Kimberly's Guestbook

Kimberly Eisenhut  Thank you so much Sue, I feel so alone most days. I appreciate everyone here for the support and encouragement God bless you also

Kimberly Eisenhut  I have not had testing yet, the allergist wants the Drs to send her the actual devices they may use and test the components. I have an apt on June 24th for patch testing with allergist and am hoping they can get her the things she wants to test so I can move forward with surgery and get things moving along.
Thank you for asking and caring. Every day it is all I can think about. I try so hard to wake up and think about other things, but it just always creeps back in and takes over my whole day. I hope you are doing well and look forward to seeing some picts of your landscape and such soon. It is so beautiful there

Valerie Allen  Kim, I hope you find it somewhat reassuring, at least, that they are actually testing the components. That sounds very thorough and actually, great! I continue to think about you and pray for you. I hope you get answers very soon. Hugs

Fidel Martínez Ruiz  Kim: I think once you have the results of the allergy test, the surgeons will make the best decision, since I think there are quite a few, as we can see in the "learning center" on this page and can be read on medical websites. So, stay strong, we're with you!!  

Kimberly Eisenhut  Ruth, they cant get me in until june 24th, but what can I do. Guess I have to wait. My tricuspid is at a grade 4+, so it is very worrisome for me and i am really starting to feel it these past months. Hard to just do simple daily things. My energy level is just so low and am actually looking forward to getting this fixed so I can feel like I can live my life again. My wonderful 19 year old son who lives with me is going grocery shopping today and helping me with my Etsy orders later. I just hate that he has to worry and go through this at his age when he should be having the time of his life and no worries. My daughter lives in Wisconsin and is over an hour away. I used to love driving up every weekend, but this past year has become very difficult to do myself. Hoping to get up there this Sunday for a visit though. I need a distraction for an afternoon. My 14 year old only graddaughter has her last day of 8th grade tomorrow. Her school does not have a graduation though, which is too bad but my daughter is having a grad party on the 21st, so that should be nice and something else to look forward to. Every day starts with me just overwhelmed with worry and the future, but I am trying so hard to stay optimistic. Pray for some peace for my mind and body today

Kimberly Eisenhut  Joe, I am so very inspired by you! Thank you so much for this post, I appreciate the support and encouragement I will be updating as I go. Have not heard back about when my valve team meeting will be.

susan harris  joe, you give me such inspiration for my son who is mid twenties and just finished his second OHS. probably at least 3 more in future. 

Kimberly Eisenhut  Ruth, I do not have an apt with Dr, but expect at least a response from MyChart about my results. I do hope she calls me also. Thank you for your support

Kimberly Eisenhut  You are right Ruth. I would never want to make anyone feel as if they would not want to get the test done at all! I am feeling much better today, gargling with salt water has helped a lot. I am so blessed to have been able to have the TEE and looking forward to seeing what the valve team has to say about my results. My wonderful 79 year old mother stayed the night at my house and made sure I had something to eat, since I had not eaten in almost 24 hours. Mashed potatos and a great smoothy made by my son Matthew :) I am blessed

Kimberly Eisenhut  O.K., I am not sure I can use those then. My little dogs have sensitive stomachs :(
Thank you for the info though. Have a good rest of your weekend Richard :)

Richard Munson  Shadow is also very sensitive. A lot like me. But very food motivated. A lot like me. He seems to like women better than men. A lot like me. Is this a pattern here.?

Kimberly Eisenhut  Ellen,
I am having a TEE now on April 2nd and now am pretty worried I will need surgery, as I am feeling terrible these past months. I have had echos every 6 months, a right heart cath 7 years ago because the first cariologist I had thought I had pulmonary hypertension, but was found I did not in fact have high pressures, so went to another cardiologist who said it is tricuspid regurgitation (moderate), which is now moderate -severe, and once had a cardiac MRI, but could not get through the contrast part because of chest pain, that was 5 years ago. My cardiologist at Northwestern in Chicago wants me to wear a monitor for 2 days next week also. My HR goes down to 48 in the evenings at times and I feel my heart pounding for hours sometimes also, which is concerning to me. I get lightheaded, extremely fatigued most days and a little dizzy and have a hard time doing daily things like I used to. Seeing you had echos and they did not show how severe it was has me very concerned also. My cardiologist is very good though, and does read every echo and measure things herself every time. Can I ask what if any medications you have been on up until now? Oh, I just had a stress echo in December also which showed same results as echos and was no change since last year.
I would like very much to stay in touch with you and possibly be of support to each other through this. I am so glad you reached out, as every single day I think and worry about this. I am a single mom with a 19 year old still living with me and i am his total support. He has terrible anxiety and social phobia which makes it hard for him to get a job and go to school. He helps me a lot around the house and sometimes with my Etsy shop, but it is a daily struggle fo rme to not constantly think about every feeling I have and worry what it means.
You have no idea what it means to me that you reached out to me at this time, and I will be praying for your surgery to be perfect and that you recover quickly! Please stay in touch when you are able.
Huge hugs, lots of love and good wishes to you
Kim

Ellen S.  Hi Kim, Well, the surgery was initially successful, but then there were a few complications that kept me in TCICU for over a week. I’m home now and on the road to recovery.

My cardiologist sent me for a TEE. It was only on that test that the severity of my TR was seen.  A second TEE confirmed it.

Prior to surgery, I was only on 25mg of Metoprolol.  Now I’m on too many to count 😆

Hopefully, your TEE on 4/2 will clarify things for you.

Kimberly Eisenhut  Glad you are home and recovering now :) What were your complications, if you dont mind me asking? How bad were the results of your TEE that they made the decission to do surgery? What other are you taking and what are your Drs saying goinf forward?
I will be thinking of you today and hope to see your progress move qickly in the right direction and you improve without any trouble going forward. Big hugs and good wishes today. Please keep in touch and stay positive

Ellen S.  My TEEs showed severe TR and moderate MR. It was really a decision I made with two cardiologists and my surgeon. I’m relatively young and healthy. The TR was not going to get better on its own and there are no meds to take. I would have just been waiting to start going into RHF and been in worse shape.  So, I elected to have the surgery now.

I had minimally invasive robotic, which went well. Afterwards, they saw a kink or blockage in my circumflex artery, and they placed a stent. Luckily, they saw it immediately or I would have had a heart attack. 

After that, I was okay for a day (really I don’t know all the timing on this), then my blood pressure dropped very low and I had arrhythmia. I went into Afib twice.They took me to the Cath Lab, where they place a temporary pacing wire. Prior to placing the wire, they saw that I had a cardiac tamponade. Again luckily, they were able to take care of that, by leaning me on my right side, where it just drained out.  After that they just really watched my BP and heart rhythm. I never needed to be paced or cardioverted.  My heart returned to normal rhythm on its own, and I haven’t been in Afib since. I did not have to have a pacemaker implanted.  (Luckily, over a year ago, I had a loop recorder implanted, so they can see what is going on remotely).

I was on Lasix, potassium, and magnesium for three days. The medications I’ve been taking since I left the hospital are Amiodarone, aspirin, Brilinta, and Colchicine, plus my regular medications (e.g., Metformin).

Anyway, I could have said, luckily a few more times, because although there were some major and minor complications, everything worked out for the best and I’m feeling pretty lucky!

Kimberly Eisenhut  Ellen, thank you for the update. I am so glad you got the care you needed and avoided anything worse happening. Please keep us posted on our recovery and wishing you all the best and quick healing and great recovery to feeling better! 

Kimberly Eisenhut  Yes, Her name is Dr Rigolin. She is very thorough and when I get my echos, she measures herself and goes over everything with tests herself and does not just rely on the techs who read the tests. She also never rushes you during appointments and takes her time to listen to any concerns. Let me know who Dr Hodges recommends to you. Thank you

  Kimberly I read Dr. Rigoin’s profile and she looks just perfect to me!! Will be seeking to transfer care to her prior to my surgery, contingent upon Dr. Hodge’s recommendations. 
❤️❤️❤️

Kimberly Eisenhut  Oh Richard! I so did need this and so appreciate you! Was in ER Tuesday night until yesterday about noon. Took them 4 hours to get me in the actual ER area. I am o.k., n=but had another insidant with losing some vision in my right eye. Cardiologist told me to go to ER if I was at all worried about it and as I absolutely despise ERs, I never go unless there is no other choice. Did an MRI, looked ok, a ct scan of carotids, that was ok, and lots od bloodwork, all pretty good. Came home and FINALLY got my CPAP machine today after so much trouble these past few weeks getting it, guess the ER visit speeded things up a bit! Also have a stress echo early in the morning. Cardiologist just wants to check things out. I was scheduled to go mext month anyway. I guess the ER visit got the insurance to ok that earlier too. I am very grateful I have my family and friends here and especially my HVS step dad! My daughter from WI came at 2 in the morning to be with me at the hospital as well as my son, mother and sister. It was like a family reunion in the ER that night, but not the fun kind. I am happy to say we did have a little fun today, since my daughter stayed the night and went to do a little fun shopping before picking up my cpap equipment. Now she wants me to video call her when I am wearing the cpap. I know she just wants to laugh at me, lol! Oh, forgot to add after the hospital, my opthamologist wanted me to come straight to see him yesterday right from hospital and he did a bunch of tests there also and said i need laser surgery to put a small hole so that fluid drains better. I cannot explain it exactly, as I am sleep deprived today, but I think its called a selective laser trabeculoplasty. They do one eye at a time and it helps slow glaucoma. That will be in a few weeks. I will be doing some research of course before going for that though. My hope is that the cpap will help slow or reverse some of my eye problems as well, as apnea and the low oxygen levels that go along with it can actually cause glaucoma from what I understand. Well, that was quite the post!!! Sorry for my ramblings. 

  Good morning Kimberly. Catching up on some posts since I am new to this site. So happy to see you received your CPAP and had your stress test completed. Also happy to see that your eye issues are being identified and addressed. You are certainly dealing with a lot!!

Noting your reference to eye issues, finding we have more in common. I had botched cataract surgeries in both eyes about 6 years ago. I have gone through numerous detachments and surgeries to correct, laser and under general anesthesia. 

I was legally blind in both eyes until finally major issues were fixed about 2 years ago thanks to awesome doctors, again in the Chicago area. Botched surgeries were in South Carolina. 

Long story short (I can be very wordy!), I am allergic to all steroid eyedrops that were used for years, and I now receive monthly eye injections to reduce ongoing edema in both eyes. 

After I had my 3 stents “installed” my vision improved! My eye doc told me my upcoming valve replacement should also improve my vision. 

So much can be all about fluid buildup and inflammation system wide. 

Please continue to keep us posted and stay encouraged and positive despite it all. ❤️❤️❤️

Richard Munson  Showed a lot of leg here, but note the cushioning around the knee cap. There are also stiff pieces running down each side of leg for stability. I can find my order on amazon and provide more data if you are interested further. They make different colors and sizes. I now have 3 pair.

Richard Munson  You don’t say things like that to your hvs step dad. I have always been a leg man. Is that politically incorrect? 

Kimberly Eisenhut  Richard, yes, I would love to know the knee brace you use. I have several, but they do not make my knee feel stable when it is flaring up. It is snowing here and wind gusts up to 40mph, so its time to get on the treadmill for me. How do you get Shadow warn out when the weather is bad and you cannot walk him? Throw the ball a hundred times in the house? Or do you have a fenced yard he can run in? I miss my fenced yard! Thank you in advance for the information about the brace. Hope you, Nancy and Shadow have a wonderful day and Thanksgiving

Richard Munson  I will take a pix of the brace i use and post it. Bought it on amazon. Please keep the snow. I don’t want it. Shadow has a fenced in yard to run in but missing a days walk here and there is no biggie. 

Kimberly Eisenhut  Thank you Richard, I will ! I am so grateful for everyone here. I put up my tree early this year and my son is going to help hang the outdoor lights this weekend :) So much love and blessings to you Richard, Deena, Rose and Pamela, as well as all of our HVS family

Kimberly Eisenhut  Richard, I am so so sorry for your daughter having to go through so much :( My eye looks pretty crazy today! I was told it could have been from sleep apnea, which most of us have at least a few every night. Dr told me that at the end of an apnea episode your bp can spike and that can cause it, but almost 50% of cases of this have no known cause, so just lucky eye guess, haha. Freaked out my son this morning again because the blood has spread down and taking up more of the white of my eye. No pain at all, it just has to reabsorb the blood and heal, just like a bruise. Only reason it looks so horrible is because our eyes have such a thin layer protecting them, so when that little vein bursts, it looks a lot worse than a bruise anywhere else on our bodies that are covered with so many layers of skin. Cpap would stink, but if it would help with sleep, may be worth the hassle. We will see. I am so grateful to have you as my friend here Richard. Thank you for the clarification on your daughter and I will consider that drink. Wish you, Nancy and Shadow a peaceful weekend