Vickie's Guestbook

Hi Vickie, I am Linda Dixon, new to the site. I have aortic stenosis and dilated aorta. I notice that you had the same problem. Hope you are feeling well. I think I read that you had both your valve replaced and the aneurysm repaird with a mini incision. Am I correct? I haven\'t read where anyone else with AV replacement and aneurysm repair was able to not have full sternotomy. I\'m waiting on word from Cleveland Clinic for a date to go. It sure would be nice not to have my sternum completely opened. Would appreciate any tips you might have. Merry Christmas! Linda Dixon

Hi Vickie. I had my mitral repair April 26. Regarding a small amount of leakage. It depends on what is meant by small. In order for a valve to close, there has to be some back flow to push the leaflets into the closed position. You may want to ask your cardiologist for a quantitative measure so you can place yourself in an evidence-based risk category. -- DVB

Vickie, I am afraid you on your own with the mystery bump, hump, or lump. As a nurse my guess would just be a cyst of some sort. We\'ll give you a pass on the TMI because you didn\'t include a photo. :-) I hope you get better quickly. Garry

Vickie: It doesn\'t sound heart related. Have you been doing a lot of sitting? If I sit for a long time, one spot near my tailbone gets excruciatingly painful. Could you have bumped it or fallen on it? You definitely need to call your doctor. Terry Chase

Wow, another puzzle, Vickie. I\'m having trouble visualizing...maybe that\'s not the best word to use, but you know what I mean...to understand this. As a bike, the kind you peddle, person, I\'ve experienced some \"sit area\" things over the years. The last one happened before surgery when I just had to ride, just had to..and did about 35 easy miles, very careful not to get the heart rate up. After the ride I had a kind of linear lump in the area of the ishium, or as I called it on an anatomy test when I couldn\'t remember \"ishium\", called it the bicylcle sit bone, which, by the way, I did not get credit for. Anyway, you can understand bicycle sit bone to be where the rear connects to the bicycle seat. I guess the lump was three or four inches long, but it didn\'t really hurt. I\'m guessing, from your description, your lump is not at all near where the heart lung machine may have been connected with your femoral artery, where I still have a lumps six wks after surgery, that seems to be going away, but very slowly...so that\'s my input...Barry on the mtn in NM

Hi Vickie - I am on 100 MG XL - not so much for my heart rate - but my Blood Pressure is still higher than normal. I am told I may have to stay on them for quite a while. I am a follow up with my cardiologist today - I will let you know what he says. Glad you are doing well. Randa G

About Beta Blockers. If Atenolol is one of them, I asked to be taken off at 3 1/2 weeks because they made me dizzy. They recommend tapering off. I\'m still on Digoxin which I don\'t mind since I don\'t have any side effects, and the cardiologist said at my age it doesn\'t hurt to have something to help regulate the heartbeat. I\'m 72. You seem to be doing very well. It\'s not necessary to push it. You\'re already doing very well, and there is no benefit to acting heroic. Just let your heart heal. Terry C.

Hi Vickie, It sounds like you are doing very well for day 23. I can\'t go back to work for over 3 months from my surgery, so I won\'t be back to teaching until next school year: too much lifting of students and wheelchairs. Don\'t overdo it at work. Take it slow. I had my surgery 8 weeks ago as of tomorrow, and I am still on Toprol XL as well as amiodorone. I hope I can stop taking one or both when I see my cardiologist in mid May.This may not be typical. I had a 2nd hospitalization in mid-March with a bleeding ulcer which put my heart into a fib, which is not happening now but is the reason for the amiodorone. Continue doing well. It is good to hear from you. Tia P.

Vickie, sounds like your surgery went as expected with no complications - I like to hear that. We all know about the tubes, but as you say that is something we just have to push through - can\'t get there from here without going thru. I am so happy for you. I am scheduled for mitral valve repair at CCF in Aug. GOD bless you ..and very appropriate on this Easter Morn, you have been born to a new life. Emilyrae Helfen