John's Journal

2 weeks post op pacer install, 20 days post op OHS. Saw the docs last week, got permission to do light driving (I live in the boonies), healing looks great, fix looks great. Played with my pacemaker, with it off my heart drops to 42 BPM and falls out of sink with its self. Looks slightly better than it did the day they installed it (30 BPM no sink) and much better than the day after OHS (ventrical stand still, aka, it stopped). I still doubt I'll ever not be on a pacemaker, but the doc remains optimistic. Another two weeks and we will play again. Until then, chilling out. Reading, watching and making cookies.

Haven't been over here in a while. I had OHS for MVR on July 29th. Surgery went pretty well apart from a 3rd degree heart block. We waited with an external pacemaker for 5 days in ICU for the heart block to discontinue, but it was persistent. 6 days after OHS, I had a pacer installed under my Pecks (too skinny to go on top). One more day at the hospital and I finally came home. I am still quite sore. The lack of taste going on has been disappointing for most meals and I am really not enjoying the tempruture swings. Everyday is a bit better than the last.

Eating bacon and eggs while feeling a bit of irony that I head in for heart surgery in three days. Just remembering its a valve issue though and pipes are wide open.

Had a nice Cardiac CT complete this morning. Got the all clear and everything looks good to cut her open. Really was a nice experience and hope it is telling of my upcoming stay.

Date set. July 29th. Insurance was not nice with the pre-op CT angiogram. Rather than go with plan B for the cardiac cath I opted to pay out of pocket for the CT scan. 1 week from tonight I should be in Cardiac ICU. Crazy.

Made my first calls to surgeons today. Just making it more 'real'. Is cardio exercise a bad idea at this point? I was messing around with doing more biking/running this spring even as surgery looms.

Solved part one of the insurance puzzle. I need new insurance. The plan I have here in Maine is non-transferable. So I need to shop via 'the marketplace' for new insurance. I'll spend a fair bit of time searching for hospitals and surgeons before I pick out a plan. This is one more stress than I needed.

HI there. I joined here to find myself a surgeon that could do some work on my Mitral valve somewhere near Wisconsin. I am 29 year old Farm hand/audio guy. I work a lot and its gotten to the point that this ticker stopped keeping up with me. I've only know that I have had MVR for the past two year and have just found out that I should fix this thing sooner rather than later. It also happens to land at the same time that I am moving from Maine to Wisconsin. So that makes thing a bit more difficult. Anyone out that care to recommend a surgeon that can do bi-leaflet repair on the mitral valve?