Jennifer's Profile

I was born with pulmonary stenosis and a bicuspid aortic valve. I've lived my whole life with this, and was very active but then I started having chest pain and arrhythmia last June. I am having open heart surgery to replace my aortic valve with a tissue valve. I teach Jr High science and math and my surgery is scheduled for the first day of school! My school is preparing for a hybrid program where teachers will be in class and teaching online, and even though there will be masks worn and social distancing, there are still a lot of concerns while at the same time, I'm facing a big surgery. Lots of scary emotions. But I'm very thankful I'm getting this fixed. I was surprised how quickly my symptoms worsened in such a short period of time. Week 7 of recovery: pleural effusion after surgery made a rough recovery: lots of coughing! A UTI put me in the hospital for 3 days over a week ago, and now the low-grade fever has returned with still more coughing. On an antibiotic and mucinex. Seeing the Dr again today. No fun.