Ann's Guestbook

Anne, My heart my goes out to you. You know you are my very special friend, angel, mentor for work and my help on my spirital life..remember when I asked you what your life was before.. I felt the warmth and love that day..I thank you for all you have done for me and my family and being part of yours.. You have been very heavy on my heart lately now I know why.. I love you and and am praying for you to win your fight. . I will keep in touch. Love always Alice Nicola Acosta & family

Hi Ann Thanks for signing my guestbook. Like you, I kept this site a secret from my family and friends. Well, not quite true. I talked about the site all the time but I didn\'t let anyone know they could read what I wrote until just recently and until I figured the worst was over. Perhaps I was being over-protective as I tried to keep my fears hidden from those closest to me and here I could share and let it all out. This was my sounding board and still is. That\'s a very good point about learning to love and accept the new you. If you are pretty functional perhaps there is still something you can do to improve some of those functions you feel are lacking. Don\'t ever give up. You can work with \"alive\" so try and keep that in mind. Cheers. Cheryl, Ontario

Hi Ann Nice to meet you. Sorry to hear you have been experiencing some difficulties and hopefully very soon you\'ll get to the bottom of it and then the doctors will know what to do to help you return to good health. We can drive ourselves crazy with worry as we move through the testing stages. Try and stay positive. Good luck. Cheryl, Ontario

Dear Ann Taking initiate is your second name! I am happy to see you showing the same positivity by initiating and launching this communication platform where your friends and family can get updates about you and stay in touch with you. I hope my family and I could possibly see you this summer in person. I hope to see you in person soon. Regards Cyril

Hi Ann, I\'m glad to find you on this site, but am sorry to hear about the problem you\'re having. I had a mitral valve replacement done in January of this year and now have a St. Jude mechanical valve. I\'ve been healing and recovering pretty well, aside from a couple of episodes of severe dizziness and vertigo about a month after my surgery. My cardio wanted to rule out a blood clot or small stroke as the cause of my \"episodes\" so he ordered a CAT scan of my brain, which was negative. I\'ve had no more problems since then, aside from a little light-headedness at times. Since you also have a mechanical valve I assume you\'re on anticoagulant therapy. How is that going for you? My INR level has been up and down a lot. I guess that\'s not uncommon at first, before it gets stabilized. I find myself worrying a lot about whether my INR is too high or too low, but I get it checked every couple of weeks and am getting a re-check tomorrow. Best of luck with your upcoming tests, Ann. It\'s pretty scary stuff you\'re dealing with, I know. But you\'re getting it checked out and that\'s good. Warm wishes, Susan Murphy (Overland Park, KS)