Susan's Posts

Ah, life! I'm glad to be here and yes, things do get better. Well, it turned out to be a bad week, losing my darling cat companion. My thanks to all who sent comforting words and caring thoughts to me in this difficult time. It really helps. Earlier in the week I had my follow-up appointment with my surgeon and that went quite well. Everything looked good and I'm healing well, except I do still have irregular heart beats which he thought was "probably" A-Fib. He suggested that having a cardioversion procedure might be the solution, but to check with my cardio doc on that. I thought the Maze procedure I had during my mitral valve surgery was supposed to solve the problem of irregular beats, but apparently not. While I don't look forward to having my heart shocked back into normal rhythm, I hear that cardioversion is not such a big deal. It's done as an outpatient procedure and doesn't require a hospital stay (I've had more than enough of the "hospital experience" for a while). Guess I'll see what the cardiologist says. I can sometimes hear my mechanical valve ticking when I'm lying down, and at those times I'm definitely aware of the irregular beats. Hearing myself ticking always reminds me of the crocodile in the Peter Pan story, who swallowed Capt. Hook's watch (along with his arm) and forever after haunted Hook with the tick- tick-tick sound. But I digress... I finally got the results back of a CAT scan of my head that was done several weeks ago after my episodes of dizziness and vertigo. The scan was clear, so now I've been given the OK to start cardiac rehab finally. I'm going to the orientation for that next week and am looking forward to getting started. I've been out walking more, now that the weather has started cooperating. I'm also able to go out for extended periods of time without tiring myself out too much. Last night we went out for pizza and Italian gelato and a movie, "Crazy Heart" which Jeff Bridges definitely deserves an Oscar for. Now I'm looking forward to springtime and a visit to my son Matthew in Santa Cruz, CA, hopefully in another month or so. In the meantime, I'll keep on tickin' (and clickin')! Susan

Just when I thought my mending heart was being knit back together nicely, I lost my sweet 14 yr. old kitty today. My Lucy, who sat in my lap faithfullyevery day when I came home from the hospital. And when she wasn't curled in my lap she was watching over me while perched on the arm of my recliner. We had to put her to sleep today. She had been losing weight over the past year and we tended to downplay that,thinking it was just old age. But there were more major health issues we weren't aware of until today, and suddenly it became time to say goodbye. As I said goodbye to Lucy, I told her that I will see her again someday. Dr. Claussen, our veterinarian (who knows about my open heart surgery) then added, "But not for a long, long time". Her words gave me comfort. Life does go on, despite the pain of loss of loved ones as well as the setbacks we face every day. I'll write more later, Susan

Happy Valentine's Day, Everybody! The heart symbolism of this day has a whole new meaning for me this year. To be whole and mending is a wonderful thing and I am so grateful to be here. It has been exactly one month to the day since I had my mitral valve replaced and I'm getting a little better every day. I feel like I made some major progress in the last week or so, getting some energy back and being able to do more. Here is some good news to look forward to down the road, for all of us who are taking Coumadin or Warfarin: At my follow-up appointment with my cardiologist last week he told me he is heading up a drug trial here for a new blood-thinning medication which will eliminate the need for individual monitoring with blood tests. It will be the same dose for everybody, given in pill form daily. He's hoping that the FDA will approve the drug in another two years or so. I don't know the name of the drug, but will find out. Just wanted to share that bit of encouraging news. Best wishes to all, Susan