About Me (In My Own Words)
I was born with a Heart Murmer. My parents were told it would heal itself, it never did. It never gave me any problems that I am aware of. I spent 4 years on active duty with the Navy and another 19 years, 3 months in the Naval Reserves. I started noticing it was harder to walk last year in the deer woods, I was thinking I am older, I have lots of clothes on and I have gained a little extra weight. It was hurting between my shoulder blades. I never had any chest pain, shoulder or neck pain. In April I started to really feel run down. My GP suggested I exercise so I started walking down my road but I didn’t get very far before I was bent over trying to breathe. I thought to myself, I know I am out of shape but this is ridiculous. I went to go see a new Cardiologist at Conway Regional Hospital. He ran a bunch of tests on June 15 and said he would check with his colleagues and get back to me. It was getting hard for me to do much of anything. I drive a truck for FedEx Freight at night, even tho I don’t work the dock anymore there is still quite a bit of walking involved. I was struggling and a little worried. At 61 years of age and not far from retirement I didn’t know what was going on for sure, I just knew I couldn’t hardly walk any distance without running out of breath. A month later my wife called my Cardiologist. His nurse said he had forgot about me. I was dumbfounded to say the least and more than a little upset. So, I had to find another Cardiologist at a different hospital as I didn’t trust the other one to make it right after he forgot about me. My wife was freaking out about me having heart surgery, she thought they would open me up like they used to. I didn’t have any stamina when I had surgery so I didn’t have any after surgery. I could barely walk to the bathroom much less down the hall. It’s not that I didn’t want to, I just didn’t have the strength. I spent 6 days in the hospital coughing most of the time. I felt sort of lost. The Dr said the surgery went off pretty much without any problems but that didn’t tell me much. Being on pain pills left me in a fog and I had excess fluid in my body from the surgery. I felt like I had swallowed a beach ball. They said you need to eat to build up your strength. I ate a little bit but it left me really bloated. I said something to the nurse about it and she told me I ate too much. Make up your mind! Either I eat or don’t eat! I wasn’t to crazy about some of the nurses & techs they had working there. A couple went above and beyond their nursing duties but several acted like it was above them to do simple tasks. I finally got home, but was still coughing so much my chest felt like I had been in a fight. Some days I could barely move or breathe. Eventually after being prescribed Tussin pearl to deaden the cough my GP prescribed some antibiotics and my cough went away. I missed a couple of days of rehab due to the cough. I am back at rehab doing better, I don’t use my cane anymore and I stopped carrying my heart pillow in places. I still use the pillow in the car as the roads aren’t so good where I live. I can’t do any arm exercises till the 23rd of November or until my Dr releases me to do so. I am thankful everyday that I can breathe but I have no idea as to what is to follow, are their complications that come from this later on, medication interactions to know about.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Conway
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My surgery date is:
August 31, 2020
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I was diagnosed with:
Aortic Stenosis
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My surgery was:
Aortic Valve Replacement
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My surgeon is:
Dr. Kris Freeland
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My hospital is:
Arkansas Heart Hospital
