Patricia's Journal

Hello friends! Been awhile. Everything has been going great until about 3 months ago. I had BAV in June of 2017. Had an echo and ct scan in October. Found a 4 cm ascending aortic aneurysm. Follow up ct last week, results tomorrow. Is it u unusual to have an aortic aneurysm after BAV repair? Thank you

Had my INR checked on Thursday, it was 1.0 😳, I have an artificial valve INR is suppose to be 3 to 3.5. They have me taking the lovenox shots and increased my warfarin. I have not changed anything and I don’t eat greens, anyone else have this happen. Needless to say, it kinda freaked me. Thank you

Good morning my heart valve friends. Question, does anyone’s heart ever hurt? Today, every now and then I am getting a sharp aching pain in my heart. Just curious. Don’t want to get overly concerned as it is probably nothing. Thank you

Question regarding the flu. I am almost 7 months AVR. Flu is rampant in our area. Grandson just came down with it, had flu shot(lives with us part time), best friend has it, had flu shot, schools are being closed because of it. I have had a flu shot but evidently it is not protecting people. Are we with replacement valves, whether bio or artificial, at a higher risk? Just curious and it makes me a little uneasy. Appreciate any advice. Thank you

6 months ago today I had my life saving Aortic Valve Replacement. I am doing amazingly well. My first 5 weeks were pretty rough but once I got through that all was good. I have not been as active as I would like to be but I hope to get there. I have asthma and the metoprolol that I had to take for a few months really messed with my asthma and it has taken a while to get it back under control, which it now is, thank goodness. For those of you in the early stages of recovery, it will get better. For those of you with upcoming surgery, It is scary and I was very scared but I feel better than I have felt in years. I have an artificial valve and will be on blood thinner for the rest of my life and I still struggle with that, but thanks to the wonderful folks on this site, they are helping me through this and they all have great advice. Praising my Lord and Savior For allowing me more time to enjoy this wonderful life

Doing very well, but I have noticed I have heartburn/reflux quite a bit. Have any of you experienced this? What about alcohol, is it ok to have a couple of cocktails? I have arthritis and I have been given permission by my cardiologist to take one Aleve daily but have had to increase Zantac from once daily to twice daily. I do have an artificial aortic valve and am on Coumadin. Any help would be so appreciated. Thank you

Oh my goodness, I had no idea I would feel this well after only 2 months AVR. My first 4 to 5 weeks were a real struggle. My surgeon told me I would feel so much better but it was hard to realize when pain was so overwhelming. He was so right. I also did not realize how bad I felt prior to the surgery until now and being able to take a deep breath on demand is the best feeling ever. I want to hug my surgeons neck again and tell him how wonderful he is, I didn't let him know this on my last visit to him 4 weeks ago. Thank you, life is good and it is awesome to hear my sweet artificial valve clicking during the night.

I am 3 weeks post op today. I am still in quite a bit of pain. I developed an upper respiratory infection at 1.5 weeks post op and the coughing has just about killed me. I really feel like I have been set back in my recovery and needless to say depression is setting in. Still a lot of sleepless nights in a recliner. Please tell me all will be ok and a lot of this is normal. Thank you all so much

I just underwent AVR on June 8th, came home This past Tuesday. From what I have read, everyone else has scared prior to surgery as I was. I was in AFib after surgery and had to be shocked to get it back to sinus. I am home and I don't feel a whole lot better right now. Very sore, can't sleep or get comfortable. Stomach has been nauseous since I got home. Is this common? I am still scared about all this. I have artificial valve and dealing with get blood regulated and AFib medicine.. thank you for this site