Terry's Journal

Tomorrow is the 6th anniversary of my aortic valve replacement surgery. I find it amazing not to have to think about my heart at all. My cardiologist said that the thickening caused by the faulty valve is lessening each year. In other words my heart is slowly healing. My stress test was excellent. I am thankful for each day I have as a gift from my heart valve surgery. I am 77 this year.

Time goes by so fast I have trouble remembering what year I had my aortic heart vale replaced. Had to come to the forum to check. It was five years ago on September 24th, and I am grateful to be here, be healthy, and enjoying the life I would not have had without my surgery. Best of luck to all of you going through this now. Hard to believe, but someday it will be so far in the background, like me, you will have trouble remembering the date.

Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of my heart valve surgery. I'm 75 now and the memory fades each year so that I had to get on this web site to remind myself when it was. I go to the cardiologist twice a year. Last series of tests showed the heart muscle returning to normal size. Thank God.

Just touching base to let all of you who are anticipating heart valve surgery or who have gone through it. It\'s two years for me now, and it has turned out to be the best health decision I (and my doctors) could have made. Except for the fading scar, I can just about forget it. I\'m now 73 and glad to be alive. I have way more energy than 5 years ago and no residual side effects. Best of luck to all.

A quick visit to encourage those of you out there who are still worrying either pre-surgery or just having had surgery. It gets better all the time. It\'s now 17 months for me, and I seldom think about it anymore. I never though that at age 72 I could regain so much energy, but the surgery did that for me. It wasn\'t immediate. It was gradulal, but someone commented to me the other day, \"Where do you get all that energy?\" I hadn\'t thought about it, but the comment was accurate. My energy had been decreasing for years, and now I am going gangbusters. I only have had one reminder of the surgery. A few days ago I overdid typing on the computer while sitting in the same position and got a backache. Then it seemed like my arthritis kicked up, so I did something I hadn\'t done in a year. I took a pain pill. The next day I had an ocular migraine. I\'m sure it was an aftereffect of the pain pill. That made me wonder if the reason so many of us got ocular migraines in the few months after surgery was aftereffects from having taken pain pills. Any information on that?

Well, it\'s actually 52 weeks today and not a year until tomorrow. What can I say except that I thank God every day for my life\'s having been saved with this remarkable surgery. The sternotomy scar has faded except for the small section below my bra which developed a touch of keloid. The part that shows has almost faded completely. I am in no pain, have tons of energy, and am doing more than I could dream of before this surgery. To those of you considering a sternotomy, don\'t fear it. It ends up not being a big deal, and within a short time causes no pain. As Ruth Howell said in her recent post, the backache that we all get is worse. It\'s also unavoidable since to operate on your heart they have to pin you to a table for hours. But since they let you have painkillers for it, and it stops completely soon enough, so it\'s well worth the occasional killer backache to have a new life. We just came back from my 55th HS reunion. Each year they read the people who have died since the last reunion. About 25% of my class has passed on since we graduated, and I sure was glad not to be on that list. Aortal valve replaced 9/24/10 at Florida Hospital South in Orlando, FL. Surgery by Nayer Khouzam. What a wonderful surgeon. Cardiologist Robert Boswell. An even more wonderful doctor. Best of luck to all of you. God bless and hope that your surgery is as successful as mine. Terry

Here it is, 7 months after surgery and a week after my 72nd birthday. I am so glad I had a full sternotomy right off the bat at my local heart center. The full sternotomy gives the surgeon a good view of everything, and the healing process really isn\'t onerous. I know several people in the \"zipper club\" and the incision is something you don\'t thnk about after about 3 months. If it weren\'t for the updates I get on everyone who\'s still recovering, I wouldn\'t think about the heart surgery at all. Those of you who worry about the size of the incision, as long as you\'re in a good surgeon\'s hands, it\'s a not-to-worry item. Best of luck to all of you in recovery, and prayers and positive thoughts to Ruth. Oh heavens. Of all people to have to go through complications. Although I know all of you just from the web site, I feel close to you and worry about you all. Ruth\'s story is devastating. I know she\'s not religious, but I for one, am praying hard for her. Please, God, help this woman through this.

Age 28. Bought first house. While hanging curtains noticed windows needed cleaning. Cleaned every window in the house inside and out even climbing ladder to get 2nd story windows. While cleaning noticed that the wood frames around the windows needed repainting inside. Bought paint and did every window in the house. Age 40. Relocated to a different state and bought house. While hanging curtains noticed windows needed cleaning. Cleaned every window in the house inside and out. Noticed widow frames needed painting. Bought paint. Told hubby to paint them. He didn\'t. Hired a painter. Eventually they got done. Age 60. Finally could afford dream house. On huge protected lot, so no curtains needed on windows, but noticed windows needed cleaning. Cleaned all inside windows. Hired someone to clean outside. Age 72. Downsided to more manageable property when widowed a few years ago. Today changed curtains only in bedroom and bathroom which have french doors (tiny panes of glass). Washed curtains, dried them and while re-hanging them noticed windows needed cleaning. Got through one door. Noticed they needed repainting. Gave up after one door. Put note up for cleaning woman to wash other two french doors. Called handyman to paint doors. Ah, how times have changed....me.

Today is the 6 month anniversary of my surgery. I wish for all of you that are waiting that you may have successful surgeries soon, and for all of you who are just starting to recover, that you may soon reach the 6 month mark and begin to not think about it anymore since life becomes so normal.

Fifth anniversary of aortic valve surgery today. Got blood test results. All great except vitamin D (and I live in the Sunshine state) so have to take 2000 iu a day. Feeling is returning to my toes due to the renewed blood flow to the whole body, so peripheral neuropathy has improved as a result of the surgery. Re-joined the Y to get it further moving. They were happy to see me back. Onward and upward we fly!

It\'s almost 5 months since my aortal heart valve was replaced. Saw the cardiologist today and he said, \"I now declare you normal.\" Good. I was worried I\'d be classified as abnormal. Kidding aside, he said all my tests are now normal. My heartbeat is solid and steady, all peripheral symptoms are gone, my blood pressure is 120/65, etc. On the other hand he also said this: the EKG does not change quickly after heart surgery. It takes 5 years for the heart to repair itself and the EKG will change only very gradually each year. Scar therapy. He said to use a steroid cream on the scar to prevent the scar tissue from building up. He suggested a cortizone cream that you can buy in any drugstore. (Servant Girl and Patient, please note). He also said that people who\'ve had their hearts repaired should see their cardiologists every 4 months even if they have been declared \"normal.\" Happy healing everyone. This was good news to get on Valentine\'s Day, and I hope everyone on this list is declared \"normal\" in the months to come.

There are a lot of people who report difficult times after surgery. We all have our stories, I as well as everyone else, but here\'s how I put it all into perspective. Three years ago, being widowed, I met and married a widower. He had been in Vietnam in the full battle part of the war during 1968 and 1969. A lot of people don\'t realize that Air Force people are not all pilots, and many of them are on the ground during the war and facing the enemy. My husband was one of those. He was an AF major responsible for other lives as well as his own. A week after we were married, I woke to hear my husband shouting in his sleep, \"Close the gap, close the gap! Watch the machine gun!\" I woke him up and asked what was wrong. He mumbled something, shook his head and went back to sleep, tossing and turning. In the morning I asked what it meant. He said that on that day his group was overrun and a lot of his men were lost. Later in that the long battle, my husband was also hit and spent months in the hospital having his body rebuilt. Yet, when he has one of those nightmares, it\'s not the hospital stay, not the pain of the surgeries, not the pain of the skin grafts, and not the the pain of the injuries that cause it. It\'s the horror of the war. Has there ever been anyone going through heart valve surgery who says, \"It was so awful I wake up having nightmares reliving it.\" The answer is \"no.\" Yet many war vets have recurring nightmares the rest of their lives. So I reason that the experience of heart surgery is not so bad as to give one nightmares. Sure it\'s no walk in the park, but it\'s not war. It makes our lives better. It doesn\'t give us recurring nightmares with the horror of it. So take heart. (pun intended) Heart valve surgery is no picnic, but it\'s the kind of painful experience that fades with time. Sort of like the pain of childbirth but with no baby to bring home. :-) Hope this helps some of you still worried about the surgery and others who are on the mend. Happy HEART DAY (Valentine\'s) to everyone. Terry C.

I just got this note from a friend of mine. It involves an experimental heart valve and a procedure developed in Europe and being tested in the US. When this is perfected, very few people will ever have to have sternotomies again. The valve is inserted into the heart through the same process as cardiac catherization. Right now the procedure is only being done on very high risk patients. There are many other procedures they\'re experimenting with which were developed all over the world and are being tested here. Here\'s my friend\'s note: \"From Sally: My 92 year old dad came home from the hospital Tues. night - just 5 days after experimental heart valve replacement. He\'s almost back to his old self.\" What\'s remarkable about Sally\'s dad\'s surgery is that it\'s being done on people who are way too risky for normal heart surgery. It\'s truly an amazing process. Interestingly, Sally\'s going to need aortal valve surgery herself and will have to go through the full procedure we all had to go through because she\'s not at risk enough for this trial program. Anyone interested in learning more about this clinical trial can check out the Edwards Lifesiences website. Here\'s the main Edwards website: http://www.edwards.com/default.htm And here\'s the partner trial web site: http://www.edwards.com/products/transcathetervalves/sapienthv.htm

Here it is, 4 months since surgery, and I can\'t say just how normal I feel--totally--as the kids would say. No restrictions, no fatigue, no pain, and a remarkable new feel about life. Before I had the surgery if I thought of something new that needed doing, I\'d avoid it. Now it\'s gangbuster and let\'s get it done. Also, I\'m having a ball with my new iPhone. I don\'t make a lot of calls, but I love all the other things it can do like keep my to-do lists, shopping lists, calendar, check email, etc. It\'s a hoot! Hope you all are doing as well. Terry C.

Well, gang, it has taken me a few days but I\'ve found this encouraging piece on the internet. It\'s from Duke Medical Center, so I think it\'s trustworthy. \"the researchers said, since one out of every 12 patients who undergo heart surgery suffers serious kidney impairment. While most cases of this kidney injury are transient...\" In other words, yes, it\'s possible to suffer kidney damage during heart surgery, but for most people it goes away. It also seems (long article version) as if those who will have the most serious problems do so before leaving the hospital, so I conclude that I\'m OK and things will get better as time goes on. Will update everyone after specialist visit on Monday.

I lost a kidney to a giant tumor 29 years ago. As recently as this past summer my kidney function was better than just good. The doctors all said they\'d like their patients with 2 kidneys to have such good creatinine levels. Today I went for an MRI because my cardiologist was concerned that I had a lot of blood in the urine for the short time I was on coumadin (3 weeks). I\'ve had microscopic blood in the urine ever since I lost that kidney and they never could figure out what caused it. OK, now what happened today. The technician said she couldn\'t do the part of the test with contrast because my creatinine was 1.8. Last summer it was .74 and the cutoff line for contrast is 1.6. I was stunned to say the least. So, my question is, does anyone else out there have one kidney, and was their kidney function messed up 3 1/2 months after the surgery? I\'m guessing it\'s all the post-surgical meds they have me on until the heart stabilizes, but I won\'t know for sure till I see the kidney doctor next week. Anyone else who\'s had to deal with one kidney through this, please let me know.

My brother was 78 yesterday--same day my granddaughter was 12. My sister-in-law provided us with this great picture of the two of us. Just wanted you all to see it.

My 3 month checkup was delayed due to the holidays (would have been Dec 24th) and my husband\'s foot surgery. Saw the cardiologist yesterday. He said: - Although we see a tremendous increase in our quality of life, progress,etc., in the first 3 months, usually you\'re so glad to be getting back to normal that you think the 3 month results are \"normal.\" - He said the 3 month results are JUST THE BEGINNING. The heart continues to improve after that. Actually, by 6 months, we\'ll wonder how we thought 3 months was so terrific because we\'ll feel twice as good. - He said the heart continues to heal for 5 years. Once the repairs, new valves, etc., have been done, the damage that those problems caused the heart begin to recede. By the 5 year mark, the heart will have recovered from most of its damage of things like aortic stenosis,thickening of the wall, etc. - Despite that, he cautioned me not to lift heavy things or push furniture around (guess he knows me well!) until the 6 month period has been reached. It takes that long for the sternum to heal. - If I develop coughs, don\'t assume it\'s a cold. There are vestigial fluids that remain in the heart area for 6 months, but happily taking ibuprofen for a couple of days will make them go away. - He said if you have artificial joints (Mine are knees) there may be some fluid retention there. Ibuprofen again, but if they are uncomfortable, see him about it. - But the best news I got was when I asked this question: Is there ANYTHING left that\'s wrong with my heart? And he said, \"Other than the fact that you\'ve just had heart surgery and it takes several months for the body to mend, the answer is NO! Your heart is fine, and you\'ll really begin to realize it in the next 3-6 months.\" -

Happy New Year to all on the HVS list. Let\'s hope that 2011 sees us all recovering to new levels and that all the people who discover that they need new valves find this site to help them through the process. Terry C

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it and Happy Holidays to those of you who just celebrate the season or any other holiday. The phone has been busy for hours this morning with greetings going back and forth. Hubby is right now talking to his son in AR. Isn\'t modern \"unlimited long distance\" wonderful? Hubby is now in 3rd day of recovery from foot surgery, and he\'s more able to do things for himself so I don\'t have to wait on him hand and FOOT! (sorry, I coudn\'t resist.) Since I had my 3 month anniversary yesterday, I\'ll taper off on posting unless something momentous happens. However, I\'ve flagged a lot of journals to hear how my heart-valve pals are progessing. Peace and love to all no matter which religion you worship and also to those who don\'t. Terry C

I\'m cheating again and writing a few hours before the actual anniversary. To those of you in the early stages who worry if you\'ll ever feel normal again, I\'m sending this encouraging update. Three months ago I had an aortic valve replaced through a full sternotomy. My husband did most of the housework, cooking, etc., for a couple of weeks. (Must confess I milked that.) Today my husband had a repair done to his foot--surgery that will keep him off his feet for a few weeks. Now I\'m more than well enough to be his full time caregiver until he can get back on his feet--no pun intended. I couldn\'t have done this 2 months ago, but today I\'m not only feeling normal but have more energy, strength, and stamina than before the operation. The top of the scar has faded so much that even when I wear V necks, people don\'t notice. There\'s no pain anywhere--not chest, not back. Life is good. Thank God. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. Hanukkah ended a couple of weeks ago, and that\'s why I\'m not saying \"happy\" that. Terry C.

Well, it\'s 12 weeks today, and next Friday will be exactly 3 months since my surgery. I\'ll write then, and after that I\'ll do a monthly update, but in the meantime, I\'ll read the journal postings to keep up with all of you. The most amazing part of all of this is I still can\'t believe I had a heart problem! Of course, I KNOW I did/do, but the \"Oh, no, not me\" feeling persists. Strange! If I didn\'t have that pink line to remind me, I still wouldn\'t believe it. Did anyone else notice this on their scars? The top part of my scar has almost completely faded, but the bottom part is still pink. I wear V-necked T-shirts, and it\'s hardly noticeable there, but the 3 drain holes and the lower part of the incision are still bright pink.

To all of you awaiting surgery and all of you who are patiently waiting for things to improve in the early stages, here\'s a note to cheer you up. It really gets better fast. It\'s 11 weeks for me today, and unless I stand in front of the mirror and look for the scar, I forget that I had surgery. Best of luck to all. Merry Christmas. Hanukkah is all over, so I haven\'t included that message here. For those of you who don\'t celebrate either holiday, we\'re all looking forward to the New Year. Keep getting healthier. Terry C

Saw the orthopedic surgeon today because my knees, which were replaced 5 years ago, seemed swollen and hurt somewhat. He said that if you have artificial joints and then open heart surgery, it\'s six months to a year before your body releases the fluids around the artificial joints. So even though I\'m 10 lbs below my pre-surgical weight and don\'t seem to be holding fluid in my ankles, feet, or anywhere else, my artificial knees are holding the fluid. Odd. But he said it\'s typical.

...after working all day to finish a holiday quilt for a great-granchild, helping hubby put protective cloths over all the plants because of the impending freeze, making supper, walking the dogs, and doing 3 loads of laundry you discover at 9:15 PM that there\'s a leak under the kitchen sink which has created a huge mess, caused stuff to stick to the shelf, and created rust rings around some cans. And then you still have the energy to clean it all up before watching the 10 PM news show! Now that\'s what I call recovery! Hope you all are doing well. Terry

I have now heard this from two different people from Germany. Both now live in the US and have family in Germany who have had heart surgery. Both INSIST that this is the way heart surgery patients are handled in Germany. First: They go to the hospital for surgery. They are kept in the hospital doing followup therapy and care for 18 to 21 days. THEN they are sent to a rehab facility which is like a spa FOR THREE MONTHS for physical rehab, diet advice, etc! Their spouses are sent with them since it\'s considered important for their spouses to understand the full procedure and help the spouse to recover. All this is at government expense! And it\'s not just heart disease that\'s treated this way. Bea (not her real name) A German-born woman I met at the quilt guild luncheon yesterday told me that her mother (in Germany) got really upset when Bea had a hysterectomy in the US and went home after 2 days. Bea\'s mother insisted that she needed to be hospitalized for at least a month to be sure she was out of danger! Bea reassured her mother that she was fine, but her mother called her daily for a month to be sure she wasn\'t in danger. Bea said that her sister recently had heart valve surgery in Germany and was hospitalized for 3 weeks. When the sister was sent to the rehab facility, she and her husband were put up in a small suite which had a sliding glass door overlooking the woods. Bea said that her sister could not open the door for more than 2 months because it was too painful to her chest. Bea said it\'s been 6 months now and her sister is still not back to normal although she was returned home after the prescribed 3 months of rehabilitation, diet instruction, etc. However, the family is not overly concerned since she\'s doing as expected by their standards! I tried to find a description of German heart care procedures on the internet, and there are several that describe how advanced they are using stents to open valves (!) and in some cases, robotics, but I couldn\'t find anywhere that it describes the followup rehab care. I did ascertain that people who have heart surgery in Germany are kept in the hospital for 18 days, though. I think of all of us on this journal site, some who went home after 2 days, some who flew to Cleveland and then flew home within a few days. I see how most of us wanted OUT of the hospital even though we got excellent care. Oh heavens! I felt like a laggard staying 6 days! Does anyone else have information about the German procedure of caring for heart surgery patients? Terry

Well, it\'s a couple of hours before it\'s truly 10 weeks, but I\'m sure nobody will mind. I\'m going to a quilting guild Christmas luncheon tomorrow and won\'t be back till mid-afternoon. Oddly, it\'s not my heart or back that troubles me anymore. It\'s my knees. I had a double knee replacement 4 years ago, and since the heart surgery, the left knee has been swelling and giving me troubling twinges. I have an appointment with the orthopedist to check on it next week. The day after the surgery both knees looked like watermelons. As all of you know, they sort of superhydrate you with an extra 20 lbs of fluid for the surgery, and all the extra fluid seemed to gather in my knees--well, maybe that\'s a little exaggeration, but it seemed so. The 20 lbs went away quickly (that was so weird to suddenly weigh so much and then so wonderful to lose it all in 2 or 3 days). However, the left knee still seems to have some fluid in there. Odd. By the way, I read an article and saw a video that said that the people most likely to have minimally invasive heart surgery are people without too much chest tissue. Anybody know if that\'s true? Obviously it doesn\'t affect me at this late stage, but I do remember the surgeon saying that he had to do the full sternotomy because my chest cavity was so large. (I could hardly be accused of having a \"big chest\" otherwise!) For activity I\'m still at the run-around-after-the-animals stage. I don\'t see my cardiologist for a few weeks to ask him about cardiotherapy. I\'m also not eager to exercise. LAZY! However, I have been hard at work qauilting holiday presents--both Hanukkah and Christmas. Every grandchild under the age of 15 and every great-grand will be able to snuggle under a \"grandma original.\" And I\'ve gotten a lot of exercise walking around fabric stores!!!! Terry