Eric's Guestbook

Hi Eric, It\'s great to hear from you and know you\'re doing well. I\'ll always feel a kinship to all the \"old timers\" on this site. It\'s amazing that we can be back to normal so quickly! All the best to you! Joel Bryan, Iowa

Hi Eric It\'s so great to see your posting and I\'m really happy to know you are well. It was a long road to return us to good health but a very successful and worthwhile journey. You have a very demanding job so you had to shape up much quicker than I and I remember reading how quickly you were walking great distanaces and trying to compare what little I seemed to be doing. Your progress just amazed me. Hi to your wife and happy you are able to keep up with the boys. Keep in touch. Cheryl, Ontario

Good Morning Eric What a great update. All good news. How do you deal with your work related stress? You have tremendous responsibility at work but know you know you need to be able to de-stress. Thanks for giving us here on the HVJ the great news. Fran Z

Hey Eric Really great to read your update and hear you are doing so well. It\'s good to know you are keeping up with the boys because you\'re more fun if you can join in. Did you have the nosebleeds checked out at all although I\'m sure being a nurse you just know this stuff? You are fortunate in that you aren\'t even having palpitations now so obviously you had the gold star fix. Where do you captain? That\'s a pretty neat part-time hobby - good for you. Stay in touch. Hi to your dear wife. I\'m so pleased you are feeling so well. Life does go on and it\'s nice to be a part of it! Cheers. Cheryl, Ontario

Hi Eric Thanks for stopping by. I\'m looking forward to hearing how your six month anniversary goes as well. I cannot say I\'m disappointed that you, Joel and I didn\'t have to go through some of the trials some of the later patients have endured. We were just really lucky I guess. I do feel good and after getting my Beta Blocker I now see the difference thank goodness. Even if my wellness is pill induced I\'m hoping that perhaps someday that may change once my heart has learned a new beat. We\'ll see. Your job is so much more demanding than mine and immediately after surgery you showed better stamina than me and that always amazed me so I\'m looking foward to seeing what you\'re up to now. Did any of the New England flooding come close to your place at all? You really got some nasty weather this winter as compared to what we got. I do hope you managed to stay dry there. Hope the Easter Bunny is going to have extra special fun at your place this year. I\'m sure you feel every bit as great as I do about enjoying this spring. When you look at your wife and children they need an extra big hug - you\'ve all made it through and life is good. Happy Easter. Cheryl, Ontario

Hi Eric I was just going to tell you I served dinner and we were watching on the kitchen TV when the Canadians let in a goal with just a few seconds to go. SO....we finished dinner and I came and sat in the TV room with Pete to keep him company and....Canada just now won as I was writing you. Hope you enjoyed the game! Now hopefully when they celebrate they\'ll uncork their booze and smoke their cigars out of the public\'s eye. The Can. girls were taken to task about their celebration. That Crosby guy is my grandson\'s favourite. I\'ve had to buy all kinds of Crosby stuff and now it\'s Oveczhen? I don\'t know the first thing about hockey but I go to the grandchildren\'s games religiously and take video. Yesterday I managed to get my granddaughter\'s goal and this morning my grandson got the first and only goal. Cheryl

Hi Eric We just got in from my grandson\'s hockey game and Pete has settled himself in front of the TV getting ready for that hockey match. He says go CAN. Ladies\' golf is on so he\'ll drive this set crazy switching between all his favourites. I\'m going to head to the rec room and do taxes and edit home videos. I\'m almost afraid to state it - but I feel better. I think that pill is doing wonders although I\'m a little lethargic. I\'m still only taking half a pill as my resting pulse rate has gone down to 53 so I think I\'ll discuss that with the rehab nurse and see what she says. I\'m leary to take the full pill just in case my heart rate goes even lower. When I\'m on the treadmill my workout rate obviously is less so I\'m going to have to work really hard to get my heart rate up to what they suggest. I just want to be sure I\'m working this thing right. I see the doctor in six weeks. I\'ve only had two episodes of noticeable palpitations this past week so I think that is a noted improvement. Walking and not feeling that pressure on my chest is the best improvement so now I can actually say that since the surgery I feel totally better even if I\'ve had to revert to pills. We\'ve been doing some redecorating which means early spring cleaning so when the good weather comes, I\'ll be ready to get outside. At this time of year Pete is always walking around the house with an open can of paint so I\'m running trying to be one step ahead of him. How are you feeling? Do you consider yourself totally healed? Are you where you want to be stamina-wise or do you still have some work to do? I know you say the boys keep you busy running but do you think you have improved over your pre-surgery self? When I look at Duane, Richard and Thomas - I think Joel, you and I had it pretty easy considering. I\'m so glad we went when we did because I think listening to the complications they ran into would have rattled my nerves. I suppose it\'s called reality. Enjoy the game and good luck. Cheryl, Ontario

Hi Eric Thanks for writing. Your bp must have really dropped if you nearly passed out. That can\'t have made you feel too healed. Glad though that you are seeing definite improvement and obviously getting back to better than before. That makes your surgery worthwhile. working the nightshift has to take the glue out of anybody, let alone a post-op. Honestly, up until I started the Beta Blocker on Thursday, I wasn\'t feeling better at all. I didn\'t get really bad until this time last winter so I\'m measuring everything before Jan/09. Yes, I had palpitations all the time but I learned to live with those. Sometimes if I was doing something really strenuous I would get a little out of breath or I would tire a little more easily than my husband, but I was doing ok. I even got the odd pain in my heart but I\'d just push on my chest and keep on going. Last January I was in Montreal accompanying a local Rotarian lady and young man from the Dominican Republic as he was getting surgery at the Shriner\'s Hospital there. I walked up and down the hills, pushed the wheelchair, carried the luggage etc. and that\'s when I first noticed I was having trouble - but I did it. (The young lad and his sister had surgery there three years ago and he was back. They stayed with this other lady and I helped look after them all the time and managed to learn enough Spanish to converse with them. The kids have brittle bone disease. The boy came here with legs screwed up like a corkscrew and left being able to walk.) Now, on top of the palpitations (they were about the same intensity), lighter and less seldom pain, I was getting tremendous pressure on my chest when I walk in the mall or parking lots and stores etc. (I didn\'t used to get that pressure.) That pressure was beginning to worry me because I couldn\'t keep up. I can walk on the treadmill for 40 minutes at 3mph but holding on, and not swinging my arms - no problem. Walking in the mall was real work and I just kept thinking something isn\'t right. I started the pill on Thursday and while I haven\'t had quite enough time to give it a good workout, I actually think I\'m seeing a positive difference. I\'m excited to think this might be it so give me another week and I\'ll do a journal entry to give an accurate report. I wasn\'t quite depressed but I was starting to get pretty worried. I thought it a positive that the beeper didn\'t go off while I was sleeping so obviously it had something to do with my waking hour activities. Anyway, I just may have turned a positive corner. I\'m not big on sports and the Olympics is really screwing up my tv programs! Today Good Morning America reported that Canada had spent something like over $100Million in advertising saying how the podoum is ours and then apparently some Toronto reporter suggested perhaps Canada might rent the podium. Pete was lamenting the fact our four Canadian skiiers did poorly - some not even making it down (and these are their hills!). Looks like we lost the hockey too which really upset my husband. The only hockey I follow is for the grandchildren. I don\'t even know what the terms mean but I shout and cheer and faithfully take video - only of my grandchildren. The most boring video on earth but not to the kids. I\'m really glad to hear you don\'t have any regurgitation at all. That\'s a repair. I have trace regurgitation in the mitral valve plus the other two valves are leaking a little so I can understand the palps and they aren\'t worrying me. Great the A-fib is gone as well. And off the Coumadin as well? You are \'round the corner and I\'m very happy for you. Now you just have to get stronger and you really will be better than before. I don\'t like reading about some of the others who are experiencing pneumonia etc. It makes me wonder if we are still in a tricky state so I\'m trying to stay away from sickies just in case. We are finally getting some snow - not that we want it. You\'ve had much more there I think. We haven\'t even had to use the snowblower yet this winter - it\'s been great. Good to hear the kids are well and keeping you busy. Better yet, good to hear you can keep up to them. Stay in touch. Cheryl, Ontario

Hi Eric How are you doing? Have you returned to full energy now? You have such a demanding job and then the wee ones, that\'s a full day. No doubt your wife is a busy woman but still, a young family keeps you hopping. I returned my heart monitor yesterday and it was confirmed that I experience many episodes of missed heart beats, double and triple heart beats daily so the doctor suggested I go on a Beta Blocker for six weeks and then see him again. He said my heart has been traumatized and while they sometimes return to normal rhythm on their own, it\'s not uncommon for them to need help. I asked if he felt the valve was still okay and he said yes. I came away feeling quite relieved and happy to get pills! Let\'s hope the pills work like magic. My pill box is getting quite impressivly full. Hopefully they aren\'t something I have to remain on but better pills than more surgery. He said I could regulate the dose of the pills from 1/2 to 1 full pill per day as they may at first make me quite tired and lethargic. I thought I\'d let you know first hand as you suggested you were having a few boughts of irregular hearbeats yourself and hopefully this might make you feel a little better. Let me know if you end up having to pursue your symptoms. I hope not but we don\'t sound exclusive. Wishing you and your family well. Cheryl, Ontario