Dan's Journal

4 Years Post AVR Today is my four year anniversary of having my aortic valve replaced. Feeling great. Doctors all say everything is looking great. I have a mechanical valve. Really haven't had issues with the warfarin. Go about 4-6 weeks for an INR check. Been playing lots of golf the past couple of summers. I prefer walking to riding in a cart. My son and I played league together this past summer, plus a number of tournaments. I do read the journals to see how people are doing. This is a great site and a big thanks to Adam for all he's done with this website. For those waiting for surgery, best of luck, peace and a smooth recovery. To those post surgery, I hope you are all able to return to a normal routine and enjoy family and friends. Now, if I can get rid of these darn kidney stones, had them 3 times in a year, all would be great. Ready for snow in Wisconsin. But, if it holds off a while, I happy with that. Good luck to all. Dan

Hard to believe it was a year ago today I have my Aortic Valve replaced. I can hear it clicking away. So far so good. I hope the warranty is good past 1 year. No issues with Warfarin and my INR stays in the target range. Biggest problem is weight gain. I\'ve started hitting the gym again and working out has felt great. It was great to be able to play golf this summer. I check to see how things are going with others who had surgery around the same time when I get a chance. To those waiting, prayers and patience. I remember the waiting and just wanting to get the surgery over with. Once I had surgery, I can believe how quickly I started to notice that I was feeling a lot better. To those who are recoverying, I hope all is going well and only minor bumps in the road. I had a couple and it is frustrating when they pop up. I know I just wanted to be over it all and move on. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Hi, Today marks 9 months since I have my Aortic valve replaced. Things are clicking along, as I hear the mechanical valve doing its thing. Only thing has been some minor ups and downs have been my INR numbers. For the most part, it really isn\'t an issue. I saw my cardiologist in early July and was told he would see me in 2 years, unless I felt like something wasn\'t right or my internal med doctor wants me checked out. He also told me to walk when playing golf, don\'t ride the cart and walk with the lawn mower, don\'t cut grass with my rider. It has been great being on the golf course again. I went 18 months due to various medical issues between rounds. Played golf with my son while he was home. He\'s now deployed in Afghanistan until May next year. Work has been good. A bit nerve racking as a big contract was awarded to another firm and it could result in a number of jobs lost. We had 2 people from our group reassigned to another group. Wait and see what else may happen. I\'m enjoying a weeks vacation. For the first time in about 2 years, vacation time isn\'t being used for medical reasons. Working on staining the decks, getting some golf in, working on my RC helicopters and putting a few miles on my Harley. My hats off to the staff at St. Mary\'s Hospital, Dean Clinic cardiology and the rehab team I worked with to get back to where I am. Good luck to those waiting for surgery. A smooth and uneventful recovery for those out of surgery. I know it isn\'t always the case, but may any bumps in the path be small. Dan

Hello, Been a while since I\'ve posted. Tomorrow will be 19 weeks since my valve replacement. All is going well with that. my INR continues to be right where it should be. However, I\'ve gained a few too many pounds and need to address that again. Work has been busy. 45-52 hours a week the last few weeks. I\'m getting through the days ok, but not finding I\'m not sleeping very well at night. Most of that is due to stress with work and family stuff right now. Attempted to golf this morning. However, I went to the driving range and after a 1/2 bucket of balls, my right arm went numb from the shoulder to the hand. I felt a twinge in my shoulder. Since I had surgery a year ago for a torn rotator cuff, it\'s related to that. Warmed up before hitting. During cardiac rehab my should felt great with the weight we were doing. Thought I was ready to go, seem my heart is, but not my shoulder. I\'ll have to call the doctor tomorrow. Time to ice down the shoulder and relax before mowing lawn today. All the 70s and 80s in March has my yard looking like a hayfield. Dan

Morning All, Today makes 14 weeks since my valve replacement. Things are going well for recovery, although, last week I over did it at work. Put in 50 hours trying to get a project completed before taking a 4 day weekend. I was beat and not feeling great by Friday. Almost got the project done. Little bit of work left. Today also marks our 25th wedding anniversary. Wouldn\'t have done so well without Lora\'s help over the years. We got married on a Friday afternoon and the following Friday moved into our first house in Madison. Out for lunch and some shopping, relax away from the office for a couple of days. I decided after 25 years of marriage, I could friend her on Facebook. So that\'s what I did this morning. :-)) I see a couple of people having surgery today or very soon. Best of luck on surgery and a speedy recovery. To those waiting, that really is the hardest part. You\'ll be amazed at what you can do after surgery. Enjoy the day.

I completed my rehab yesterday. Its been a bit of a struggle working full time and going to rehab 3 days a week. But I made it! Yesterday also marked 6 months since I first was diagnosed with Endocarditist, that started the journey to my valve replacement. Monday the 6th will mark 12 weeks since I have surgery. I have no regrets going with the mechanical valve. I\'m feeling better and getting stronger. Now it\'s time to find a gym to join again and keep up the recovery work on my own. I can\'t say enough great things about the staff at Dean Cardiology and St. Mary\'s Hospital here in Madison. Dr Kantamneni did a wonderful job with surgery. The ICU nurses were fantastic. It was nice having a nurse on 5th floor when I moved out of ICU, I had worked with in March of 2011 when I was in was pnemonia. I will miss going to rehab, as the gals there are great to work with and really work one-on-one with you to be sure all is going well. To all waiting for surgery, I really didn\'t find anything to be as bad as I thought it might be or was expecting. To those recovering from surgery, I hope all goes well and only minor speed bumps in the road. I\'ll let you now how it\'s going and keep up with you. Best of Luck, Dan

Went back to work full time last Wednesday. Had cardiac rehab at 3 that day. I got my butt kicked between the two. Thought I was ready for taking on the world. Still got a ways to go. It is nice being back in the office, having something else to work on and being out of the house. It snowed Thursday and I over did it a bit cleaning snow. Worked remote Friday since the wind chill was near 0, I didn\'t want to venture too far. Wasn\'t feeling real good either and missed rehab. I need to get a mask or warm scarf so I can go more with the wind chills 0 or below. Lora was sick Monday and Tuesday, now it feels like I\'m starting to come down the with same thing. Hopefully, this will pass by Monday, I don\'t really want to be out of work just getting back. Got use to the warm January weather with no snow. But it is winter and Wisconsin, snow and cold settling in. Maybe I should still be on leave. Weather changed once I started back to work :-)) Let you know how a full week of work and rehab goes next week. Dan

I\'ve been talking with the doctor\'s office and I have approval to return to work next Wednesday the 11th. My energy level keeps improving and I\'m feeling really good. I know there\'s a lot going on at work and I\'ve already seen a couple of projects assigned to me when I get back. Now I just need to get organized and back in the routine for getting to work everyday. The nurse reminded me not to over do it at work or home, since I\'m still healing. My primary care doc showed me the xray last week with the wire in my sternum. The surgeon used 10 pieces to tie me together after my surgery. Be interesting to see if I set off the detectors at the airport next time I fly. Dan

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. If your waiting for surgery, I hope everything goes smoothly for you. For those recovering, I hope all is processing with no or small bumps in the road. It\'s hard to believe that today is 6 weeks since I had my aortic valve replaced. I\'m feeling better each day and rehab is going well. I\'ll be rejoining the gym at the end of Janurary so I can keep up rehab on my own at that point. One issue I\'m dealing with is headaches on a daily basis. But since my nose is stuffed, my doctor feels I\'ve got a cold and give it another week. I had an echo a week ago today and my cardiologist told me all looks good with the new valve and he will see me in 6 months. I\'m scheduled to go back to work on Jan 17th. However, I\'m thinking more like Jan 10th or 11th. Really getting bored around the house and getting back to work would be great. Been out of work 3 times this year for hospital stays and would love to start the new year in the office. I\'ve spent too much time in St. Mary\'s this year. Great place for care, but I hope 2012, I\'m only visiting. Dan

I started rehab this week. Class is MWF and I chose the 7 am session. Being an old farm boy, I\'m up early for work and decided I should start getting into a routine like I\'m going to work. Rehab is going well. I\'m doing 20 minutes on the treadmill and 20 on the bike. There\'s a 10 min group activity at the end. This goes through Jan 13th. Work approved the additional time off the doctor requested. I\'m slated to return Jan 16th. I can truely say I am starting to miss it. Keep up with emails at work daily. Only so many movies and TV shows to watch. Got Xmas presents mailed off to Greg in Germany. Hoping they will make it in time. Lora and I bought a small tree over the weekend and she put that up the other night. Dan

Not feeling well today. Tired, achy, rundown. Maybe the start of a cold? Lora and I were out yesterday morning shopping and I did some laundry in the afternoon. Maybe I did a bit too much. Took a long nap this afternoon and woke up feeling run down. First rehab appointment tomorrow morning and see my regular cardiologist in the afternoon. Lab work on Tuesday morning. So far my INR numbers on warfin are right where they should be. I\'ll update after my appointments tomorrow. Should be an interesting Monday. 4 weeks after surgery tomorrow. Dan

Met with my surgeon, Dr. Kantamneni today. Good news is since I\'m no longer taking prescription pain meds, I can drive again. Gives me some freedom to get out a little more and gives Lora a break from driving me everywhere. The OK news, is he doesn\'t want me going back to work until I complete rehab in mid-January. I\'ve forwarded his request to work, to see if they will approve the additional time off. Work gave me 6 weeks off to start, which would have me back in the office on 12/27, Doc would like me off until 1/16/12. Everything else with the surgery looks great and I\'m feeling pretty good overall. Just wish it was a bit warmer so I could get out a walk more. Now that I can drive, maybe a couple trips a week to the mall for a walk. I\'ve taken off about 5 pounds from what I weighed before surgery. Dan

Tomorrow marks 3 weeks since my AVR. How time flies when your having fun! Sleep has been better since the doctor gave a prescription last week. Yesterday I got out twice, it felt good as the cabin fever was starting to get me. Went to church this morning and walked around the block this afternoon. There is a pretty good incline and I was pleased how easily I made it up the hill. Was not winded and felt good at the top. I see my surgeon on Tuesday, the first I will see Dr Kantamneni since I was discharged after surgery.. Rehab starts next Monday, the 12th. I\'m only taking regular Tylenol now for pain. My chest is more sore than painful right now. My INR numbers are good. Keeping up with emails at work, so I\'m not buried when I get back in the office. Been through quite a few emails already. Time to finish up some laundry and call it a day. Dan

I\'ve run into an issue with sleeping the past few nights. I can\'t fall asleep and once I do, I only sleep a couple of hours. Anyone else run into this after surgery? I\'m not napping during the day and take the dogs out 3-4 times a day. I\'ll be calling the nurse today and see what the doctor has to say or recommend. Other than not sleeping, I\'m feeling pretty good. My chest aches, but I think that is from thing trying to heal now. And I\'m getting cabin fever being home and can\'t drive anywhere. I bought a new helicopter kit on Ebay. I fly radio controlled helicopters. With getting my energy levels back up, I want to get my fleet ready for next spring. I have 3 nitro fueled choppers and 2 electrics. Just need to get the basement setup for working on them again. With all that went on this year with my health, I didn\'t have a chance to fly, ride my harley or golf. A healthy 2012 will mean a busy year for me.

Seems my energy level is coming back quicker than I thought it might. Doing well with the Spirometer. My chest aches and the ribs hurt, but I think thats from things healing up inside. No problems walking or climbing stairs. Actually, I\'m getting cabin fever being at home and can\'t drive. Maybe I should go back to work :-)) I\'ve signed on to work a couple of time so far to keep up with email. I get about a 100 a day at work. Most of them are related to our jobs running and if they are sucessful or not. My blood thinner levels are in the range they are looking for and I\'m controlling my weight decently. My right shoulder, the one I had rotator cuff surgery on in March, is hurting more recently. I hope that isn\'t going to cause me problems. I\'ll keep working on rehab on my shoulder too. I hope my energy level continues up and I keep feeling like I\'m ready to do more. Dan

Wasn\'t too surprised to wake up this morning and find I wasn\'t feeling all at great. Hear the valve clicking much more today. Energy level has been down. Overall, not feeling terrible. Mentally down more than physical. Breathing exercises and coughing doing better and less painful. I wasn\'t ready for feeling colder than before surgery. But thinner blood means I\'ll be wearing sweaters more than before. Lab work first thing Monday to see how I\'m doing with the blood thinner. Time for a pain pill and some rest.

Well, I managed to get home today about 12:30 pm. Unreal. I didn\'t think I\'d come home today, as I was concerned I wouldn\'t be alble to get up and down as much as I should on my own. Last night, I got out of the hospital bed about 3 times on my own, to make it to the bathroom. Once I did that, I was ready to pack up come home. Took a nice nap in my recliner. Had dinner and my younger brother called to talk with me. All the well wishes and encouragement have been wonderful. Hope all who are dealing with this are doing well nd things progress quickly in recovery for you. More tomorrow from me. Dan

WooHoo...a day of milestones. Dan got up and walked around a bit yesterday. He\'s already been up today. And he\'s have mashed taters for lunch..num, num! Chest tube came out about an hour ago. They also took him off the pacemaker wires...I guess I can\'t play with the timing anymore..hehe... He still can\'t talk very loud, so I\'m having fun with that...I\'m sure once he starts writing his oen entries, he\'ll have some words about me. But I say what\'s a wife for!! He has Cardiac rehab scheduled for this afternoon, so more updates after that.

It was a long night. Not that anything went wrong...the nurses just kept trying to get the breathing tube out. I guess Dan was just too attached to it, cause he just wouldn\'t let go. Finally got the tube out about 8:00am. Then next came sitting up. Nurses told him he would feel much better if he did...and he did! Dan was moved up to intermediate care early this afternoon. He had his first full liquid meal (orange jello, orange sherbert), woohoo. As of 4:00pm he hadn\'t gotten up to walk, but I\'m sure it will be soon. Can\'t really talk yet, but that will come. Everyone is very pleased with his progress. Just love the heart pillow he got from the hospital! Staff has been great. I almost expect to see him jogging by noon tomorrow, lol. Hunting season starts this weekend...maybe I\'ll get him something orange!!!

Well, the day started at 3:30 am getting up to be to the hospital by 5:00 am. After taking a shower before going to the hospital, Dan had to shower again after shaving in the hospital. Figures... Surgery started at 8:30am. Dan was up to the ICU by 12:30pm. Dr. said the surgery went very well and and all his numbers looked good. I got to see him about 1:30pm. He woke up a few times and saw that I was there. From about 2:00pm on, the nurses have been working on try to ween Dan off the respirator. About every 45 mins, they reduce the pressures on the ventorlator and try to get him to breath. But he\'s too stubborn and keeps fighting them. I\'m not the least bit surprised. They have taken him off all the sedatives so he stops trying to sleep when they want him too breath. But they are also keeping him comfortable. The big goal is to get him the next level by tomorrow.

The hospital called yesterday. I have to be at St. Mary\'s at 5 am on Monday. Surgery is set for 7:30 am. Fine with me, being an old farm boy, get it done early and start recovering. I told Lora I needed to push surgery back a bit. Two big issues. One, The Vikings and Packers play Monday night and I want to watch the game. Two, next Saturday opens deer hunting. I was she would DVR the football game and I didn\'t have any orange to wear deer hunting. Oh well, I tried. :-)) Got some packing to do and a couple of minor things to finish. Bought an electric shaver the other night and finally opened it up to charge today. Rest of the day is finishing laundry and watch the UW vs Minn FB game at 2:30. I next few postings will probably be from Lora.

Finished up some work today and cleaned up my desk. I took tomorrow off as a vacation day. I want to get things ready for the hospital by Saturday night. Then I can relax on Sunday. Had some snow yesterday, but not enough to get the tractor and snowblower out. Wanted to run the new beast before surgery. Oh well, I\'ll have plenty of chances once I recover. Thanks to all Veterans who have or are serving now. Happy birthday Marines.

I had a restless night last night. Discomfort in the chest and back. Some of it I think is the waiting for Monday to get here and have surgery. I got my letter for work saying I\'m getting 6 weeks disability leave to start for surgery and recovery. If more is needed I just have to supply additional info from the doctor about recovery. When I had shoulder surgery earlier this year, I got 4 weeks to start, but ended with 6 per the doctor\'s request during recovery. My work has been very supportive all year. I hope in 2012 I won\'t need any time off for surgeries. Lora and I went out last night and I bought a new recliner. It will be my bed the first couple of weeks at home. Only have a couple more smaller items to get before going to the hospital. Made it to church on Sunday. With working during the week, I\'ve been finding by the weekend, I\'ve run out of energy. So making the Badger game and church was a lot for me and I was happy I could make it to both. Two more days of work this week. I\'m taking Friday off. The recliner will be delivered, running a few errands and get everything ready for Monday.

Made it to the UW-Purdue game. It was a great afternoon to sit at Camp Randall and watch the Badgers get back on track. I left at the end of the 3rd quarter with the UW leading 52-17. I was able to take my time walking back to the car and getting out ahead of the traffic. Time to do some paperwork tomorrow. I need to fill out an advanced medical directive, just in case. Sit with my feet up and watch some more football in the afternoon. And maybe check my eyelids for cracks. :-)) I hope the nice weather holds for a while. But then it is November and this is Wisconsin.

Completed all the lab work and pulmonary tests on Monday. Now it\'s just waiting for the 14th to get here. Wrapping up my projects at work. I do software development and support. I\'m taking next Friday off just to start unwinding from a hectic work schedule and relax a little before surgery. My co-workers were telling me they\'d have a system set up for me, so I could keep working once I got done with surgery and into ICU. They are so thoughtful. Actually, they have been great. I\'ll be out of the on-call support rotation for 2-3 months, so some extra late night calls for them. They\'ve told me to get back healthy. Lots of projects for 2012 already planned. The weather is suppose to be sunny, around 57 and a bit windy tomorrow. I planning on going to the Wisconsin-Purdue football game. We\'ve had season tickets about 20 years. I know I won\'t make the Penn State game on the 26th. Too bad, I always liked Joe Paterno as a coach and who knows if this will be his last visit to Madison. Hopefully, Wisconsin rebounds tomorrow and wins one after losing the last 2 on last second passes.

We met with Dr. Kantamneni, the surgeon I decided on, at Dean/St. Mary\'s yesterday. I\'m very pleased with him. He was very relaxed, asked me a number of questions about my condition, discussed they valve choices with the pros and cons. We agreed that for my age and having heart surgery when I was 5, a mechanical valve would be the best route to go. I already have scare tissue on my heart from the VSD repair, ventricular septal defect, in 1964 when I was 5. So we want to avoid additional surgery that would probably be needed with a tissue valve. We set surgery for Monday November 14th. I was told to expect 5-7 days in the hospital. Could be shortened to 4 is all goes well in recovery. He also said I could be back to work in 6 weeks. That would be amazing. Lora and I were told surgery would be 3-5 hours and I should expect to be at the hospital about 5:30 am that morning. I was giving a lot of reading material and a DVD to review what happens before, the day of surgery, what to expect in ICU, getting out of the hospital and recovery. I have an appointment next Monday for pulmonary and blood tests. Also, a meeting with anesthesiologist to go over the surgery and answer any questions I have on that. Now it\'s time to wrap up things at work, finish getting ready for winter and get mentally prepared.

I went to see my cardiologist, Dr. Dong, at Dean/St. Mary\'s in Madison on Monday 10/10/11. The week before I found it was getting harder to walk without feeling pressure in the chest and some shortness in breathing. Dr. Dong and I had talked before about seeing if I could wait with the valve replacement until after the first of the year. At first, I thought it would be fine. Then I found waiting wouldn\'t be a option. By the end of the day at work, I\'m finding I\'m tired and have a hard time walking to my truck in the parking lot, without feeling winded. So I was scheduled for a heart catherization on Monday 10/17 with Dr. Singer at St. Mary\'s. The heart cath is done before I see the surgeon, to see if any bypass work is needed when the valve is replaced. Try to keep the cutting into the chest to a minmum. The results showed I have no blockages, so I won\'t need any bypass surgery, just the aortic valve replaced. I the theme from Dr. Singer was the valve needs to come out soon. I\'ve had nothing but great doctors and staff to work with at Dean/St. Mary\'s in Madison. I\'m looking forward to meeting Dr. Kantamneni, who will be doing the valve replacement surgery, on Tuesday 10/25. All 3 heart surgeons at the clinic are very highly thought of. But I chose Dr. Kantamneni based on some checking around on my own. Going to be spending this weekend getting things ready for winter and listing out questions for my appointment on Tuesday.

After the bout with bronchitis, I felt better for about a week. Then I started to feel like I was coming down with a summer cold or flu. Body aches, tired and just feeling run down. That was on a Monday. The following Friday I went to Urgent Care as I was concerned about a relapse of bronchitis again. All tests came back negative and was told if not feeling better in a week to call my doctor or come back ot Urgent Care. A week later I was feeling worse. Severe pain in my joints, couldn\'t sleep at night and wasn\'t eating much. Back to UC the next morning. My wife went along. She thought maybe I had Lyme\'s Diease. Symptoms fit. The doctor did lab tests to check for Lyme\'s and started my on antibiotics in case it was. Tests came back negative. Less than a week later, August 3rd, I went to be about 9 pm, feeling worse than before. I was going to the doctor the next morning. Never made it to the doctor. About 10:30 pm, I woke up with severe sweating, very difficult breathing and my heart racing. Lora took to the St. Mary\'s ER. I went over everything I had been through in the past 2 week with the doctors. They took numerous blood tests, chest x-ray, EKG and started an IV. The ER doctor told me they would get to the bottom of all the problems and called an Infectous Dieasse doctor. The blood culture showed I had an infection of some type but it was too soon to know what it was. I\'m allergic to Penicillin, Amoxicillin and Cephalexin. It was decided to start me on Vancomycin and then keep me at St. Mary\'s until it could be determined what I had and what was needed. After more blood cultures, an echocardiogram and then a Transesophageal echocardiogram, the diagnosis of Endocarditis came back. Endo, is an inflammation of the lining of the heart, caused by an infection in the blood stream. I had a Strep A, similar to strep throat, infection. I was put on vancomycin IV every 8 hours. I told Lora to go back to work, since there was nothing going to be happening except my Vanco treatments. She\'d be up after work every day. Greg would call everyday when he was off duty to check on me and Diane would call or texted me. Before I could go home, I had to have 3 days of negative blood clutures. Then PICC lines would be put in, so I could continue the Vanco infusions at home. It took 8 before I could get the PICC lines in and finally went home late in the day on August 12th. I spent 6 weeks total with the Vanco infusions at home, but was lucky enough to get them to twice a day, every 12 hours, so I could get back to work. Of course, before I could get done with the Vanco, I spent another day in the ER. I awoke one Monday morning with tightness in the chest and problems breathing. After a number of tests, everything came back normal and I was scheduled for a heart catherization about 3 weeks later. On Monday Septemeber 19th, I finally completed the Vanco and was cleared by my doctor to have the PICC lines removed. That was a good feeling. However, now it\'s on to planning valve replacement surgery.

In March of this year, I had my right rotator cuff repaired. It was suppose to be outpatient day surgery, but turned into 3 additional days in the hospital. When I was waking up following surgery, my O2 level were in the low 70s. I was having tightness in the chest and problems breathing. After a couple of hours of trying to get me stable, I was admitted to the hospital. After a number of blood tests, an echo, a resting stress test and a cat scan, it was determined I had pneumonia. Finally, I got home and began recovery and PT on my shoulder. The 4th of July weekend, I spent some time in the ER. Woke up on Sunday 7/3 with a fever, my shoulder was stiff and not feeling well at all. I was diagnosed Bronchitis. Got over that and was feeling better for a week.