Kent's Journal

I just wanted to wish all my HVJ peeps a Merry Christmas. I hope all your new valves are working well. Mine is!! This year has been eventful for my wife\'s health. At the end of June we found out that she had stage iv lung cancer, which is usually pretty bad. The good news is that we actually caught it fairly early and we\'ve had some successful treatments. Her oncologists encouraging worlds to us were, \"We\'re in good remission. Let\'s go for the cure.\"

Just a quick note: This time last year I was trying out my new aortic valve. It was a rocky few months, but all is good now. God has amazing timing. Last year was the year of my health issues with my heart. Just a few days ago we learned that my wife has some suspicious growths on her brain and lungs. We are not sure what all of this means, but we will probably be spending a few weeks getting it all sorted out. My wife has more life in her than anyone I know, so I know she will do great-- whatever comes her way. We learned a lot from my surgery last year and we know God is present every moment of this journey. God has been so good to us. For all of you starting this heart valve adventure … it gets better every day. Cheers!

I\'m only a month away from my one year anniversary. I haven\'t been to this site for a while, but am looking forward to seeing what\'s new. I\'ve been feeling great. The school year was very busy and I didn\'t get to the gym as much as I needed. I\'m starting to get back into the routine again. I hope to get in touch with some of \"the class of summer 2011\".

It\'s been about five months since my surgery, and I realize I haven\'t updated in a long time. I\'ve been feeling pretty well, even though work is keeping me incredibly busy. I\'m really looking forward to Christmas break and the little bit of downtime that will come with it. Last week I flew for the first time since my pacemaker was installed; fortunately it was pretty uneventful. My electrocardiologist did a reading on my pacemaker and said I\'ve been having a number of tachycardia issues. My cardiologist wasn\'t overly concerned, so I guess I won\'t be either. Really the only lasting things I have are a rapidly fading scar, reminders to take my daily Coumadin doses, and a very loud, clicking valve. As I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family, I was reminded how God has blessed me with this new cardio-hardware which will let me live many more wonderful years. Blessings to all my HVJ friends!

I just realized it\'s been a long time since I last checked in. It\'s been fourteen weeks since my surgery, and things are going well. I had a couple weeks where I struggled getting my INR in range; it was a bit too low. Other than that things are great. I had an echo a week ago and will get the reading from the cardiologist on Tuesday, so maybe I\'ll update twice in one week. I\'ve been keeping very busy with work and have been making it to the gym about 4-5 times a week. I hope everyone is doing great and getting on with life. Shout out to my all my party people!

It was ten weeks ago today that I went in for open heart surgery. I had my INR checked today at the hospital. (It was a bit low, but will get it sorted out.) It felt really strange to be back at that place. I hadn\'t been back for a couple weeks. Even though the whole experience of surgery was only a few weeks ago, it feels like it was a completely different life and time. I\'m back into the full swing of life and keeping busy with work, and July feels like a million miles away. My mind reminds me that I had surgery and I\'ve got a scar to prove it, but it\'s honestly a bit of a vague memory. Hopefully, that is encouraging to those facing upcoming surgeries. It\'s pretty traumatic when you\'re in the middle of it, but it won\'t be long until all is back to normal (if there is such a thing as \"normal\"). Shout outs to my HVJ peeps.

I\'m now on the other side of eight weeks post-op and all is great. I even lifted weights at the gym today. It feels good to be sore from working out rather than feeling pain because of surgery. Cheers to all my HVJ peeps!

I\'m now in my eighth week of the post-op world. Terri and I met with my cardiologist, Dr. Krishnamurthy (probably my favorite doctor I\'ve ever had). He said all looked great. At the end of the visit he told me (with a twinkle in his eye) to get out of there because he had sick people to take care of. I\'ve been driving and finished my first full week of work. Fortunately I have a non-physical job so it\'s no too demanding on the ol\' ticker. I started back at the gym this week too. I got a heart monitor which is helping me keep track of things. One really cool thing: I found out the gym equipment is linked to the heart monitor, so I don\'t need to wear the watch part to the gym. I\'m still not 100% sure of what kind of heart beat range I should be aiming for. The rehab nurse said between 120-130 is good. But I\'m not sure if that range should increase over time. How much can it increase? How quickly? If anyone has ideas, let me know. I\'m glad to see a lot of good progress amongst the HVJ family. Onward and upward!

I had a great six week check up with my surgeon, Dr. Winkler. He said everything looked like it should. He cleared me to drive, which is good since I\'ve already driven a couple times this week (I\'m such a rebel). I think Terri has been willing to give up her chauffeur job a few weeks ago. Dr. Winkler said that in two more weeks all restrictions are off. I can do whatever I want, even start weight lifting with light weights. Wow! I think I\'ll start up group power in a couple weeks. For any chest work I\'ll use uber-light weight. I had rehab today. I think it will be my last since I\'ll be crazy busy with school. I have a plan for doing cardio work on my own, so that should be good. I\'m hoping everyone is feeling great. Onward and upward! Kent

It\'s four-and-a-half weeks after OHS and I am feeling a little better everyday. I am able to up my game every time at rehab. I just finished my first solo walk with Scamp to the park. Now to continue my \"Cheers\" marathon on Netflix streaming. I forgot how clever that show was. I hope all my HVJ friends are doing great. Kent

My open heart surgery was four weeks ago from today. After a few days of slipping some, I\'m feeling pretty good lately. The stabbing pain I was feeling has changed into a mildly annoying random pain. A few days ago it felt like I was being continually stabbed with a steak knife near the bottom part of my incision. Now it just feels like an occasional pin prick. My INR levels are staying pretty well within the limits. I started cardio rehab this week; I feel very young since I\'m about 35 years younger than everyone else. This has been pretty humbling. A few months ago my usual workout consisted of 30-40 minutes of the treadmill going about 3.5-4 mph; with hill-like inclines; then I\'d do an hour of weight lifting. Now, I can only do about 1.8 mph for about 25 minutes, and I\'m not allowed to lift more than five pounds-- so I can\'t really do any lifting. Baby steps, right? My friends and family have been very supportive. My sister-in-law visited from NY this last week; it was so great to spend time with her! My wife has been the greatest caregiver ever. She and Scamp took me on a great walk today. I\'m feeling like my breathing has become stronger over the last day or two. Anyway, the journey continues and work is only a couple weeks away. Onward and upward!

Warning! If you have a queasy stomach, you may not want to view these pictures. If you are curious, click on my photos to see some pictures from the first week after surgery. Everything looks much better now! :-) Terri

I\'m now seeing why this recovery thing is so up and down. Over the last couple weeks I\'ve felt great, but I feel like I\'ve taken a big step back today. On Friday I took a long walk in our very hilly neighborhood. On Saturday we went on a long car ride (about 6 hours) to an amazing family reunion. Late last night, however, I hit the wall. Sometimes when I take deep breaths I feel a very sharp pain towards the bottom of my incision; it really hurts. This has effected my breathing, and I feel pretty wiped out. I\'m just hoping this is part of the long journey and better days are just around the corner. Anyway, I am loving keeping up with all my HVJ partners and happy to see everyone progressing so well. Onward and upward! Kent

In a few days, I\'ll be three weeks post-op. Wow! I met with my cardiologist yesterday and things are going well. When I met with him my blood pressure was really low (I had also felt pretty faint whenever I would stand and walk); he ended up taking me off the blood pressure meds and I think that\'s helping a lot. He said everything looked good. I also had another INR (the level of blood thinning) check. It looks like my levels are staying right in a good range. That\'s a huge blessing since a lot of people take a long time to get that regulated. I went to a meeting with the cardio rehab place. I think I\'m about 30 years younger than everyone there. Ha! I think it will be good to know where my limits are while working out. I hope to get back to the gym as quickly as possible. So over all, things are going well. I\'m still trying to find the healthy balance between staying active and getting enough rest. Thanks to all who continue to support us with prayer and encouragement.

It\'s been about a week and a half since the surgery. I\'m actually feeling pretty well. The pain is being managed with Tylenol and I\'ve reached the top setting of the spirometer a couple times. I think I\'ll try to sleep in our bed tonight (I have been sleeping on the couch). I\'m also getting my appetite back. The last two days Terri and Scamp (our Cairn Terrior) took me for walks in the park. Tomorrow I go in for a test of the my pacemaker and an INR check. I\'m very thankful for my wife, friends, family and Netflix streaming!

Since I\'ve just had surgery, I know I\'m not supposed to drive for a few weeks. I\'ve read from some that it\'s best to ride in the backseat. (Airbags?) I was wondering what y\'all have done. Backseat or frontseat?

It\'s been a crazy week! I went in for open heart surgery last Thursday; this morning I\'m sitting in my living room drinking coffee and watching The Today Show. Here are a few things I learned along the way. The Salem Hospital rocks. We were taken care of very well. There was good communication every step of the way. Some nurses were better than others. The best was Qaheed (\"Waheed\") from Nigeria. He was full of compassion and humor. He was the only nurse who changed my gown and cleaned a layer of surgery goo off of me (after surgery you look and feel like you\'ve been dipped in a vat of Cheetos dust). (He told me \"For the ladies I change their gown twice and wash their hair at least once.\") I admitted to Terri that I formed a bit of a man-crush on Qaheed. The worst experience was with a nurse who was trained in the Navy. Right before her shift, a different nurse had put in an IV without properly reporting it in the paperwork. This bothered Ms. Navy Nurse a lot. She came in late at night and said that since the unreported IV was not properly cited she wouldn\'t use it and was going to stick me again and put in a new one. Her guiding principle was \"everything must be done by the book\". Since my guiding principle is \"common sense trumps mindless bureaucracy,\" I firmly told her she was not going to insert a new IV and she would use the the undocumented one. I learned that medical professionals are bit like third graders when it comes to using sticky tape. A third grader\'s philosophy when using tape for crafts is \"the more the better.\" I think I\'ve had more flesh-ripping tape stuck all over my body than is used nationwide every Christmas in wrapping gifts. Cardiac surgeons are superheroes. Open-heart surgery patients go through a lot of emotions. One minute I\'m filled with awe when I realize I\'ve gone through a massively invasive procedure that will allow me to walk my daughter down the aisle at her wedding. The next minute I\'m depressed by the realization that my traumatized heart is not 100% safe yet; I\'m also dramatically dependent on others (I can\'t open a cupboard by myself). I have the best wife ever. Terri has literally been by my side every step of the way. She selflessly watched over me when I was completely helpless. She showed me more love and tenderness than I could imagine. She valiantly captained the K-Team. All of my family have been incredibly supportive. God is good. He gives and takes away. Every breath is a gift from him whether we acknowledge it or not. I\'m so thankful he has given people the knowledge and talents to work wonders. When I became a grandfather earlier this year I proudly adopted the moniker Pop Pop. With my new upgraded cardio-hardware, I\'m now known as Robo Pop Pop! Thanks to all who have visited (for those visiting pre-pacemaker, sorry for sleeping through your visit) and have shown concern. Onward to recovery!