Kate's Posts

I haven't checked in for awhile and when I saw it was Adam's 15 year anniversary I knew that was the perfect reason! Today something strange happened. Here's a hint (I am copying and pasting a comment from my last journal on Sept 23): "Chris Calhoun Kate- after a few more months you are going to have days you completely forget you had the surgery!!! It gets better!!!!!" I was walking to grab our mail today and I felt completely normal! It was a moment where I felt like my old self, pre-surgery. This is happening more and more frequently and it feels SO GOOD. I feel like I've earned these moments! I have fought for them and they (at least for now) don't go without notice. I turned 40 on the 16th and it was exactly 6 months since my MVR surgery. I'd love to say time flies, but no it does not! It's been a long 6 months but I still see progress often! I still have ocular migraines, some fogginess, and I still get tired easily. I walk every day, either outside or on the treadmill. Rest and hydration are a must...I drink a Gatorade G2 every morning and lots of water throughout the day. Without proper sleep and rest I just don't feel well. I still thank God daily for another beautiful day, I can't forget that! I see my cardiologist again in March for a check up. I'm sure I'll be a nervous wreck the day of, but I trust everything will be ok! Merry Christmas to all of you - Current and future Heart Warriors! We are a strong community!

Today my cardiologist called with the results of my echo from last week. Due to my high heart rate of 85 resting and 90-105 while up and moving, he thought it best to take a look at things and also confirm that there is no fluid around my heart causing this. He also did some blood work (thyroid check and CBC), and everything came back completely normal. My cardiologist told me today that my heart looks great, no leak (which was "a torrent of blood prior to surgery"), no extra beats (I had an unreal amount of extra beats per day) and no murmur. My heart looks perfect and I smiled ear to ear and told him what great news that was! I am in awe of what my surgeon was able to accomplish! I am finally feeling like myself and am happy! SO happy. My symptoms lately (14 weeks out) include some dizziness (very little, especially less when I rest and hydrate), ocular migraines every couple of days, some exhaustion, and every once in awhile I feel a little bit sore inside. The muscle in my right chest area is still a little sore at times also. I've been told all of this is completely normal. Both my cardiologist as well as my family doctor told me to plan about 6 months until I'm really back to my old self. I'm being patient and am seeing progress week by week. I believe my heart rate will lower as I continue to heal over the next few months. I think it's still a little angry from the surgery 😉 Overall, I feel great and I am still thanking God every day for another beautiful day!

My last journal post was June 20th, just a few days after surgery. I haven't been on this website since and coming back now just reading what I wrote on the 20th makes me a little teary-eyed. Yesterday marked 12 weeks post surgery and I don't even know where to begin. Heart surgery changes you. It was the most difficult thing I've ever done emotionally, physically, and mentally. I kept saying the waiting is torture and everyone told me it was the hardest part. If I'm being completely honest, the recovery is pretty damn hard as well. I went from being a very active working mom to feeling like a baby giraffe on brand new legs. Someone also told me recovery is full of ups and downs and that was/is completely accurate. I'd feel a little better one day then the pain would hit me like a ton of bricks. (Yes, everyone is different! This is just my story). I am not someone who handles heavy pain medication well so I basically came home from heart surgery on day 5 only taking Tylenol. Anything else made me so lightheaded, dizzy, vomiting, hallucinating, just awful side effects. Every day I walked. Just down the hall and back in our house...going outside and walking in this heat triggered vertigo that took weeks to settle down. I have two new best friends - rest and hydration. Without them I am completely exhausted and a little dizzy. At my follow-up appointment with the surgeon (about 6 weeks post-op), he took me off the Coumadin which felt like Christmas. I now take a chewable aspirin once per day and 25mg Metoprolol twice per day. My heart rate is higher than my cardiologist would like so we are working on figuring out the reason why. I still have some occasional pain from my incisions or muscle pain but it's completely bearable now. By 6pm I need to rest and take it easy for the night and if I don't my body will be very upset with me! I've lost patience and positivity more than once throughout this journey but I have persevered. As my cardiologist put it, I was hit by a truck in the middle of a pandemic, that's a lot to handle. My cardiologist told me at my first check up that my valve repair was successful, I no longer have a murmur, and the palpitations are GONE (and I had so many extra beats per day that I'm embarrassed to say!) I cried during that whole appointment...I just wanted (needed) to know that the surgery was worth it, that it worked. It was all so hard, but turns out it was "absolutely, positively worth it" per my cardiologist. I had another appointment just last week and he said "your future is bright!" which made me teary-eyed (again!) and it still does now! That being said, I will be nervous every single time I get an echo or EKG. My husband is a super hero. I quite literally don't know what I would have done without his support, positivity, and PATIENCE. Every time I cried or looked at him and said I can't, he smiled and said YES YOU CAN. And with his help, I did. It may have been getting out of bed, or walking, whatever it was that felt so overwhelming, he got me through it. My parents took care of me when my husband went back to work. Again, without them, I just don't know how I would have done it. We had friends dropping meals and sending texts to check in constantly. I feel so blessed to have had such a great support system. I feel even more blessed to have survived heart surgery. There hasn't been a day that has gone by since that I haven't thanked God for another beautiful day. I will never take for granted the ease in which I can take a deep breath, pain free! Because boy did a deep breath hurt after surgery! Or how thankful I am for the woman who wheeled me down to the coumadin clinic for my first blood draw. Adam Pick and everyone on this website who have posted and helped me without even knowing it, or those who have commented on my few posts and helped me to stay strong before surgery. The nurse in ICU who rubbed my leg when I woke up and said "you did it" - and I then looked at my husband and said "I did it". I haven't forgotten anyone, as they have all touched my life in such an important way. I didn't want to write this - and I realize it's a jumbled mess of thoughts - but I wanted to pay it forward. I have been using this website for almost 14 years I hope my jumbled mess of thoughts will help even just one person realize that YES, you can do it. YES, it's tough! BUT SO ARE YOU. We are Heart Warriors.