Joseph's Posts

Wow, has it been 8 weeks? Merry Christmas to all! I am feeling great, on an airplane heading to Cleveland to visit my sister. Heading back to work right after the holiday, I am ready! Cardiac rehab is going very well, my stamina is back, absolutely no ill effects. Take care all!

Well recovery seems to be going well, first check up with cardiologist in Mikwaukee was good last week, he won't need to see me again until the end of Dec to sign off on returning to work. I will get my footprint echo, bloodwork and chest x-ray again on the 15th of Dec in preparation for that visit. 30 min walks now seem like a piece of cake and am moving faster and in less pain overall. Returned to the choir at church, every bit as good as an incentive spirometer for breathing, but the voice was in sad shape, oh well. Am back in my own apartment, my parents were great since we got home, taking me in, but I feel good enough to be on my own. No driving though until Dec 9th, but who's counting. Getting into a cardiac rehab program appears to be a challenge, waiting for an initial consultation, but that should happen this week or next. Grocery shopping is a royal pain now that I have to actually read food labels! Calories and fat are one thing, but finding lo-cal, lo-fat and lo-sodium is a real chore. Will have to get used to it. Take care all, Joe.

Wow! I am feeling great although no where near the stamina I had before the surgery. I left the Cleveland Clinic Wed afternoon; I continue to be amazed at how quickly those 6 days went. As I walked out of the Clinic for that last time, I found myself overcome with emotion and could only give thanks to God. The two day trip home was uneventful, got to see family in my native Sandusky, OH, and stopped the next day at work, 45 min from home, it was great to see all my co-workers and hear their good wishes in person. Kind of disrupted the work flow for a bit, sorry Andy! I consider myself so fortunate compared to other people and their journals that I have read here, I am eating 3 square meals a day, have lost all of the 15 pounds of fluids I added!!!!!!, and now begin working on my recovery and on my health and well being. I continue to do my breathing with the spirometer, am almost able to cough without my Cleveland Clinic heart pillow, and just keep getting stronger every day. I am almost all the way off the Percocet, favoring prescription strength Neproxen (Aleve) at this point. I am also wearing a surgical mask around others to avoid any unnecessary germs/viruses. You know it looks fairly stupid but the first time your mom is seen carrying your luggage next to a perfectly healthy looking 52 year old, well lets just say hiding behind the mask is a welcome relief! I have to tell any of you considering open heart valve surgery, I would be hard pressed to believe that there is a better place to have it than at the Cleveland Clinic, there may be plenty on par, but those folks are professionals and ready to engage you in a supportive conversation, from those in the housekeeping staff, to those drawing your blood in the lab, to the head of the surgical team. They manage pain very aggressively so that you want to get up, walk, do all that is necessary to get better, and if you go in with a positive attitude (that they help to cultivate) this whole process can be amazingly short and easy. I do realize I only had an aortic valve replaced, and a small dilated part of my aorta removed, reattached and supported, and there are many others in these journals who had many more issues than did I, but I still feel, the Cleveland Clinic is why I seem to be doing so well today. Still a long way to go so probably best not get too far ahead of ourselves. Thanx again, Joe.