Paul's Journal

So about this time two years ago I was being prepped for my Mitral Valve repair at Massachusetts General Hospital. (Boston Strong!) Once in there they found things worse than expected so had to do a bit more work. Pulled through, with all my battle scars. Been quite the ride. But hey I am still alive and doing well. Working everyday. Carrying mattresses and refrigerators up and down stairs, shoveling snow, walking about 8 miles a a day at work etc...Matter of fact this is my last day at my present place of employment and starting a new job this Monday. Gotta say thanks to them for letting me take 6 weeks off to recoup and get better. My next appointment is not until July with a new Cardiologist seeing as my original Doctor left Catholic Medical Center a few months ago. So not to bore you all but things are all good. If you are having Robotic Mitral Valve repair like I did....Sure it is not all fun and games, but with time hopefully you will have a full life. I'm certainly planning on it. As Meatloaf used to sing....."Heaven can wait". At least it better for me. Good luck on your journeys people. God's bless and keep you all.

Well I just had my appointment with my Cardiologist here at Catholic Medical in NH. Everything is looking better. He is keeping me on the same meds. Metaprolol and Lisinopril for now. Hoping to get off the Lisinopril by the next appointment, which he told me will be not until NEXT YEAR......Whoooopeeee! No mention of any re-surgery, and the murmur sounds are still only very slight. Not like before. My blood pressure is down as well, to around 107 over 69 now. Which is helping the murmur stay low. So I am watching the salts. So anyway I hope all is well with everyone. If you reading this and about to go for a repair, know there is hope and things will get better. Took some time for me to get this far but well worth the trip. Be patient, it took you nine months to be born. Fixing a heart takes even longer. God Bless. Paul G.

So I figured I would come back to the Heart Valve Journal site, and announce my One Year Anniversary of Robotic Mitral Valve Repair. I\'m still here. The heart is still ticking and I am still working. I have to say that it has basically taken the whole year in order to feel somewhat normal again. There were a few rocky patches, TIA\'s, blood pressure issues, going in for more Down the throat Echo-cardiograms, Regular Echos, blood tests, blah, blah, blahdy blahs. But now the cardiologist has told me not to see him for six months which will be in July. After adjusting my Metaprolol I have been a whole lot more steady. Not as dizzy anyway. And my wife says not as much of a pain in the ass. LOL. I am certain she is happy this is over for the most part. Thank God for my wife. If you are about to have surgery make sure you have a good backup crew to help you. A good listener is vital if you are a complainer/whiner like me. After thinking about everything, the thing I appreciate the most is that my headaches have pretty much vanished. I used to get them at least once or twice a day. Now if I get one every two weeks or so it is unusual. My ocular migraines are almost all gone now as well. Another neat thing is I used to be able to feel my pulse really easily on my neck. Now I have to search for it for a minute and sometimes I think, Hey, I must be dead \'cause I can\'t find a pulse. So that is pretty awesome too. Blood pressure is down to 118/70 as of this morning. Used to be 140/90 or so. I do still have one scar that itches from time to time but the scars have healed well and are almost unnoticeable unless I have a tan, which is almost never up here in the Boonies of NH... The numbness on the middle of my right chest, near the sternum is gone and I have feeling again there. Well, anyway, my HVJ Brothers and Sisters, good luck with any scheduled operations. Keep the faith whatever that might be. Stay positive, and talk to people. You need to vent. You need to talk. It is good for you. Listen to your Doctors. Get out and walk as soon as humanly possible. It makes a huge difference in your recuperation time. If you can...Go Robotic...... Later, folks. Paul G.

To all my HVJ friends. I have had the flu going on a week now. It is messing with my blood pressure every time I cough. But the old heart is still ticking. So, here is to wishing everyone a great new year and continued healing to those that have had their operations, and hoping the best for those about to get work done. Keep the Faith. God Bless.

OK so I went to see the Cardiologist yesterday. He said that it was much harder to hear my murmur this time. He mentioned the last time I was there that it was loud and he did not need to strain to hear it. This time he had to listen harder for it. He believes that the problems I was having was because my blood pressure was very high and that I had been eating badly....Probably why I gained so much weight...So no that I am eating more healthy and keeping an eye on my BP more that the dynamics between Blood Pressure and regurgitation has been lessened. Now my other problem that is when I lay on my left side I get this stabbing pain in my side between my two center ribs. He seems to think that may have broken/fractured a rib in the operating room. I said Geesh even if they did somehow that it was a long time since the operation, but he said that a rib can take a very long time to heal. Then he said stop laying on your side....Ummm yeah. Thanks.....I asked how my rib might have gotten fractured and he said that they really toss you around while you are out. They have to get you on the table tug you around get you in position, etc. someone might have reached over and pulled on my side to get me over on the table and because you are very limp, there are no muscles keeping everything tight and in place. I got a visual on me on the table like a rag doll. Then moving my arms and legs around like a marionette.......Oh well......So I go back in 6 months and he told me not to worry about anything. everything was good for now.....I go on vacation on Friday....So that is good timing. God Bless, everyone. Stay positive....I guess.! LOL!

So going on two weeks with the event recorder...not a Holter Monitor. I have not had any chest pressure like before or any weird rhythm thingies going on enough to have to push the event button on the recorder. So I don\'t know what the Cardiologist is going to look at. Well, anyway......Just thought I would post that things are just moving along almost normally again....LOL. God Bless, y\'all. Paul G.

Getting to wear a loop recorder for the next two weeks. I\' not sure why as I have felt fine now for the past week. But I guess they want to see why my heart was beating so strangely. Of course having the recorder put on last week or even two weeks ago would have been better but they were all out of them and just got one back. Maybe they should buy a few more if there is such a demand? that is the problem with living up here in the Boonies.....Well we will see what we will see I guess..... Pulse has been steady at 69-70BPM and Blood pressure has been good at 116/70 for the past week. No problems with chest pressure either.....Weird how it comes and goes. Just like before. Even my Cardiologist does not understand it. That is why he has me watching my blood pressure very carefully......Thanks for all the well-wishes everyone. I\'ll keep posting results. Good or Bad. Paul G.

So my regurgitation has returned. They are calling it moderate again. I had an echo done and you can see it going backwards. Now it is not as severe as before, and the Cardiologist said that there is nothing I need to do right now, but that replacement is in my future at some point. A while back I started feeling exactly the way I did before my surgery. Like a large cat was sitting on my chest or something like that. So I went in and had the echo, saw the cardiologist etc. He told me that high blood pressure can make you regurg more than normal, and for some reason my BP went way up for a while. I am back on Lisinopril and that has cured the high BP so now I feel much better. I also lost some weight which has also helped. So for those of you going in.....there you have it. They don\'t all work! I was fine for 5 months. The Doctor said I might have gone back to work too early and strained the repair a bit too much at some point. I\'m a little pissed about the whole thing. $140K, a month and half out of work and 6 months later I am back in the s#!t. Sorry....But hey I\'m still kickin\' and that\'s a good thing. If anything else happens I\'ll report in. (Don\'t strain your heart for a while!)

Well it has been 6 months since the day I walked into the hospital in Boston to have my Mitral Valve repaired. Good news is, the old heart is still ticking. We will see what the coming days bring I guess. Going in Thursday for an Ultrasound. Need to be in at 7:30am and get registered....Fun, Fun....I\'ll let you all know how it goes.

So I have been having an increased number of those ocular thingys. Started up a few days ago. I check my blood pressure regularly and no issues there. Nice and in range 116-120/65-70. Used to be 140/85 or so. Also noticed I am gaining weight pretty rapidly as well. went from 195 to 210 in just week or so...Oh oh....I did read that the BETA blockers slow your metabolism, but I am wondering why I didn\'t have a problem until lately? I wonder if it could be the pizza and ice cream? Time to break out the P90X dvd\'s abain....

I was rolled up to the operating room at 7:30 am. Shaved down and ready to have my aorta clamped of for 97 minutes and on blood machine for 104 minutes. Had my body cooled down to 86 degrees, and I don\'t remember a damned thing about it. So for those of you going in for surgery, have a nice nap, and just be ready for when you wake up all woozy like and wonder what the heck just happened. LOL... So it has been 5 months since my robotic Mitral valve repair. Things are getting better all the time and hardly notice any more pain in my side. From time to time I get a little twinge if I sleep on my side wrong, but all in all I feel great. I have been doing a great deal of walking at work, mowing the lawns, moving refrigerators, and beds etc. (I am a Maintenance Supervisor at a Resort in NH) The numbness near one of my chest hole incisions is getting a bit better. I am hoping over time it will return to almost normal. The scars are going from a bright purple to a slight red. I am pretty fair skinned so that might be about all I can expect. Well anyway....just letting you know I am still alive and doing well in NH. God Bless, and folks, like I say all the time. It is certainly going to be a journey, but one worth taking. I certainly wanted to be around a while longer with my wife and family. So go into it thinking how much they need and love you and it will give you strength to take that leap of faith in your surgeon. Go forth and live people....I\'m praying for every one of you. Paul G.

Well it has been about three and half months....I think. Man does time fly when your having fun. Or not. Just thought I would come back here to see how everyone was making out, and catch up on peoples journeys so far. There are some interesting stories in this place alright. As for me....Things are good and getting better. However the other day I noticed I had a bit of trouble breathing after racing up a couple flights of stairs. Something that hasn\'t happened in a month or so. But it went away as soon as it appeared. Hmmm... Been keeping up the walking and at work I do about 8 miles a day anyway. I\'m back to using a push mower to do my lawn. That was the one thing that got me winded, even after the operation. I am still getting little twinges of pain in spots. Especially if I lay on my left side. Feels like someone poking me with a stick in the middle ribs. real quick sharp jabs at times. Not always, just sometimes. Wakes me right the hell up. Guess I\'ll ask the Cardiologist what he thinks about that. Still not sleeping through the whole night all the time. The cat waking me up DOES NOT HELP! Damned cat. I have a couple pictures of my scars at nearly 4 months. They are starting to turn red now instead of the purple color they have been. I\'ll try to remember to post them. Well enough rambling. Just wanted to check in and let ya know I\'m still out here, thinking and praying for everyone. God Bless and stay positive. Paul G.

So I got a call from the Coumadin lab. They told me to stop the Coumadin I have been taking. I was only supposed to be on it until the end of July, but they told me to stop going in for testing. Of course I went for a test just yesterday. $$$ (2.3) and just picked up a whole new bottle of pills. $$$ So now I have a good bottle of Coumadin if anyone wants it....LOL. But I think I will bring myself down off the Coumadin slowly. So I am only taking half a pill for the next few days. I figure I will ween myself off of it just in case I have some other TIA episode. But any way...Hoooray. off the Coumadin. They did tell me I will probably stay on the Metaprolol indefinitely. At least for the rest of the Summer. My resting heart rate is always a bit on the higher side at 83-91 BPM. Depends on the day for some reason. One day low next day higher? They want to keep it from going up any more than that. We\'ll see. Sooooo......Just one more update about all that. Have a great day and God Bless. I am praying for all the people here and hoping you folks going in for surgery do well. Remember, it is not a one day fix. It all takes time, and patience. So go easy and stay the course. Being in a good frame of mind is key, as are friends and family. A little prayer doesn\'t hurt either. And that is free. No Doctors bill for that. Have a great day. Paul G.

So on Monday it will be three months. Thought I would update, that I am doing much better. No issues. Feeling great. I have noticed that with all the heat we have been having lately that I have not been having the heart fluttering I used to have when it got hot out. When iwas real hot or real humid my heart would do it\'s little Irish Jig thing and I would feel like I was going to have the big one. Not anymore. Felt great on a little trip I just took to Lake George, NY with some friends. Wlaked all over town and not being out of breath made it much easier and more enjoyable, although it was 93 degrees and humid. Soooooo....Doing well. Feeling good. All the body holes and scars are doing better. No major pain in my side anymore. Should be off the Coumadin in a few weeks, Metaprolol next week too. All in all, life is good. Paul G.

So it has been two months since my Robotic Mitral Valve repair done at Massachusetts General Hospital. I am 99.9% better and feel great so far. So there is good news for you folks that have recently undergone surgery. All it takes is some time, some patience, some common sense, and a little support from the HVJ site. So keep up the good fight, listen to the Doctors, stay calm and relax. Pace yourselves when walking. No use going at it too hard and hurting yourself. There may be bumps in the road but just stay the course and hopefully everything will straighten themselves out, and you\'ll be on the road to a healthier you. Unless you eat too much ice cream like I do. Lol..... Paul G.

I am going back to work today. Doctors cleared me for launch. So 7 weeks. thought I would be back in three or four. But at least it wasn\'t 12 weeks like if I had the sternum bone cut open. The openings they put in me have all healed up fairly nicely. No major infections. I would say 90% of any pain is gone now. Still a little in my side where the big drain tube went under my diaphragm, but even that is minimal at most. So things are good now. let\'s hope they stay that way for a while. So here is to raising a glass to all the HVJ folk. Good luck to those getting ready for their operations, and to those on the road to recovery. Cheers, and God Bless you all. Paul G.

Dr. said I can go back to work starting June 1st. Cleared me with no restrictions. No cardiac rehab even. I can drive starting now which is awesome. No more being left stuck in the house with my thumbs up my.....well you know. It will be great getting back to my usual routine again. I am stoked........Weird how one day you feel like crap. The next day all is well again. I\'m still going to be careful for a while though until I regain my strength. I lost some muscle mass in my arms from not doing actual work. So need to bulk up again. Life is good..... Paull G.

I go meet with my Surgeon in Boston Thursday morning, to see if I can go back to driving, and go back to work. I also finally got my Coumadin level to a 2.0 so they backed me off from taking two pills a day down to one per day in the afternoon. We\'ll see what Dr. Agnihotri says....I have to get back to work though. I am going stir crazy sitting around the house.Not to mention my savings account is pretty depleted after a month of no work. Yikes. Goes to show how important your health really is. Paul G.

Man I thought they were all out. But guess what. The last of the scab on the deep hole in my pectoral muscle finally fell off yesterday, but there is still something in the hole and after using a magnifying glass and a mirror I can see there is still something in the scar hole sticking out. I think it is another single stitch in there. Geesh didn\'t they keep track of how many stitches were in me. Now I have to get to the hospital again and have them take a look at this one. I\'ll have go back and edit all my journal entries where I said I only had one stitch. This one is pretty healed over too. How are they gonna take it out. Probably have to cut it open. Argh! Better do it before the Coumadin starts kicking in. LOL.

Well the results from my TEE are in. My cardiologist and my Surgeon spoke together and decided to put me on a small dose of Coumadin 5mg once in the afternoon, for two months. They just want to make sure I am not making clots inside my heart on the repair and that I don\'t have any further TIAs or mini stokes. Funny thing is I told the nurse that called that I have been feeling way better the last few days, and have not had any more issues. She just laughed and told me to go get my prescription. Ha! At least they did not say they saw anything bad on my TEE procedure the other day. I guess that is good. Great news on my Birthday huh?

After hearing about Cindy, I feel like such a whiner. God Bless her and keep her close. I really feel for her family. You go in hoping for a new chance at life, and then something like that happens. So sad. As far as I go...ever since I got that infected stitch out of my neck, I feel a 100% better. No light headed thing when standing up, no weird lights blinking in my eyes, no heavy breathing, no pains in my chest. So I am hopeful I have turned the proverbial corner and that I can start to exercise more and get back to being me. Still have two weeks before my next appointment with the Surgeon, but I think that will fly by. Here is to hoping I get cleared to go back to work and to driving again. I think I am driving my wife crazy, so it would be good to get out of her hair too. So I guess I will go out for a good fast paced two mile walk before it rains again, here in NH....and I will be thinking about Cindy, and everyone else on HVJs today on my walk. A walk is a good time for reflecting on the important things. Life goes on.

On Thursday they installed my Holter monitor. Today I went back for them to remove that and to have a TEE done. That was awesome. About half way through I woke up with the DR. moving the thing around in my throat. So I decided...OH YEAH well take this...and I promptly started throwing up. Told him eh? Well they got done, pulled the probe out and I fell back to sleep. Woke back up pretty quickly and the DR came back in and told me that they saw a small mass on my heart, that they were not quite sure what it was. (I\'m gonna be pretty upset if they have to go back in again.) My Cardiologist also looked at the DVD and said he thought it might just be one of the cords that were not reattached during the repair. But they wanted to take a closer look and have my Surgeon at Mass General Hospital look at it as well. They also took me off of my BPM for now to see if that helps the light headed feeling I get every time I stand up. My BP at the hospital was 116/76. I just came back from a fast walk and my BP was 120/80 and my heart rate was 120 BPM. Got to get this all straightened out within the next two weeks. I will have to be careful not to over-do anything.

So last night, out of the blue I had a real tightening in my upper chest and my left arm went all funky again. So much so we headed for the emergency room. But it stopped before we got there. Did it again this morning just before I was due to go in for my Holter monitor appointment. It too went away. But now my left arm is kind of weak. So today I got a ride to the hospital and had the Holter monitor installed. They gave me a diary to fill out whenever I do/did anything that would make the Holter record any strange events. I have to wear it for 24 hours. Then tomorrow I go for a TEE at 8 am. They are going to check out my heart to see if I am collecting clots round my heart ring thing. 2.5 hour procedure. I get to get put to sleep again too, and swallow the yummy lidocane goop stuff. Fun. Just more fun stuff on my road to recovery.

LOL...I have decided to monitor my own medicinal intake now. Instead of stopping everything, I have started cutting my pills in half taking half my medicine in the morning and half in the afternoon. So far it is working to keep my blood pressure higher than it was and also keeping my heart beats steady with the BETA blockers. I also stopped laying down altogether during the day and try to stand and walk around every few minutes. Trying to build my tolerance back up. A while back I was walking 4 miles per day. That stopped after my episodes, but I have been feeling pretty good the last couple days and have not had any weird things happen. I think my blood pressure was just simply too low. So I am back to walking 4 miles today. I just have to get back into the swing again and start getting some good exercise. The Dr. will not let me start rehab until my next visit on the 24th. I am still scheduled for the Holter monitor and TEE next Thursday and Friday. Oh boy I get to get drink more throat numbing stuff and get put to sleep again. Also today I noticed what i think is a stitch still in my neck where the heart pump tube was hooked up. I hadn\'t noticed it until the scab fell off and now there is a clear stringy thing hanging out of the hole.....Geesh. Guess I\'ll have to have the take that out on Thursday...

So I had three separate episodes of weird things happening the other day. When I discussed these with my Surgeon, he thinks I possibly had three mini strokes or TIA\'s. Although transient and self healing he wants me back in to have a CAT scan and a cartoid Echo to check my neck vessels for constriction. Weird thing is I was more nervous about having a stroke after this than I was about the whole operation. Guess I was right. People who have Mini strokes are 20% more likely to have a major stroke within 90 days. Great. Just made my day. I also was told to stop all my medications and I have to say I feel better already today just by not taking my BP medicine. My BP had gone down to 107/65. I think that is too low for me and might be part of the problem I am having. So the moral of the story is if you have any weird episodes get right on the phone. Mine were my left side hip felt funny and I couldn\'t walk quite normally for a few minute during one of my walks. My left arm acted like it was being run on elastic bands, and the last one was my eyes would simply not move in my head for about a minute. So like I said keep a check on yourselves for any weird things going on..... Paul

So yesterday I had a couple strange things happen. I was out doing my SLOW walk when I noticed a weird feeling in the way my left side was acting. It was sort of a numb feeling in my left side and hip. Made me want to sit down on the curb before I fell over. After a minute or two I was fine. Walked home. I went out for another walk later and this time my left forearm and hand acted like they were being run on elastics. I would try to clasp my hand then my hand would spring back out. Happened a few times when I tried to re create it, but then that too stopped. I got a bit nervous thinking I was starting to stroke out. Went back home and took my blood pressure. I noticed my BP was really low compared to what it used to be. My BP before the operation was around 140 over 80. Yesterday and today it is 107 over 65. I am still taking the Beta blockers and the Lisinopril. I wonder if I should stop taking the BP medicine as I also feel a bit light headed. This is all new as of yesterday. Time to call the Doctors office again I guess. Trying not to freak out. Absolutely no pain in my chest though so that is good. My side is way better now and my incisions are healing really well. No infections. Put away my sofa bed and sitting up only, on the couch. No more lying around. Doing some exercises now to limber up my right side more. Seems to be working well. I could actually wash my back in the shower today, so it must be helping to stretch a bit each day. Well, that is it for progress going into my 3rd week after the operation. I still have a lot of work to do to be ready for my appointment on the 24th to see if I can go back to work. Let\'s hope. I am going nutty being home.

I am up to walking about 4 mile per day. 4 laps around the block equals 4 miles. I split that up into 4 separate trips every 2-3 hours or so. Trying out some exercises to loosen up my right side a bit. Just some arm movements holding a half gallon jug of water. (4 lbs) Noticed that my incisions are tightening up as they dry up. My right side pectoral is really sore and the incision on the pectoral chafes on my shirt causing it to get really tender. My ribs are finally not so sore as they were last week. Can\'t wait to be able to drive again. I need flowers in my pots on my deck. I might need to sneak out and go get some..... LOL.

OK. So I lied. One more update. Kathy and I just went for another walk. We measured this one in the car and it was 1 mile. So if I can do that, I think that is amazing after just 10 days out of surgery. No chest pain or anything. I do have to prop my arm up off my side or my right side rib incision hurts a bit. But, Geesh, I felt pretty good today. Maybe I will be back to work sooner than I thought. Just had to share. Paul

I probably won\'t do anymore daily updates from now on. Maybe every few days, or when I have something worthwhile to report. Of course I\'ll sign other peoples guest books...:) I went for a couple walks yesterday. Both about 1/4 mile. So things are getting better. Amazing how much better I felt yesterday even compared to Tuesday. I plan to pack up my sleeper sofa by Saturday and start \"sitting\" on the couch. No more laying down except for naps and such. I have to get back to a regular routine ASAP. I noticed my calves are starting to get a bit jello like. So I need to start finding some exercises to do while hanging around. Hey! I got things to do. I have a meeting with my Surgeon on May 24th to determine when I can go back to work and I would like to meet that date \"healed\". At least that is my goal. After my walk I did notice my breathing was getting much better. But yeah I did pass right out after each walk. I still say exercise is key to good, fast recovery. My right side is still a bit tight, itchy, sore. My right side chest still hurts like the dickens when I sneeze, but nothing like a week ago. Still not sleeping great as I really am NOT a back sleeper. My back is still a bit achy as well. Probably not liking the sleeper sofa. LOL. Still eating no sugar pears from a can...Still on a BETA blocker, and now back on my old BP medicine Lisiniopril 5mg. Was hoping to get off those after the surgery. Maybe not. Ugh! I am back up 2 lbs, so I must be back to eating better and more. Holly....remember the apple sauce. It will help with the dry mouth. Drink as much water as they will let you to get rid of the anesthetic. That is what is causing the dry mouth. Sounds like you will have plenty of help from your family when you get home. Milk it for a few days.....Ha...ha...ha... Love is a great healer, and it looks like you have plenty of that. Heck you should be back to normal in no time! Paul

OK, another day down. More calls to people. My AFLAC guy, Cardiologist appointment. First available would be May 17th. The Surgeon wanted me to see him like the next day. Not going to happen. I did get an appointment at Catholic Medical with my Cardiologist\'s Dr. Assistant instead this Friday morning. So an hour and a half drive to see her. Having a bit more more soreness in the right side of my chest now. Maybe just not getting any exercise? My right side incisions are still feeling really stiff/tight. It is making my right arm sort of stick out a bit when I walk. Had quite an episode of missed beats last night as well. I have always had those but last night it was like every other beat was a missed beat thing going on. Better this morning. Found I had to put lotion on my side. Like a lot. Really itchy. being careful not to get it into/on the incisions though. Damn that stuff is cold yo! Holly.....Thinking about ya today. good luck.