Daniel's Journal

It’s been a while since my last journal entry so I’m sharing a new update.
It is common for heart-valve surgery patients to have A-Fib problems and this was the true for me. Some people can feel A-Fib episodes - I cannot - but I knew when I was having an episode because the heart rate display on my Garmin fitness watch would start going crazy (Garmin devices can't yet detect A-Fib so irregular beats translate to a display of an elevated heart rate). I verified my Garmin detected A-Fib episodes using the Kardia Mobile device and sent the Kardia Mobile reports to the Univ of Washington (UW) Heart Institute.  UW had me wear a 7-day continuous heartrate monitor from 7/30 to 8/6, which showed that my heart was spending over 4% of the time in A-fib. My worst episode occurred on 8/11 and lasted 5-hours and was followed by a 2-hour episode on 8/12. The severity of my A-Fib problem raised my stroke risk and doctors put me on a blood-thinner (Eliquis) in addition to two heart rhythm drugs (Amiodarone and Metoprolol) and blood pressure medicine (Lisinopril).
Fortunately, as predicted, the A-Fib issues subsided - my last documented episode was the 2-hour one on 8/12. On September 6th, I started Cardiac Rehab visits at the Saint Joseph PeaceHealth hospital in Bellingham.  The hour-long sessions include EKG monitoring while running on a treadmill. The EKG data while exercising showed no heart rhythm issues and this gave me a green light to start shifting from walking as my primary form of exercise to running.  The following chart shows my transition from hiking/walking to running.  It has been wonderful to return to trail running and I've rejoined one of my weekly group run events here in Bellingham.
UW had me wear the 7-day continuous heart monitor device again from 10/19-10/26 and no A-Fib events were recorded.  This led to the decision to start phasing out my heart medications.  I discontinued Amiodarone on 10/24 and Eliquis on 10/31.  I'm scheduled to discontinue Metoprolol (a beta blocker) on December 5th.
The UW is still doing some follow-up testing (I'll return to Seattle in February for a CT scan and to meet with my surgeon) but I'm also seeing a cardiologist more frequently here at the PeaceHealth Hospital in Bellingham.
Thanksgiving this year has me filled with gratitude for the excellent medical care I've received in diagnosing my serious heart-valve problem, the 6-hour open heart surgery procedure to fix my heart, and the diligent monitoring and treatment I've received over the past several months.  I'm also very grateful for all of the love and support I've received from family, friends, and co-workers throughout this whole experience and from so many of the thoughtful heart valve surgery patients on this wonderful forum.

Sharing another one of the Kardia report graphs - this one showing BPM over the 30-second data capture session. Like my last post, showing both Normal Sinus Rhythm as well as A-fib.  The report from each 30-second Kardia data capture fills 7-pages, which I can send to my cardiology team as a pdf.

It is wonderful to be home! I'm using my fitness HR tracking equipment to monitor HR during my walks but I'm also gathering some resting HR data. Sharing a graph of a 1-hour recording while sitting comfortably in a chair doing no activity. While in the hospital, my A-fib episodes, which I cannot feel, were always associated with an increased HR so this hour-long graph likely shows normal sinus rhythm for the first half-hour but then A-fib activity during the second half, including some peaks that cross the "call the clinic" threshold. I'm hopeful that the days & weeks ahead will show data more like the first half-hour portion of the graph vs. the second half-hour portion.

My daughter got me out on a hike to a beautiful lake in the Cascade Mountains (good pre-surgery distraction!).  Can't wait to get on the other side of my surgery!

Photo from running in the Boston Marathon (2014). Can't wait until I can start running again after my Ross Procedure on July 18th. I haven't run since February 28th on advice of cardiologists to keep my heart rate < 140 bpm. This is my longest break from running in 20 years. I've been walking 3-5 miles a day wearing and monitoring my HR through a chest strap heart monitor connected to my watch.

I've been running for 5 years with a fitness watch that includes heart rate data for 1,000 runs.  This graph shows the first set of 500 runs showing slower pace but lower HR.