Joy's Posts

Weeks 9 & 10 are behind me now. I just completed cardiac rehab session #23 last Thursday so that's coming along. There was one blip during rehab last week. I was on the treadmill when suddenly two nurses were on either side of me asking if I felt OK. I did. Seems the monitor detected an irregular heartbeat so they had me stop, have some water & continue on. There were no other incidents that day or since. I self-monitor by taking my pulse several times a day & it's always regular when I do so I believe that was a brief anomaly. Still, it's a good example of the benefit of being monitored. I cut back again on Lasix & potassium a few days ago so now I'm taking one dose in the morning only. My weight is stable so it looks like I'm adjusting OK to that reduction. Fewer pills — yea! In short, I'm feeling good. I believe the larger sized aortic valve my surgeon told me he gave me has contributed to an ability to receive a deeper inhalation which I'm enjoying for sure. My sternum is going to take a while to be 100% but that's to be expected. I just had an echo this morning & the tech commented that I seemed to be doing well after all that was done to me. I have to agree. For those reading this who are in my yoga class, I will be returning to teach on Tuesday, 7/23. I am looking forward to that!

Week 8 went by uneventfully, a good thing. I saw my cardiologist today. As I'd hoped, he OK'd discontinuing Amiodarone. He showed me how to take my own pulse & I am to become familiar with what's regular & what doesn't feel right & contact him if it seems off. I can do that. He also reduced my Lasix & potassium by 1/4. After 4 days, I can reduce it further unless I find I'm retaining too much fluid (by monitoring my weight daily which I do anyway). If all goes well, I'll be taking ½ of the Lasix I do now in a few days. So, I'm way happy with that news. He ordered an echo for me which I'm hoping will show an improvement in my ejection fraction. Before the surgery, I was hovering in heart failure territory but as my surgeon puts it, taking the valves which are now replaced/repaired "out of the equation" might be beneficial with that as well. That would definitely be nice. I'll see the cardiologist again in 3 months & absolutely feel I'm being monitored more closely after this surgery than I was in 2010. Part of that might be because of the "magnitude" (quoting the surgeon again) of this surgery but I choose to think I just have a really good cardiologist this time around. For those in my yoga class, I intend to start teaching again later this month. I'll keep you posted via this journal &, if you're on my e-mail list, I'll be sending a notification shortly before.