John's Guestbook

Deena Z  Same here, John.  Hope all is going well. The first couple of days for me were tough, then it got much better. 

John Stavrakos  Hello everyone, I'm home after six days from my third OHS. Had some rough patches but nothing the medical folks haven't seen before. Valve is seated well, and all numbers look good. All except bp, which is higher than they'd like. But not dangerously high, and it's steadily getting better. I've taken three 10-minute walks each day too. So I'm doing everything I've been told to do upon discharge.

Here's my thing, though. Five days post-op I began experiencing severe bloating, and it's still with me. I mean SEVERE. The X-rays of chest and abdomen don't show any issues. Still, it feels as if I'm with child, and for the last two days I've taken everything known to man to get rid of it: 1) Gas-X, 2) Tums, 3) IB Gard, 4) Mylanta, 5) stomach massages used on gassy infants, among others. Now I just drank a small of glass of bicarbonate. I've been told it's because my organs took a shock with the heart-lung machine and eventually it will get better. I sure hope so, because it's tough walking around as if I'm 8 months pregnant. It's something I never experienced before and did not expect this time. Any help would be welcome.

Thank you all for checking in on me. We are in a rough stretch in our lives, and it's nice to know there's  a support group in your corner. All the best.

Kimberly Eisenhut  Also, I would love to connect with you and stay in touch, as we are both going to Northwestern. You are about same distance south as I am north of Chicago I believe. Who knows, we may bump into each other during a visit to Northwestern sometime :)
Please reach out if you ever want to talk or have someone to listen to any concerns, questions or just to say hello.

John Stavrakos  Hi Kim, yeah, Doc Johnston will be intimate with me in about 15 hours. And you know Doc Malaisrie is doing a lecture tonight in about 3 hours on this site. Than you for the good wishes. When are you going in for your procedure? And let's do stay in touch.  Is there a way to send a PM? We can exchange digits that way. Thank you for reaching out and for the words of support.

Kimberly Eisenhut  I am so upset I missed the zoom! I was on hold with a furniture store and could not get off to hop on call. My surgery is not set yet, I am seeing Dr Malaisrie on August 11th to discuss surgery and go over testing. I do need to schedule my CT before I see him though. I already had my TEE 2 months ago and only need the CT now. I think the only way to exchange numbers would be through email. Mine is kimebecker@gmail.com. You can follow me here and I will follow you, it shows emails when you follow other members here. Do you have family going with you tomorrow? I hope you have all the love and support you need and we will all be waiting to see how you are after you are all fixed up again :)
No sweat! You are a pro and you've got this

John Stavrakos  Hi Kim, yes, I’ll have family there. So I’m good on that score. And don’t worry about the video, as I’m sure Adam will post the recording soon.  Good luck with your upcoming tests. I’ll reach out to you further via email. Thank you for your words of support. 

Susan Lynn  I remember that anticipation like it was yesterday,  John!   That means - you're ready to put this in the rearview mirror!   Go get 'em!

Robert Miller  I usually skip through guestbook comments but this one hit me. Some people believe in prayers. I believe in science. And based on science, you are going to be a lot better with very minimal risks despite the big procedure. I wish you all the best...

Rebecca Vaughan   Good luck John. I hope everything goes very well for you and look forward to that message saying all went well and you feel good about being on the recovery side. All the best. 

Corey Potter  Best wishes on your surgery and recovery.  I'm 6 days post op from my AVR and I feel really good today.  Flying home tomorrow afternoon.  Again, hope everything goes smoothly for you!

John Stavrakos  Hi Kate, thank you for the support. After consultations and deep considerations, we are going with tissue again in the hopes this will bridge me to TAVR, hopefully a loooooong time down the road. Good luck on number three for you. I feel your pain figurative, and in a few days I will feel it literally :)

Kate Watson  It sounds like you got a good long life out of your last tissue valve, so I hope too this one lasts you a very long time. I'll be just a few days behind you. Hope we both are back here updating about our pain complaints in a week or so :)

John Stavrakos  Tell you what, Kate. Let's make it a "date," so to say. As soon as I'm capable of updating my sitch, I will do so. And you do the same, OK?