Ivana's Posts

So, last Friday was12 weeks from my mitral valve repair surgery....Wow, 3 full months have passed...Supposed to be winter months, but we did not get much of that this year in Ontario and for the last few days spring weather is here:) What is new at my end?! As I put in the subject line some good and some bad news... Starting with the good ones: well, tomorrow I am going back to work, after full 3 months! I am really looking forward to it! I am tired of not working and in general not doing much:) I am so happy to be back in the grind:) see my friends at work, spend good part of the day out of house or mall or playground:) I do feel great, have tons of energy, no issues....BTW, my chest pain has gone, did call my cardiologist but he never called back:( Anyhow, the pain is gone...My shoulders sometimes get stiff, but I am blaming that on not enough movement I have been doing:) I also started running - finally, getting very slowly and conservative back into it...God, I missed it so much:) I did not go back to weight training, I simply hate it and have to force myself to do it and that's it...I am not going to lie to myself that I will ever like it or do it...I did have personal trainer once, hated it than even more:) So, not so good news is that I had my 3 months echo followed by the app with the cardiologist, not the surgeon....My repaired valve is working perfectly, no leakage at all!!! I am so happy about that one...The bad one is the my ejection fracture went down from about 70% pre-op to about 35% post-op. I still do have higher heart rate, resting is still about 90 bpm. So, the heart got weak now:( and doctor has put me on beta-blockers and aca-inhibitiros. Both on very low dose for now (both 2.5mg per day), because I have blood pressure on lower side despite higher heart rate so we need to see how I tolerate the medicine. But the plan is to increase the doses to both 10mg per day... I was very bummed with this news, considering how well I feel and had no issues during recovery....He told me this is simply side-effect from surgery, like A-fib with some people... I am trying not to worry to much about this now and to enjoy life... Did any of you experience similar thing with ejection fracture dropping after the surgery? Any additional information would be greatly appreciated... So, I should go to sleep now:) although I am very excited to go back to work tomorrow, I might not sleep much tonight:) Thanks, Ivana

I am not sure what is going on with me for a last few days... I have not been exercising or doing much or at least several days, but since I tried to do some weight training (mind you, I did very little and only with 5 and 8 lbs weights), fist I had some shoulder pain on both sides day after exercise. I thought of this as normal reaction for someone who has not done any weights in ages...So, I did not do any more weights...Few days after I did some stretching exercises and now I have same thing again, only worse: my left shoulder and side of the neck and chest muscle hurt a lot!!!! I could not turn my head left or right last night and the worse pain is if I lay in bed! I took some advil and tylanol, they help but only for few hours at the time... I did not go to the hospital or to see my family doctor yet but will assess how I feel in the next few days... But this pain is bad! Does anyone have similar experience?! What was in your case and how long this last?! Thanks everyone in advance. Ivana

So, as the title says, it has been 8 weeks since I had my surgery...Wow, time is really flying... I had finally check up with my surgeon last week. This was the first time I have seen him since I left the hospital. I got the best news " no murmur to be heard at all-meaning the valve is not leaking at all!" I was so happy to hear that and spent the rest of my day just smiling when I thought of it:) I got only ECG done, my heart is in nice sinus rytham. My resting heart rate is still on the high side 95 bpm, but doctor is not concerned about it at all. He says it will come down on its own in the next few months as I start pushing myself with exercise more:) He did not want to give me any medications, because my blood pressure is on the lower side 100/75 and the pills for lowering heart rate would make my tired and we do not ant that, right?! I will be seeing surgeon again in 3 months and on the year of my surgery and than on the yearly basis. I am glad for that:) Considering the robotic surgery he will be monitoring me for the rest of my life - to get all the statistics:) This procedure is only done by 2 surgeons in Canada and he was the one who is doing many first ones using da Vinci robot, so I am on the research and statistic list:) I will be seeing my cardiologist and have echo done in the mid March, but surgeon is confident in his work and does not need echo to know all is great - his words:) Othervise I am doing great. I did not do any more snowboarding - not much snow here this year:) I went for few hours skiing and that was great! I was not on the snow or on my butt all the time like with snowboard:) I feel good doing anything, have no restrictions and will need to start working out more...I just got lazy, I guess... Plan to start some dvd weights work-out at home and add some walk/jog on treadmill to it...I want to tone up and from my marathon experience, you can run 100s miles and not loose 1 lbs or tone up:( Plus all that running makes you crave carbs, so it's catch 22:) I think at one point I even gained weight:( This time I surrender and admits I need serious weight training:) Doctor told me I can do it, no issues if my muscles agree with me:) I am still not going back to work until March 19:) I am really enjoying time at home and with my son:) He stays home when he is not in JK so it is fun:) Plus, work is going to be there when I come back:) I plan to start with full time from the beginning, knowing my work and responsabilities, I would never be only 1/2 day there and would end up payed for half and working full:) One more new thing on my end - we got puppy! She is cockopoo mix and 9 weeks old...Lots of fun, floor cleaning and house training:) Ivana