Wade's Posts

Had the appointment with the cardiologist this past Thursday to discuss the results of the first echocardiogram I have had since the AVR surgery (think: sonogram for the heart) and blood work. He told me my echo looked "beautiful"....no leakage from the aortic valve & very little from the pulmonary valve, which is completely normal and well within acceptable range. He also said my blood work looked great. Blood pressure is great and my pulse continues to be on the high side, but he did not seem concerned about the pulse and told me it would slowly come down as my heart conditions with exercise. Speaking of exercise, he encouraged me to continue working hard in cardiac rehab (I'm about 1/3 of the way through) and continue exercising at home on days I do not go to rehab. At home, I typically walk about 30 minutes on the treadmill at a 2% incline at 3.3 mph, plus warm-up and cool-down. Hey, gotta start somewhere..... He also assured me the residual soreness & tightness in my chest will eventually go away. In fact, the soreness is getting better and my range of motion is continually getting better. I am proud to report I can tie my own shoes now! My next appointment with him is in three months. He told me to try and forget about my AVR surgery and "get on with life." He also told me to quit being a slacker (he was kidding; Natalie and I could both tell he was pleased about the results from the echo and the blood work). I'll update again if/when there is news or at the next appointment in three months, whichever comes first. Thanks again to all of you for the encouraging calls, notes, messages, etc.

I'm sleeping better AND it's NOT IN THE RECLINER! Yup, that's right, two months after surgery and I'm in a bed sleeping on my side again. The recliner was great for several weeks after surgery (in fact, it was a life-saver) but once I progressed beyond pain to just being sore and tight, it was time to get back into bed. Had my first echocardiogram since the surgery today. I will discuss the echo with the cardiologist at my next appointment (early July) but the technician said both valves (aortic & pulmonary) seem to be performing great! For those of you who don't see me regularly, I'd guess I'm 75-80% recovered. If you didn't know I had OH surgery and saw me walk into a restaurant or worship services, you would probably never guess it by simply watching me. The remaining recovery will come with time and exercise over the next few weeks and months. Cardiac rehab continues 3x per week and I attribute much of how well I'm feeling with this regular exercise. I'll be doing this until sometime in September. Thanks again to all of you for the encouraging calls, notes, messages, etc.

Cardiac rehab 3x per week is going great. I'm exercising on three machines for approximately 40 minutes. Although it makes me a little sore the next day, I'm seeing progress (yah!!). Later this week, I'll have a complete blood work-up to see how I'm doing - the first since I was in the hospital. Ran out of pain medication last Wednesday with no plans to refill. Since coming home from the hospital, I had only taken one at night to take care of any pain and during the final week I was only taking 1/2 pill. But now I'm having lots of trouble sleeping. Some nights I'm wide awake until 3:00 in the morning. Wondering if coming off the pain medication has contributed to that? (Sandy?) So last night, I tried something new: sleeping in a bed on my side (I'm definitely a side sleeper; I get on my back to wake up). I tried this at 3:30 in the morning because I was wide awake and couldn't sleep on my back. Big, big mistake. Today my chest is extremely sore, so sore it's hard to walk. So, it's back to the recliner and I'll probably wait a couple more weeks before I try THAT again. Going back to work for Sprint tomorrow. I've been off work since Thursday, April 28th. Since I work at home in front of a computer & phone, this shouldn't be a problem....I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks again to all of you for the encouraging calls, notes, messages, etc.