Cheryl's Heart Valve Journal

The Beta Blocker reduces my heart rate considerably and that's just half a pill so this morning my rehab nurse reduced the expected heart rate to be more in line with my new numbers. My resting pulse rate has dropped considerably to the 50's - can you just imagine how mellow I must be? I still find I don't have a lot of energy so perhaps I'm just not used to being on this drug yet. If this is something I must stay on for a long period of time I do hope I get more pep.

On the positive side I rarely feel any of the more turbulant palpitations that I felt in the past and I haven't felt much, if any, of the severe pressure on my chest while walking.

I have to admit I have relaxed about getting my INR checked as regularly as I did in the beginning and after reading Duane's journal yesterday, I got up and got it done immediately.

Hope everyone is enjoying as sunny a day as we are here in Ontario.

Thought I should just write this down for future reference for the ladies. If you are at all concerned about personal privacy, I more than highly recommend pj's for the hospital rather than nighties.

With a sternotomy you are not allowed to put any pressure on your hands because of the pressure that then puts on your chest. To get out of bed you are shown how to use your elbow to bring yourself up to a sitting position and then swing your legs over. If you have a nightie on you cannot hold your body weight and straighten the nightie out before getting out of bed. Once you have the catheter removed, you should be able to be helped into some pj bottoms which keeps you properly covered for all instances.

I kept the hospital gown as a top until most of the tubes were removed and then pj tops, preferably button ones, are still very convenient for incision care etc.

Flushable wipes for personal hygiene. It will be many days before you get to have a shower or are up to a good personal wash, so using flushable wipes at least keeps you decently clean and being flushable, they aren't landing in the open garbage.

I-pod and book. Bringing your own music will help enormously in keeping you focused elsewhere and calm when needed. You may be taken out for various tests and it's nice to have something to do. Sometimes it's hard to concentrate on the TV or the TV may accidentally get pushed out of your way and for the first while, you aren't going to be able to retrieve it yourself. I kept my I-pod in a little cloth pouch safety-pinned to my pj bottoms for security and easy access. I still happen to have diaper pins around so I used one of those - a 37 year old antique. I also found ear wires that held the earphones so they didn't fall out when I was resting.

Socks. My feet got cold and if I had socks on and had to get up on my own rooting around for my slippers, at least something was on my feet. Being on the bloodthinner really made me cold.

I had each day's pj's in large Ziploc baggies and left them all at home. Each day my husband brought me in a fresh Ziploc and I put my laundry in the bag and returned it so I wasn't building up a huge wardrobe at the hospital.

I've answered a couple of ladies on things I highly recommended packing for the hospital so thought I'd jot it down here too. Hope it's helpful to some.

I started my Beta Blockers last Thursday. The doctor said they may cause me to be tired so I could either start at one pill and reduce to half or start at the half and move up. I started at the half and so far, so good. I haven't really noticed any of my former irregular heart beat symptoms but I am a little tired and lethargic and my pulse has dropped considerably. Sitting here typing it's 55 bpm, down from 77-80ish. Don't think I should attempt the full pill or I may just fall over. Tara suggested I split the pill between morning and evening where I would be getting the full affect but not all at once. These pills don't look as if they will split into quarters easily but I'm going to give it a try. Can't hurt. Thanks Tara. When I'm at the Mall on Friday I'll be giving this pill the full workout and hopefully it has done the trick. Should I be worried about the drug induced low pulse rate? My rehab nurse is back from holidays next week so hopefully she will know the answer.

My INR was down a little this week so I have to increase my pills every other day for a bit. I was indulging in broccoli and spinich on the weekend and forgot to up my pills a tad. I got caught.

Otherwise, I'm feeling pretty good right now, especially if we have these palpitations and live fish under control. I can see where people start taking uppers and downers because if I've pretty much got things under control, I may just need a pill to pep me up and when that happens, perhaps there's an easy one for diet. Now that I mention it, I've had a couple of sleepless nights - perhaps a gravol for that. I will need a larger pill container.

Hi Everyone

Those of you who have said you were suffering post-op palpitations and irregular heart beat - this may be of interest to you.

I wore a heart monitor day and night for two weeks and today got some results. I have palpitations, totally irregular heart beat, pressure on my chest and sometimes I feel as if I have a live fish in my chest when the palpitations are really violent. I have been having some variation of these symptoms up to 14-16 times a day and they were driving me to distraction.

The doctor suggested my heart has received a trauma in the form of the operation and it hasn't been able to settle down into a nice rhythm yet so for the next six weeks he's putting me on a Beta-Blocker (Novo-Bisoprolol). He said it should eventually settle down so let's see what the next six weeks brings.

Pills. I'm happy with pills. Bring on the pills. Anything but going back to the hospital.