Dan's Guestbook

Susan Lynn  Dan and David - The Dynamic Duo - Is it five years already for you guys? Glad to see you, and Cheryl, back on the site. Happy Belated Anniversary!

Dan Baltazor  Hi Cheryl!  Happy 5 yr anniversary to you guys as well.  Thanks for reaching out. Great to hear David's update.  My update is just as good, no issues, in fact I find myself sometimes forgetting about it, except when Nov. 12th comes around.   Please do reach out if you find yourselves here in Washington, would love to meet.  

Thank you Susan.  Time goes by quickly when your health is good.  Hope all is well with you.
I haven't been spending much time on the site, but I will go and see your updates.

Dan Baltazor  Same and I went with the Edwards Inspiris Resilia tissue valve.  I was 45 at my surgery.  If you look to the left, under your name, you'll see "My Control Panel" under "Where To Go".  Then click on "See My subscribers".  You'll see a list of emails of who is following you.  You'll see my email address there with the same name.  Feel free to reach out there.

Dan Baltazor  Hi Ana! Thanks for reaching out. I just read briefly about your new struggle and we sure hope you have been able to get relief. We are both doing well, no medical issues to report of and my valve is doing great! I just received my 2nd Covid vaccine shot and no side effects. Blessings to you Ana!!

  No new struggle anymore. All good for now. I too got my second vaccine and didn’t have any side effects, Thank God! Don’t forget us and write when you can or when you run a marathon. God bless you

Dan Baltazor  Hi Judi, I’m sorry you're having to face this, but I’m happy for you that you have found this website and the book for encouragement. It was my lifeline the months before leading up to my surgery and my family’s lifeline
during my surgery. So hopefully your husband and family will find it beneficial as well as you do.
Yes, my surgery was done in Tacoma, WA at Tacoma General/ Pulse Heart Institute and my surgeon was Dr. Allen Graeve. I also was not a candidate for minimally invasive surgery.


I found peace, comfort and trust after meeting with him the first time. Hopefully you experience that as well
when meeting your surgeon. The staff at TG was very good to me too.

Once you’ve made your decisions of surgeon, valve types, hospital, you know the hard ones,
then just trust the decisions that you’ve made. Advice came to me from this website of distract, distract, distract after the decisions are made. That was good advice. As everyone says, the waiting is the hardest part. Your mind will go all over the place at all times of the day. I made myself an inspirational
playlist which really helped to listen to in my moments of doubt and anxiety.
After surgery, It’s slow going. You’re going to have bad and good days. Don’t be discouraged by the bad days.
It may seem for a little period there’s no improvement in your recovery and may even feel set back some days.
It’s ok to have the bad days, this is a challenging surgery but you can do it. We all here have and you can get inspiration from everyone’s recoveries. Also, I would recommend creating a profile of your own here, as you will find amazing support as you go through this journey as everyone lifts you up.

Funny, I get that, there is some comfort about a local going through the same thing.
We love camping out at Port Townsend and hanging out in town. Port Townsend brewery
is one of our favorites.

My wife and I would be more than happy to be more reachable if you need it.
Let me know and we’ll figure out a way to exchange emails.

Dan

Dan Baltazor  It's great to hear from you, and glad to hear you are doing well physically. I'm also doing well. We are on stay at home orders here in WA, so heeding that. Having life shut down is a challenge but we are thankful and appreciative for what we do have and feel bad for those who's jobs are on overtime and overwhelmed. Social media has been a great tool in keeping in touch and have found ourselves on here much more as well. Be Healthy!

Dan Baltazor  Hello from WA!!! We are doing well, thank you for thinking of us and prayers. Yes, we agree and feel for those patients who are in the waiting room or are having OHS with the virus so front and center. A whole new level to think and be anxious about. Be Healthy and prayers to you both as well.

Dan Baltazor  Happy Anniversary to you both as well. I was thinking about you today as well remembering all the emotions from a year ago. It's great to be here and hope the best for you as well.
Blessings to you both! Dan and Steph

Dan Baltazor  Back to you two, Happy Anniversary! So great to hear how well he's doing. Doing good here as well. I recently had to leave town for a family thing and felt apprehensive about flying. We ended up driving the 1500 miles (round trip) with out any apprehensive feelings at all. So glad that David is doing so great as not to miss out on a trip to Spain even if is for work. 4 months out is definitely a game changer. Our surgery dates were timed perfectly to have a great summer full of activity!

Marjorie Murphy  I am having irregular heart beats. Even during cardiac rehab HR rarely gets above 85 . Today I am wearing a Holter monitor to see what is happening. PPC seem to think it could be the metoprolol causing slow heart rate and skipped beats. I am do for an echo next week.. I am ready to get back to normal after having two valves replaced 6 months ago. Other than irregular heart beats I feel fine. Anyone else had this issue?

Dan Baltazor  Sommer, at that point I was taking 25mg a day of Metoprolol, so they upped my dose to 50mg a day. That seemed to help. I just took it slow during that time period. I also wore a holter monitor. I never really got any solid answers except the medication adjustment and that it is the normal process of our healing. it did go away completely and I can now push myself without it happening. Hang in there, give it some more time. You'll get there.

Sommer Russell  Dan- this is helpful. I am on 25 mg daily with 12.5 in the morning and at night. Was this still happening at 13 weeks? I'm so happy to hear that it went away. I struggle with this daily.

Marjorie- I do not have an irregular sustained rhythm- like afib? I occasionally feel either a PVC or could be a PAC. I do know that when my heart rate gets in the 50's that I feel a dull chest pain. I'm glad that other than the irregular beat that you are feeling great. Have you cut out caffeine?

Dan Baltazor  Sommer, Yes it was. I dropped back down to 25mg a day about 3 weeks ago and just last week I dropped my dose down 12.5mg a day. I'll be doing that for one more week and then I'm going to quit taking it all together. I'll just be on my aspirin a day.

Sommer Russell  Dan this is so inspirational. I am still on the 12.5 bid and will take an added dose if needed in the afternoon. It is encouraging to know that this might resolve. I thought I had a billion questions before OHS, and I think that was just the tip of the iceberg for the questions that were to come.

Dan Baltazor  Hi Jeff. I have the Edwards Inspiris Resilia valve. It's newer to market but has good projections. Check it out. I'm 45. The surgeons seem to lean more on recommending a mechanical valve to younger patients, but I really didn't want that. My surgeon said he would implant what I wanted and I decided bio since this valve is capable of TAVR when the time comes. Good luck to you and yes, the technology is constantly improving, so you may have even more/better options.

Dan Baltazor  Hi Karla. Yes it only happened to me just a few times and all while I was at cardiac rehab. So I was very thankful for that! My anxiety level is getting much better and I find myself starting to feel more normal and not thinking so much about my valve. In the beginning I would find myself just worrying about it, but now I'm finally starting to trust it if that makes any sense. Thank you for your message.

Dan Baltazor  Hi Christine. I totally get being nervous and thinking about it all the time. I've been going to my cardiologist now for about 10 years or so and doing mostly annual check ups. My checkup/echo in 2017 I was moderate. My checkup/echo in 2018 I went to severe. I did start to notice in 2017 that when I would go on my runs it was getting harder to just get in 3 miles. In 2018 I just couldn't run anymore, but still kept up with walking daily on my lunch break, but I was starting to notice that even at times I was struggling with that. So once I had my echo in Sept 2018 and was told that I need to get my valve replaced it all started happening pretty quickly. I went with the recommendation of my cardiologist of the surgeon and after we met with him (Dr Allen Graeve) my wife and I both felt better about the decision. This is not an easy journey. The road ahead will have obstacles, but I gave that to God. I have had great support from wife and family who was there with me every step of the way, which meant everything to me. I hope you will have that too for your journey. You will be in my thoughts and prayers Christine and I will be looking for your journal entries and updates.

Dan Baltazor  Yes you're right Cheryl! Wow it's amazing how the time is different on the recovery side. When I think back to that day and how I feel today so much has changed and I'm so thankful for God's grace and healing. I'm so glad to hear that David is doing good also. Thank you so much for posting this and reaching out.
--Dan and Stephanie

Dan Baltazor  Hi Tom. No real problems to speak of, just hiccups. Which, after reading everybody else's journals, seems to be normal with recovery. I am now 3 months post opt and I was scheduled to have an echo today, but due to weather it has been postponed. My plan is to do a journal update after my echo results. My latest issue with exertion has resolved and it appears to have just been a medication issue. Just to let you know, I'm 44 and opted for the Edwards Resilia Tissue valve. I wish you the best of luck on your journey. Feel free to ask questions any time.

Dan Baltazor  Thanks Diane. Still working with the cardiologist. Scheduling an echo and I'm going to wear a Holter Monitor for 24hrs next week which will include a cardiac rehab session. I'll know more after those both happen. Thanks for thinking of me, but my current issue is just minute in comparison to your heart warrior story.

Diane Maher  Thanks Dan...but that being said...I wanted to give you some reassurance when reading Dan V, Rob and Bradley’s latest postings about hardly believing they had heart surgery as they are feeling so good that I thought wow, I can now FINALLY say the same....it just takes (will take) some of us a ‘little’ longer to get to that point. ❤️

Rob Sparling  So glad, Diane! 👍 Believe me, I know a speed bump can come any time from any direction. So making a log like I do is more intended to keep ME on track when/if I need to refer back to my own progress. I’m on an arc that isn’t known. What I experience might be useful for others. Fingers crossed!

Dan, you know I am “all in” and will be glad to help any way possible!

Dan Baltazor  I appreciate that ❤️ brotha. Yep, all of your stories and experiences help me to know that soon I also will be feeling just as good.

Susan Lynn  Diane- it's soooo wonderful to read that you're now in the 'I can't believe I had heart surgery' club! You certainly had to persevere and you made it!!! You are Wonder Woman! ❤

Dan Baltazor  Hi Bob. The heart rate acceleration issue hasn't been as bad this last week. The cardiologist phoned me over a week ago and had me double my Metoprolol dose. I do see the cardiologist on Tuesday to discuss the issue. Thank you so much for sending me a note. I'll post an update this week on anything new that comes up from my appt.

Bob Guzzo  Hi Dan, glad you've had better control with your heart rate issue. Hopefully, your cardiologist will have more insight/input for you Tuesday. Take care. Praying for you .

Dan Baltazor  Thank you so much Bob! Happy New Year to you and Yes I'm hoping for more spurts of energy in 2019!!!!

Dan Baltazor  Thank you so much Cheryl and David. Happy and Healthy 2019 to you both as well. We appreciate the prayers and know we also continue to pray for you both as well. 2019 is going to begin with Hope, Thankfulness, and Faithfulness that was strengthened through 2018's end. Blessings to you both.
Dan and Stephanie