Darlene's Journal

Hi Everyone – I know that it has been a while since I provided an update …. It is hard to believe that it has been over three months now since my surgery on Sept 2nd !!!! I am back to work on a full time basis and that occurred November 1st !!! I wanted to wait to give everyone an update once my echo cardiogram occurred and I also had a mugga test done as well. With that in mid, I have great news to report …. My valve is perfect no leaking at all !!! According to my cardiologist here in MI this is a rare thing … as in most repairs nothing is perfect …. In my case … I got lucky as I have no leakage at all and my valve is truly the way that god had always intended it to be :) My rhythm has been great as well … every once in a while I will have a PVC here and there (which I can’t feel) but the heart is still healing so that is to be expected. The prior two tests that I mentioned also evaluated my ejection fraction (which is a measurement as to how hard the heart is squeezing). I am somewhere between 45% – 51% which is good to average and my cardiologist is very happy with these numbers. I am going to try and take some medication to try and get these numbers up but in the past I haven’t been able to tolerate them and it has dropped my blood pressure. I am going to give it another try and see how I do on the medication. If it drops my blood pressure then I will have to stop taking the medication. I continue to walk on a daily basis … I did achieve a personal best a few weeks back as Brad and I completed a 10k walk (alexis did not join us for this one !!!). Just this past Saturday we walked 5 miles outside !!! For those of you that know me…. this is unheard of that I would actually be outside in the cold weather walking …. I have to admit it does come with a few disclaimers …. it has to be at least 42 degrees and the wind can’t be blowing and the snow isn’t falling … if all of this occurs I am in pretty good shape !!!! I am also continuing to work with my rehabilitation therapist twice a week --- this has been helping quite a bit and I can see a slow progression as to my range of motion on the side of my incision (which has healed very nicely). I will continue to see my cardiologist here in Michigan on a regular basis. She told me yesterday that I don’t need to continue to look over my shoulder anymore and that my heart is working more efficiently than it ever has been in my entire life so to go and enjoy life !!! With that being said …. I can’t help but look at everyday a bit differently than I did prior to Sept 2nd 2011. I can’t put it into words but I feel that when you physically and emotionally go through something this life changing that it leaves an imprint on your soul. Throughout this journey I have been blessed to have so many people in my life that provided me support in so many ways. It has been a very humbling experience and I can’t begin to thank all of you but I want you all to know that I will be forever grateful for all of the kind words, thoughts and actions that all of you provided to both Brad and I. This will be my last journal entry for a while …. The next time you hear from me I will be celebrating my one year “birthday” !!! Love to you all – Darlene

Hello Everyone !!! Hard to believe that it has been six weeks since my surgery !!!! I had my Dr’s appointment on Wednesday and everything sounds great --- no leaking . I also received my halter monitor results this week. My Dr is thrilled with how I am doing. There was no sign of the VT ---- which is such a relief to both Brad and I  It appears that the valve repair has taken away the VT --- I am still having some PVC’s but as my Dr said that is nothing that I need to be worried about. So I am not going to worry !!!! The other big news is that I am totally off of my beta blocker (wooohooo) --- keep in mind that I have been on this drug at some level for over 7 years --- this drug kept me in check during that time period but I had some issues with it so I am thrilled that I don’t have to be on it !!! My blood pressure is still a little low and I will continue to monitor it four to five times a day and journal it so the Dr can see how I am doing especially since I am off the beta blocker. I have been walking quite a bit and I clocked 4.2 miles one day last week (thanks to Laura my walking buddy that day) --- My goal is to complete a minimum of 3 miles a day on a go forward basis. With the weather turning I will now be walking on the treadmill --- Alexis is totally bummed out with this recent development !!! Maybe we will get a few nice days in the future and she and I will be able to get outdoors again. Still no word on the cardiac rehab …. I will talk to the Dr this week at my appointment. With my recovery going so well I am going to be going back to work this Tuesday --- yep six weeks post surgery --- I am going to take it easy and be doing half days for the next two weeks. I promised Brad, my Dr., and my boss that I would not over do it …. The last thing that I want to happen is to take two steps backwards so I will keep my promise to everyone… including me !!!! Overall, everything is going really well ---- my incisions are healing nicely --- I still have numbness but again that is to be expected and may or may not ever come back --- I guess time will tell. As far as the pain goes I am still getting twinges every once in a while …. I think that it is a gentle reminder that I just had open heart surgery and I need to take it easy !!!! The next big benchmark will be an echo cardiogram in another 8 weeks to see how the heart is pumping --- I will give everyone an update at that time --- hopefully I won’t have any setbacks in the meantime that I will need to tell everyone about. Again I want to thank all of you for all of your kind thoughts throughout this health journey. I would not want to wish this upon anyone as it was much much much more difficult than I would have ever imagined …. However, I had such a circle of love around me at all times it made the journey much easier. Love to all of you --- Darlene

Hi Everyone !!! Some days I have to remind myself that it has only been four weeks …. I had one of those days this past weekend as I was walking with my nephew that flew in from Texas to visit and I looked down at my watch and we had been out walking for 45 minutes --- YIKES !!! That was a lot longer than any of my prior walks but I did ok !!! Overall, things have been going pretty good – Here is my latest update from my Dr’s visit yesterday …. On the “not so good side of the ledger” ….I am still experiencing what I would describe as discomfort and some numbness from the incisions (still taking ibuprofen and hoping to get to Advil in the next two weeks). I called down to Cleveland this past week and spoke to my nurse practitioner (who is awesome) and she said that the nerves take a while to reconnect and it could be 3 to 6 months so I need to have some patience (something that I don’t have an abundance of as most of you know !!!) On the good side of the ledger… my blood pressure is doing better and I have been over 100 on my top number for all of my daily readings --- Dr. would still like for my top number to increase a little bit more but for now there will be no changes in my medications from last week. Dr. has also cleared me for more walks so my goal will now be three walks a day for 30 – 45 minutes per walk. As you might imagine Alexis is very excited at this recent development !!!! I am not doing a formal cardiac rehab program at a hospital at this point just on my own at the house and journaling everything. Incisions are healing very nicely so no issues there :) Dr. listened to my heart and all sounds good and she is still thrilled every time she listens to me. However, I will have a halter monitor in two weeks and this will be a 24 hour monitor so we can see how my rhythm is doing over this time period --- I have saw my Dr. here in MI every week since I have been home (3 visits) and she has heard no VT activity (wooohooo) -- and we also did a EKG on the first visit and no VT at that time so this was positive ---so I will remain cautiously optimistic – My next Dr visit won’t be for another two weeks so I will update at that time --- thanks again to everyone for all of your love and support – I also wanted to thank Brad as I couldn’t of made it through this without him.... lov you baby !!!! Love to all of you Darlene

Hi Everyone !!!! I had my Dr’s appointment today with my cardiologist here in MI – The good news is that I continue to still beat like I am suppose to be and she loves what she hears :) the other news is that my blood pressure is a little low --- now as most of you know I have been on a beta blocker over the past 8 years which helped to keep my heart beating on a regular basis due to the regurgitation from the valve – with the surgery now behind me the goal is to get off that drug (as I hate this drug for various reasons ) …. Because of my blood pressure being low the Dr decided that we would be able to reduce the beta blocker (my goal is that I won’t have to be on the drug at all) --- the hope is that by reducing the drug my blood pressure will come up and I will start getting some of my energy back – I have a blood pressure cuff here at the house (another little fun gadget that I am the proud owner of !!!!) so I will continue to monitor my blood pressure daily. I am also doing a little more walking in the neighborhood (and wearing my heart rate monitor) – The interesting thing to me is that my heart rate is now around 83-87 beats per minute to start with – The morning of my surgery my beats per minute were 38 and when I would work out it was all I could do to get it to 100 !!!--- I am sure my body is like what in the heck is going on !!!! The past few days I have been averaging about 15-20 minutes a day walking and Alexis is LOVING this part of my recovery --- she is like ...\"finally something in it for me\" !!!! The Dr is ok with me walking so I am going to keep up my walking at this point and not get too crazy as it relates to exercise. I am still having numbness and a little pain due to the inflamation but again that is to be expected and I have to remember that this Friday it will be 3 weeks post surgery not 3 months !!!! I was talking to my brother the other night and he reminded me that in my mind if I am not going forward or at a minimum sideways I would not be happy as backwards is just not an option … I laughed and said …. “I guess at this point you know me pretty well !!!!” I will be going back to the Dr’s next week and will give everyone an update at that point --- Both Brad and I can’t thank everyone enough for all of the love and support that you have provided us these past weeks. Love to all of you Darlene

Hi Everyone !!! Well, I had my Dr’s appointment yesterday with the my cardiologist in Michigan …. Everything went very well --- she listened to my heart … Brad and I both held our breath as we awaited her response --- It was one of those moments when you couldn’t put it into words --- the smile on her face said it all ---- Finally --- I had the heart that god had intended me to always have !!!! She heard NO regurgitation and my mitral valve is 100% perfect and operational --- she also reviewed some of the reports from the clinic that were run post surgery and stated that she is so pleased with what she was seeing!!! We also did an EKG in the office and there was NO ventricular heart beats …. So another positive thing --- I will be going back to see her next week Wednesday for another EKG to keep a close eye on my progression --- again the hopes are that inflammation will continue to go down and that the heart will continue to beat the way god had intended it to beat – In the mean time --- she instructed me to continue to take it easy and this will help with the pain that I have been experiencing (yes there is still some pain/discomfort and even I have not yet found a way to escape that ) --- I asked her when I could start my cardiac rehab and she just smiled at me and stated --- “you just had open heart surgery” !!! You need to take it easy and let your body heal --- so I guess I will be reading my magazines and snoozing on the couch with Alexis !!!! Again all of you have been great throughout this journey and I can\'t thank you enough – all of the kind words, prayers, food, flowers etc --- We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family !!!! I will report back next week after my next Dr’s appointment :) Love to all of you Darlene

Hi Everyone !!!! I am going to apologize in advance as this is probably going to be my longest post Well, it has been a very long nine days as everyone might imagine --- It is hard to believe that it has been over one week since my surgery --- I am moving about the house with some help from Brad and Alexis has one eye on me at all times --- I know that this may sound funny but I think that she knows that I am healing as she is right by me at all times !!! My left arm took quite a bit of abuse as far as needles, IV’s etc so it is extremely bruised and very sore ---that arm actually looks way worse than either of my two incision areas – Alexis manages to cuddle with me on that side so I will pet her and use that arm so it gets its “physical therapy” !!! Speaking of the incision areas both are healing very well… I did not have a traditional chest incision that you would normally think of when you say “open heart surgery” – my surgeon, Dr. Sabik, performed what is known as a mini thoracotomy—which means that he went in on the right side right under my right breast kinda in the crease and the incision is about 4 inches long , there was no breaking of any bones (how cool is that ) --- so my pain is a result of him going in and manipulating muscle, tissue, internal organs, collapsing my lung, etc. – the other incision is on my right side and in my groin area it is about 4 inches and again this is in the crease of my leg so this will heal and you will most likely not see a scar --- So with having said all that ….I will not be sending out pictures (disappointing to some I am sure !!!) ….However, everyone in the hospital that checked on the status of my incisions stated WOW --- these are going to heal up and you won’t even know that you even had heart surgery !!!! Today was a big day as I actually went for a little walk down the drive and over to the neighbors drive --- I realize that prior to this I would think of this walk as a place to go and have a cocktail --- however, today it seemed in my mind that I was finishing a mini marathon (look out Al W and Steph) I am hot on your trail !!! Kidding aside – it felt so good to be outside and have the nice breeze and sun --- I know that this is just the beginning that that soon I will be covering the neighborhood !!! I can’t say enough positive things about the Cleveland Clinic – it is an unbelievable environment and should you ever have a need to have anything done I would highly recommend “the clinic”. Brad has been unbelievable throughout this whole process – from the day that I came home and announced “guess what ---- I need to have open heart surgery to have my mitral valve repaired and we are going to the Cleveland Clinic to do it ” – to holding my hand as I shuffled down the street for my walk today !!! He truly is my “happily ever after” --- perhaps that is where the whole princess and tiara thing started !!!! I also wanted to thank my brother and sister-in-law as well as Debbie and Rocky for going to Cleveland with us --- You guys are the greatest --- I can’t say thank you enough for everything these past few weeks !!!! I love you guys  I will be going to my cardiologist in Southfield tomorrow and she will hook me up to monitors to see how my rhythm is doing --- I feel great as far as that goes so hopefully the inflammation will have gone down and my heart beat will be normal --- and the monitors will reflect how I feel !!!! Brad will also start back to work tomorrow as he has been off with me these past two weeks. I have friends and family that have graciously offered to come and babysit me while Brad is at work --- I am hoping that after this week that I should be able to maneuver around the house on my own --- Thanks to all of you for all of your positive comments and posts --- it really has helped me get through this journey I couldn\'t of done it without the love of my family and friends and the grace of God. I will keep everyone posted once I have some news from my Dr’s appointment tomorrow Love to everyone Darlene

Hi everyone!!! I am back :) First I want to thank Brad for doing such a great job keeping everyone posted ---- he was a little nervous about doing “the blog” but once he got started …look out …. he rose to the occasion !!! I think that it was actually very therapeutic for him as he was able to share with all of you the status of my progress and in turn --- all of you were able to respond and provide support to him/us. All of you have been sooooo great throughout this journey I just can’t thank you enough !!!! Tonight is going to be very short as I am still trying to get the pain thing under control. …. we tweaked the dosage a little tonight so we are both hoping that it will be better this evening and tomorrow … I will say that it is great to be home --- sleeping in our own bed and having Brad next to me versus ” in the futon “!!!!! I will give a better update tomorrow – promise --- for now I am going to lie down and rest and will be back with everyone!! Love to all of you Darlene and Brad P.S. Alexis has been by my side since I have been home --- she is just such a sweetie --- she walks around the house with me to be sure that I am continuing to do my aerobic exercise and that soon I will be back to walking her 3 miles a night :)

Sorry to everyone for the delay in updating the journal, but the last two days have been very hectic. We have had several meeting with doctors. While Darlene is experiencing irregular heart beats it is unclear whether this is associated with her surgery or her pervious irregular heart beats that have come back. Darlene had a chance to meet with her surgeon last night and he mentioned that after he repaired her mitral value in surgery the EKG they did before finishing her surgery showed a prefect heart rhythm. We feel that is good evidence that the irregular heart beats may just be the result of the trauma from the surgery. Over the last two days Darlene has received some baseline tests that will help determine whether the irregular hearts beats will be getting worse or better in the coming weeks. Only time and further testing will give us the final answer. Darlene has her next appointment with her cardiologist in Southfield on Monday, September 12. As of 5:15 pm today we arrived home. Darlene is very tired from the three hour trip and is resting. Starting tomorrow Darlene will pick-up the duties of updating everyone on her progress during her recovery.

Darlene had some setbacks today. She experienced more pain today then any other day. She cannot afford to go beyond 4 hours before getting her pain pills. She is also experiencing more irregular heart beats similar to what she had before her surgery. This is not unusual after major heart surgery. We had a consult with the Electrical Cardiologists this afternoon and discussed what the next step may be. They are going to monitor her closely for the next couple of days and she may need some additional procedures if the irregular heart beats continue beyond 4 to 6 weeks after surgery. Everyone please keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming for a speedy recovery and a normal heart rhythm soon. Love, Brad & Darlene

Darlene has had a great day so far. She got her catheter out this morning at 6:00 am, her pain pump turned off at 11:00 am and her last IV tube was also pulled at that time. She is just on oral pain medication and she still has two IVs in her but nothing is going in those IVs. She went for her first walk this afternoon at 1:00 pm. just one short lap around the patient floor. The nurses were very happy with her progress at this point. That is all for right now. Brad

It is 8:40 pm and Darlene is resting very comfortable in her private room which is Building J6-1 room 14. She was moved to this room at 3:00 pm today from ICU. Darlene got in a wheelchair for the trip to her room. She had a little soup for dinner along with some chocolate and strawberry ice cream. She is still doing very well. Tomorrow will be a big day because she will be expected to get out of bed and do some walking around the floor. Goodnight to everyone. We will give you some updates tomorrow. Brad

I just visited with Darlene at 12:10 pm and she is doing in-creditably well as she was sitting in a lazy boy chair. I stepped out to do this blog while the nurses are getting her back into bed and they are going to take out her chest tube (this is a big step) and all IV’s with the exception of one. They will observe her for another hour or so and if she continues to do well she will be moving to the Step Down Room around 2:00 to 3:00 pm today. I will give everyone another update once Darlene is moved to her Step Down Room. These rooms are private and I will be able to use the computer in the room and spend the night on a futon if Darlene will let me. Brad

I talked to the ICU nurse this morning and Darlene did very well last night. Her vital signs all look really good. She had some trouble with pain during the night but they think they have worked that out. She may be moved to a regular room later this afternoon which they call this “Going to Step Down”. I am going up to see her around 11:00 am this morning. Darlene’s brother Marvin and sister-in-law Darlene are up there right now. Our friends Deb & Rocky are heading back to Muskegon today as they have been with us since Tuesday. Darlene & I really appreciate their support and friendship. Thanks again everyone for all the prayers and thoughtful comments on this blog. Please keep the comments coming as Darlene will really enjoy reading them during her recovery in the next couple of days. Love to all. Brad

I saw Darlene for the first time at 8:15 pm in the ICU. She looked good but still had her breathing tube in which appeared to be uncomfortable for her. Jessica, her ICU nurse said she had done very well since her shift started at 7:00 pm. We left Darlene at 8:45 pm so she could some rest and we could get something to eat. I returned at 11:30 pm and Jessica said she was just getting her breathing tube out so I had to wait a couple of minutes. I got a chance to see her after that and she looked very good and was in good spirits. Before I left Jessica showed Darlene how to use the pain pump. She can give herself pain medication every 6 minutes which Darlene was very excited about. This is all for now. Good night everyone. Brad

I met with the surgeon at 5:50 and said that everything went as planned. He was able to repair the value and there is no leakage for the first time in Darlene life. We will have to wait a couple of months of so if this repair will cause the VT\'s to stop. We are going to see her for the first time around 7:00 to 7:30 pm today. I will send an update later tonight after we have had a chance to visit with her for a while. Brad

I received a text from the surgery room at 2:49 and the major part of the surgery has began. This means Darlene is now on the by-pass machine and they are doing the repair to her value. She should only be on the by-pass machine for 18 minutes if everything goes as planned. My next update will be after I have had a chance to talk with the doctor after he is done with the repair. Brad

Darlene arrived at the Clinic at 9:45 this morning and went back to the pre-op area at 10:10. We got a chance to see her for just a few minutes at 11:10. She was in good spirits and was ready to get this process over with so she can finally have a \"Good Healthy Heart\". We all wished her good luck. Her next step is to go in the \"Induction Room\" where she will get her IV\'s put in and they will start giving her sedation medication. Then Darlene and all her doctors on her case will do a \"Huddle\" to make sure they all agree that they are doing the right procedure on the right patient. Then they will put her to sleep and take her into the surgery room. During the surgery the doctors will be giving me up dates via a beeper with text messages of her progress from the surgery room. I will update everyone after I receive the text messages from the doctors during the surgery. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! Love to all, Brad

Hi Everyone – This is Darlene --- starting tomorrow Brad will be keeping you informed as to the progress of our journey …that is of course until I am well enough to start journaling myself …. Today we met with Dr. Sabik (my surgeon) --- he is a great guy and I feel very comfortable with him. He is very thorough in his explanations and has a way of describing parts of the body that everyone can understand ….he has a very calm tone and when you are going through something like this it can be very comforting. He did say that based upon everything that he feels that the valve should be able to be repaired with a 98-99% success rate --- I will take those odds all day long !!! He will be doing a small incision on my right side and going into the heart to do the repair --- no cracking of ribs …. a fun fact …. There are no external stitches and they will glue me back together ….. How is that for advances in medicine  ….. There was no poking or tests today --- I am sure that will be made up for tomorrow when I report in for surgery!!! My time that I need to report in at is at 10:00 so I would expect that I will be going into the actual surgery room at 12:00 or so --- Pam --- I would agree that perhaps the clear liquor may have had some impact on the clearing of my arteries as well as the red wine --- although my cardiologist in Michigan – Dr. Savas - would have a totally different opinion !!! My plan for the evening is to go to little Italy, which is an area in Cleveland, and have a great pasta dish – minus the wine  and enjoy the evening with my family and friends and Brad --- Thanks again to everyone who has been sending me e mails and notes on this site – Love to everyone Darlene and Brad

Hi Everyone --- It is Darlene We made it to Cleveland yesterday and had a pretty full day with Dr.\'s meetings as well as preop testing --- We met with my “cardiologist” while I am here at the clinic and his name is Dr. Stewart – he is a great guy and has a fantastic way of explaining things so that even two “Banker’s” could understand !!!! Today I had the test that I was most fearful of having …..the heart catheterization --- not due to the pain but what the result might tell me ---- could it be that all those years of juicy red steaks and manhattan’s finally could of caught up to me ???? Well great news …. All of my arteries are perfect and I have fantastic pressure in my chamber which is even better news for my surgery on Friday --- as far as the pain goes it was a breeze --- nothing to even worry about in that department. Our friends Debbie and Rocky arrived last night and kept Brad company as I went through all of my testing today --- they plan on staying here until my surgery is complete on Friday. My brother and sister-in-law will also be arriving tomorrow for the big day that awaits all of us on Friday. Tomorrow will be another busy day as I have meetings in the morning and a meeting with Dr. Sabik (my surgeon) to discuss everything and ask any last minute questions. Sorry that this is such a long post but I wanted to be able to cover everything  You know me …. It’s all about the detail !!!! Thanks again to all of you that have sent me notes through this site as well as e mails, cards, etc….. Love to all of you Darlene (and Brad)

Well we are in the final week and the five day countdown !!! I will do my best to keep everyone informed --- Please note that there is no spell check on this thing so .... we all know that might mean !!!! My schedule this week is testing starting on Tuesday and my surgery is scheduled for Friday --- We will talk soon I am sure --- some of you have asked the name of my Surgeon --- his name is Dr. Sabik --- please keep him in your thoughts as well !!!! Darlene