Michael's Guestbook

Michael Culpepper  Thanks, Paul. Yep, been working on it. Since my last posting in 2014, I retired (mainly to be support for my wife and for my now 93 yr old Dad). We returned from Stuttgart Germany to the Kansas City area. My mitral valve repair was a glowing success. Cardiologists here in the KC area have done sequences of EKGs and echocardiograms -- they tell me all is functioning perfectly and I have a heart that looks like it should be in a 40 year old.

I go to a local fitness center where I work with a personal trainer 3 days per week. I also have my own treadmill and hit it about 6 days per week. My sessions vary, but am currently on an average pace of 10-11 minutes per mile, and usually do 3-5 miles per session. I just can't let myself vegitate. Gotta stay active.

Michael Culpepper  Best wishes. My caregivers were WIZARDS. Sincerely hope you have similar results. I am up to 5 mile walks at sub-16 minute per mile pace.

Let us know how you are doing.

Michael Culpepper  Bob -

The "Inspiro" device is a little plastic toy-looking thing that the therapists give you to encourage re-inflating lungs. the "inspiro" comes from "inspiration" as in sucking in air. This thing has a hose on it that you suck air through. A little ball floats in a tube and a disk rises as you pull in more air, measuring the total volume of the air you pulled into your lungs. It is intended to get air sacs re-inflated and decrease chances of collecting fluid in lungs post-surgery.

Have had no A-fib post-surgery. Because i had an extended period of A-fib back in Jan, this surgery included a MAZE procedure to prevent A-fib. They are generally about 90% effective. Won't take time to describe the procedure here, but easy to find on a Google search.

Now that I'm home, mainly using a good quality blood pressure device to take BP and pulse 3-5 times per day. I made a spreadsheet to enter each reading and print it out each time I go to the Doc. tat way he can see if there have been any significant ups or downs. WE take pulse regularly, looking for missed beats or extra ones. If that happens, I call my Cardiologist and go for an EKG.

Glad you have found this to be of use. Best wishes as you approach your procedure.

Michael Culpepper  Thanks, Meredith. I actually remembered your comments about standing up straight and have been consistently reminding myself to do so.

Just came back from a .3 mile walk/stroll and the pulse was still only 79. Good so far. A little more each day.

Thanks for your comments and support.

Michael Culpepper  Loyd -

Thanks for the encouragement. I am really upbeat about this whole process. Viewing it as a preventative procedure to keep worse things from happening.

I know every recovery is different, but I choose to believe mine will be uneventful, just as yours appears to have been.

Thanks.