100 everyday. they say it will go down just early.

Wanda Mroz  Amy mine was high in the 90s for awhile, then slowly decreased after a several weeks to a couple of months. I do take an aspirin everyday but it's prescribed 81mg.

Joshua Trimberger  My surgeon told me today that I will be on some form of aspirin for the life of the valve as it has been his experience that clotting still can happen and clog a leaflet in the future so he just has his patients take either the 325 mg or a baby aspirin for the life of the valve.
Amy, It took me 3-4 weeks for my HR to calm down. They had even kept me in the hospital an extra day or two to try and get it to come down a bit. They said it will come down as the swelling in the heart goes down and as your heart learns that it no longer has to work as hard. Your body is also still under a lot of stress which will also increase the numbers as well.

Nap Garcia  I'll be 6 weeks post op this Thursday. My heart rate is still around 98-99 bpm, not too much of a difference from 100 bpm but I just started cardia rehab. I hope it does go down with time. My old cardiologist office still calling me to come in because they're concerned about my heart rate, they haven't gotten the hint yet that they're fired. I gave the same echo results to my new cardiologist and she said not to worry about it, give it more time and see how it is after 12 weeks of rehab. Go figure. But she did tell me to continue 325 mg aspiring daily. I was hoping I could just be on the low dosage program (81 mg).

Nap Garcia  I will be interested to find out from you who just had surgery how your heart rate is after one month. Mine goes down to mid-80's when I'm asleep or totally relaxed, but while I'm awake it still hovers to mid to high 90's.

Joshua Trimberger  I'm one month out today and according to the app that keeps track of my HR throughout the day. The last three days my HR has ranged from 61-101,61-115, and 56-99. The higher ends are when I'm in rehab and the average would be mid 70's and low 80's depending on the day.

Darlene Smith  I am 3 weeks out and my HR went from mid 60s at rest before surgery to mid 80s to mid 90s. Really kind of annoying, but from what I understand, completely normal.

Tina Maroon  Nap I did not have time and I didn't think to look up the videos about Open Heart Surgery. But I did so after I recovered. I also found this website a few months after my surgery. I wish you successful surgeries and speedy recoveries to everyone having upcoming surgeries.

Rita Savelis  Well, I'm all for being happy and optimistic but a common side effect of OHS is feeling down for awhile no matter what you do. I'm happy now, but there were months when being happy was out of my control....

Nap Garcia  Agree Rita, I had my down moments too, it's understandable. But I think what's paramount at the start of the road to recovery is to have post-op care that is attentive and positive, which I had from my surgeon's team. Once I was discharged from the hospital and had the follow up with my cardiologist's team, they didn't seem as optimistic and in fact were pessimistic despite my surgery being considered a 100% success. Sharon up above posted earlier that she had an elevated heart rate, and her GP, and my own surgeon, told me that's typical of OHS, just has to be monitored. Whereas my cardiologist's staff said it's something of concern, ordered me an EKG, an echo the next day, and another EKG the following day based on the echo (does that even make sense?). I didn't like the revolving door they were putting me through and the negative way they were presenting my case to me, so much so that they were the ones stressing me out, so I went to find another cardiologist for a second opinion, not too fast to pull the trigger with additional tests and medications. Sometimes it just takes time for the heart to settle and heal.

Rita Savelis  Cardiologists certainly do not have the same training or personality-type as surgeons, and the two don't always communicate well, with fault on both sides. It's a hard job for both, and patients have different needs and ways they want doctors to be. Ultimately, surgeons don't do the all post OHS monitoring that continues for years afterwards, leaving cardiologists to handle the side effects. Personally I saw my GP a lot after surgery just to have someone who was available to see me and reassure me about little things.
I also had a female surgeon and a female cardiologists in hospital.... and there is definitely something wonderful about doctors with a female sensitibity. I haven't seen any women doctors promoted on this site...!
Take care Nap, and stay optimistic!

Nap Garcia  As I mentioned previously I have an elevated heart rate in the low 100's and my current cardiologist wanted to run a battery of tests which was leading me to a road I didn't want to go, including blood thinners, for someone who had a valve repair. So I went to see another cardiologist who was highly recommended to me, of the osteopathic kind and yes she happened to be female, and unlike my present cardiologist who tries to tell me I should do this test and that test, she took the time to explain why I had the elevated heart rate and why that was considered normal after open heart surgery, as long as I'm not breathless, excessively fatigued, have a fever or some other abnormal symptom that doesn't make me feel good, it can be given time to settle and she actually cleared me to enter rehab. Rather than have a cardiologist that provides treatment "by-the-book" or of the cookbook variety that treats you the same like every other patient, I want one that leads and treats you towards positive recovery and doesn't cast doubt on your health, particularly if I'm feeling good, versus keeping me feel like a patient. I'm glad I sought a second opinion.

Corey Sines  I Agree with the 2nd Opinion. Give it some time if everything else is OK. About week 5-6 after my repair before things were getting back to normal. I had some heart rate issues too.

Denise Campbell  I had high hr after my mitral replacement. Call you Doctor. My cardiologist increased my metoprolol. My hr was like yours at rest. Now I take 50 mg a day and it stays high 80s.

Patti Talbot  Mine was high too. I went in to surgery at 62 and came out between 100-120. I was so frustrated. Now 3 months post op it's going down while I am weaning off metropolol. I'm told it's really common.

  I am curious so I will ask. Do any of you take additional supplements? There are so many supplements that can help with this kind of thing and I use them daily I'd suggest talking to your cardiologist 1st although they may not know that much about these . However the canned answer from a lot of docs is they believe in science and they just keep prescribing. I admit I do take a couple things that are prescribed but I supplement that with other natural things so I don't have to have more prescriptions.

Nap here are 4 things that can help with that and fatigue. Talk to your cardiologists as well. I will maintain these as part of my regime post surgery because I know they work. Each one has a direct healthy affect on the heart
1. Ubiquinol commonly called CO enzyme Q10
2. Carnitine
3. Magnesium
4. D-Ribose _ I swear by this one.
5. Garlic
6. Hawthorn Berry
7. A good multi Vitamin

Here is a link to some light research.
http://www.drsinatra.com/best-heart-health-nutrients-to-consider/

Nap Garcia  Thanks for everyone's input. I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place because my surgeon's nurse practitioner said I was in good health and read the initial cardiologist EKG and didn't seem overly concerned. But now my cardiologist wants to do another EKG after my echo (which btw, an echo doesn't really give rhythm results), so he wants to do another EKG. My wife, who's an RN, and I are afraid he's going to prescribe metoprolol and a blood thinner too soon (recall I'm only three weeks post op). When my heart rate shot up to 140 bpm while I was in the hospital, they put me on some IV med to slow it down and it slowed all the way down to 50 bpm and I felt awful for those 12 or so hours, then they took me off the IV I started feeling better but my rate was between 80-100 bpm, but at least sinus rhythm. Now three weeks post op and two weeks after discharge, I seem to have stayed around the 100 bpm range, but I feel need to give it more time. I can see him outfitting me with a holter monitor for 24 hrs again or longer, as an EKG is just a snapshot at that point in time. So if it's really that common, why can't I wait a little longer since I don't even feel that bad, and the fatigue isn't over bearing, I still take daily walks, I think I'm just starting to feel restless and lethargic and ready to head back into the office. I don't want to be dependent on beta blockers and blood thinners, I thought the whole point of a valve repair was that I wouldn't have to use those. Again, thanks for everyone's feedback and thanks for the nutrient info Dan.

  Gosh but now I feel bad I just finished reading several articles that if you take warfrin you should not take any that I mentioned. I hope to God I don't have to take blood thinners. Seemed like anything good for you interacted poorly with it or the potential to act poorly with it. Geesh!

Wanda Mroz  Nap I was put on thinners before discharge so it's not uncommon... Just protecting you from stroke. Once your heart heals they can put you on a heart monitor to see if you can come off.

Terry Shermeister   Hi Nap: Yes, my heart rate actually went up to about what yours did. My cardiologist was not that concerned and told me to relax that it would go down. It did just that. It took a few weeks but now is at 60--62. My average rate before surgery was in the high 40's due to my exercise. I swam, biked, walked, and did yoga regularly.

I did rehab. However, my rehab consisted of going just once per month for about 6 months. My rehabist thought it best because I was an exercise junkie, and the group that was with me did not like to do the cardio and needed a lot of encouragement. So it worked best that I would just schedule a time and go in and work with her. She was excellent and pushed me as well.

I did suffer some ups and downs during the year. My blood pressure elevated and I needed to have med adjustments. There are things that arise during recovery that are not told to you, but each situation is different. Good luck on your recovery and I think you'll do very well.

Nap Garcia  @Dan, don't feel bad, you were just trying the help. I do want to avoid blood thinners as much as possible. If I had a valve replacement with a mechanical valve, then that would be a different story.

@Wanda, I was prescribed 325 mg aspiring for next 30 days to avoid blood clots, and take ibuprofen for pain as well, both act as thinners, so I wonder why my cardiologist and his nurse, are saying that may not be enough. As I mentioned in my previous posts, I will be having a follow up with another cardiologist.

@Terry, thanks for your response. It's great that your cardiologist was patient with your condition, as mine is in rush to run tests, prescribe meds, run tests, and so forth, sort of a hit and miss approach to see what sticks, which is why I may be looking for another cardiologist. At first I was reluctant, but I do see the benefit of going into a cardiac rehab program for controlled and monitored heart performance. Thanks again.