Rita's Photos

Rita Savelis  The Big O is the mitral valve. The rectangular bit above the mitral valve is the aortic valve (seen from a straight-on view).
The smaller elongated 0 to the left of the mitral is the tricuspid valve.
You can also see my pacemaker and sternum clips.
And if you know how to read an x-ray you can see that I have a pleural effusion on both sides of my lungs (the white stuff).
I went back into hospital the night after this x-ray to have that (4th) pleural effusion drained.

  Had our croissants this morning. Grateful for the French and their influence in our menu. I’m French via Massachusetts via Quebec, had mini quiche also. Viva La France!

Marjorie Murphy  Love it. So happy you are doing so well. I have followed your journals since I found this site. You are an inspiration to all of us

Elyse Sherman  I love it, Rita! The Paris flea markets are on my bucket list, I’m trying to think past my AVR surgery on 1/15, your uplifting photo has helped ❤️

Denise Campbell  Hey Rita. I was wondering why your INR range numbers are so high. 3-4.5? I have a mechanical on-x valve for my mitral valve and my target range is 2.5-3.5. Just curious.

Rita Savelis  I have 2 mechanical valves, so this is probably why my range is so high (the highest range possible, I think....heavy sigh....). I tend to try for around 3.5 as a INR goal. But I do go from 2.9 to 4.6... My INR varies, and since I have a wide range, lots of room to play in. It's easier to feel more relaxed about all of this now that it's 3 yrs later...
Take care Denise.

Wayne Sykes  Thanks Rita. Your note was informative and encouraging - thank goodness! And congratulations on your healthy recovery.

Marjorie Murphy  Rita

I had two valves replaced in September 2018. Aortic & Mitral. Opted for the tissue valves. This was my second heart surgery .first one was mitral valve repair. Three weeks after my last surgery I had an episode of a-fib.. I was put on amilodarone which seemed to increase my anxiety and insomnia. Finally I was taken off the drug on Jan 1 this year. I am feeling so much better...still some anxiety. I guess my question is did you have any episodes of a -fib?

Thank you for any help you can give.
Margie Murphy

Rita Savelis  I have all my xrays and echos and surgical reports... This one was taken about 5 days after I got out of hospital (7 weeks after OHS). The radiologist said: "You need to see your doctor." I had an appt the following day....but that night I had to be brought back to hospital by paramedics to get my 4th pleural infection drained...
The gosh darn pacemaker and its leads are very visible as are the sternum wires. But what is that "O"? And are my valves visible? I think I'll bring it along on my next cardiologist visit to ask....

  Cool image Rita. I'm thinking the "O's" are your mechanical valves. My x-ray would be similar: pacemaker with dual leads, a mechanical mitral valve and all the wires used to keep sternum together. Amazing hardware!

Barbara Laurie  Aw, Rita..what did you go and swallow??? Haha🤣 What a rough road you’ve been on kiddo, I hope you are well and enjoying your days..we are snuggly buttoned up here in Tahoe, snow gentle falling, fireplace 🔥blazing away in rhythm with my oxygen compressor. Dave’s napping 😴 and James is snuggled on my lap😊 I have those pacing wires, but no gizmo yet... hopefully you’ll give me pointers if the need arises! God Bless dear Rita❤️

Cynthia Pagiatakis  I saw my brand new mitral valve in xray at follow up visit w/surgeon. It (the 'o') looked just like yours,minus the electrical equipment. Hope you are feeling great ..i am!

Kate Watson  I had an xray done recently and it's very similar to this minus the pacemaker, and one of my wires was busted! I had no idea it broke and luckily can't feel it. I hope you are doing well, Rita. I miss you:)

Rita Savelis  Answers from cardiologist: The big O is the mitral valve, the smaller elongated O to the left is the tricuspid, the rectangular bit above the mitral is the aortic valve from a straight on view - so it's flat and we can't see the O.

Craig Wise  very sweet family photo, Rita. and, thank you much for your simple truthful response to my inquiry regarding post-op pain and pain meds. sometimes a truth offered sympathetically helps untangle me.

Barbara Helen Dance  Hi Rita, I WONDERED why it kept my date wrong.... haha!!😐, thank you so much for your love and best wishes. how are you?...xx

Terrie Hodges  that piece looks like Jean-Michel Basquiat's work...I haven't really ever been able to understand pieces like that...maybe indicates I'm just not with it😁but glad you had a distraction!

Ted Miko  Hi Rita, Thank you for the post. Just read your story. You have an amazing ability write. Sounds like it's been a battle , but wow, what a fighter you are ! Keep it up! Thank you for sharing. Like a lot of others on here I'll be waiting to see the victory post.

Rita Savelis  No, it's heparin + saline to reset my anticoagulant level... Just basic cardio-vascular stuff ...
My simple biopsy went well but , alas, it's because of anticoagulants that I have to spend so much time in hospital for a simple procedure. I'm fine. It's just boring. (and this wing of the hospital is really quiet and calm compared to cardio-vascular!)

Barbara Wood  Oh good...sorry you have to be in hospital, but sometimes boring is good. Take care & enjoy the view!

Ben Hyman  Wow Rita, you look like you are in excellent physical condition. Great job maintaining your health after your various surgetied

Barbara Wood  That scar healed beautifully! Does feeling the pacemaker under your skin drive you nuts when you shower? ( I had a port in about the same spot & I never got used to the tactile feel of it)

Rita Savelis  As long as I don't touch the pacemaker spot, I don't feel it and can forget it. But touching it is really strange and icky - I can feel every groove! Yuck! Why did they have to use the largest size??! I definitely avoid mirrors but have to post a photo like this every so often to force myself to try to make peace with things I find icky.
I am lucky because I scar well, and I try to avoid the sun on scars for at least a year which can help the color match the rest of one's skin... but around my OHS scar small blue capillaries have appeared as the skin is very thin and it pulled so much over that bony skeleton rib cage..

Barbara Laurie  Love it! I received two pillows because so many people wanted to sign my first one, BUT my real heart pillow is also, a small green pillow😄 We're like twins!!

Rita Savelis  Mexicans call them milagros. "Ex voto" (a votive offering to a saint for a wish fulfilled) in other Catholic countries like Italy, France, Portugal, etc. In the south of Italy there are many very very lightweight silver ones.... I have a bunch too, Jean, from various countries.... and I especially love the internal organs! I have an "anthropological" interest in religious traditions/artifacts.... and southern Italy surrounds one in tradition....

Rita Savelis  It's really that pacemaker bulge that bugs me... I can put my hand on it and feel EVERY detail of this machine under my skin. Really annoying.
(I was really hoping to find a halter style with very wide straps...but then decided what the heck!)

Rita Savelis  Three months after triple valve surgery. In a few months the redness will be gone and those spots below that mark where the drains came out. One can barely see my old spleen scar below. No sun exposure this summer

Terrie Syvertsen  Rita- Be careful what you wish for! Too much cleavage while healing incision of a full sternotomy is not easy as they are doing the "splits" the entire time you heal!!!!! Your
incision area looks really good and healthy! I am finding the spots where the drains were placed are the hardest to heal for me but slowly they are looking better!

Meredith Bray  I bet it does. I've seen bulges like that on people at the beach and wondered what it was. Duh, now I know. No big deal to the observer, for what my opinion is worth.

Rita Savelis  Thanks Meredith, I haven't seen one (yet) on someone else (or photos) so have nothing to compare it to...

Tammy Pilcher  Rita, I had to really look hard to see what you're talking about, but I understand completely how it would bug you. We always are our own worst critics. Like Meredith said, this is my opinion for what it's worth, but you look great and have pretty collar bones! Best wishes!

Rita Savelis  Being too skinny actually makes a pacemaker worse (doctors confirm this) - there is no place to hide it so it just bulges under your skin. Thanks for your comments - I get the feeling no one on heartvalvesurgery ended up with an unexpected pacemaker post surgery except me. My understanding is that triple valve surgery increases the risk of damaging "electric lines"....

Jean Raber  Rita, yes, my mother had a pacemaker installed about three months post-op. The discharge nurse told her that she saw MANY people who'd had valve surgery coming back in and needing pacemakers.

I think this is something that doctors need to discuss with patients and help them be alert to. Mom called me one morning on her cell, which she uses as her medic alert, and said she was in the bathroom and "wasn't going to make it." I called an ambulance for her (I live over an hour away), told the EMTs where to find her house key, and told them I'd meet them in the ER. Pacemaker installed the next day, and then she felt much better.

What really made me mad about the situation was that she'd called the ambulance a couple of weeks earlier for SOB. They gave her a breathing treatment and sent her home alone in a taxi. She should have had the PM then.

Rita Savelis  I was quite angry with my cardiologist (not the one who treated me in hospital, but my regular one) and I did ask him why I wasn't told (by surgeons, etc.) that a pacemaker might happen. I guess I really want more information than the average patient. I want to know about all the various things that might happen. The pacemaker surgery (under local anasthesia) really threw me for a loop (and I am a pretty easy patient really). I still can not get used to having this machine under my skin!

Ruth Reshad  I like to know the possible outcomes as well. The present day patient is more in touch with things than even 10-15 yrs. ago. I don't care to be patronized about issues with my heart by my doctors. Why do they still do that??