Chuck's Posts

Hello everyone, this is my first time back to the journal in 8 years. I hope you all take that as good news!! this forum really helped me get through all of the emotions tied up in knowing you need heart surgery. The best thing I can tell you is that you can CHOOSE to heal and follow the directions of your doctors. My wife is a cardiac RN Supervisor, so I didn't have a choice!! Today is 4 days past my 10 year anniversary of my Aortic Valve replacement. I chose mechanical since I was 44 at the time. Many others were concerned about the requirement of Warfarin with a mechanical valve, but it has been easy. I feel great, and since I would not expect any of you going through this now to have looked back far enough to see my posts, I'm going to plagerize my 2 year post with a few adjustments. But in short, I wish you all speedy healing and peace of mind. You CAN do this!! All I can say is WOW!! Ten years ago on 3/20/2012, a team opened me up, cut out my faulty aortic valve and weak ascending aorta and replaced them with manmade materials. Many people had told me it would take 9 months to a year to feel normal. It really took about 6 months. Prior to surgery, I had a resting heart rate of 90 bpm. Now it's in the high 60's. I had no idea that 'normal' could feel so good. I had known about my defective heart valve since I was 13. I knew it would slowly get worse and would eventually need to be replaced. The loss of stamina was incessantly slow. So slow that I never felt it creep up on me. I just knew that I could no longer even keep up with those older than me that appeared to be in worse shape. I spent about 5 hours being worked on, on a Tuesday morning and left the hospital that Saturday a new man. 106 days after surgery, I ran the 10k Peachtree Road Race with 60,000 of my closest friends. For the record, I've never been a runner. I clearly remember waiting for the surgery and how painfully nerve-racking that was. When it finally arrived, I was joking with the nurse that was prepping me prior to surgery, they gave me happy juice and rolled me into the OR. As soon as I saw the lights in the OR, someone said, "Good night Chuck" and I woke up in the ICU. After that, it was simply a process. Do what they say and you'll get better. Then all of a sudden, it will occur to you — wow, I really had heart surgery? My two reminders — my scar and the ticking. Both remind me constantly that I have a new lease on life. I plan to take full advantage of that. This forum provided me with knowledge and others' experiences that truly helped me make it through the waiting. That was by far the hardest part. For those in waiting now — You CAN do this! In the words of Jim Morrison, "Break on through to the other side!!" We're waiting for you!