Rita's Journal

Today I am doing very well, I been going to cardio rehab since June 9th and still do today as it keeps me structured with my workout plan. Last summer, June to aug was the times I was monitored closely by nurses during workout at rehab then after August I graduated to maintences cardio rehab which means I go to cardio rehab anytime I want on my own. Since I had pacemaker installed, I had to wait until July to start back on working at daycare with infants and mid July is when I started back on my weight training routine. All my swellings I had from heart surgery disappeared in July finally and my weight went back to normal, after surgery my weight went up to 135 then after a month of recovery it went back down to 117 lbs average. Every time I went to see my doctor for heart check up, they all say my heart doing beautifully since surgery... So today since then I been going to rehab daily, volunteering at Bryan hospital every Monday\'s, working at daycare with infants as volunteer every wednesday and Friday\'s. On my relaxing times, I read or play on laptop and go for walks... So thanks for reading my stories.

So today it been around a year since I had my heart surgery and pacemaker implant... I remember going home from hospital very tired and sad cuz I missed the nurses and great experience I had hospital from nurses, doctors. As a gift I gave huge fruit basket to nurses, but know what funny, my surgeon decided he was one of nurses and grab some of fruits from my basket but that alright cuz he did a great job fixing up my heart. So I had my neck iv pulled out too and it was quite painful so I just lay on bed and hold spot on neck so I don\'t bleed out. My favorite moments at hospital was walking around and just hang around and learning new medical stuff and being introduced to my new friend, the pacemaker... I felt like I was spoiled during my stay there. So then I finally went home in afternoon and had my smoothie with strawberry and banana mix for dinner... Then just relax a lot and fix up my bed differently to make me more comfortable. So that all my story from may 18 to 25th about my heart surgery and I can say it was very good experience for me.

So on that day May 24th i went in operating room to have my pacemaker be put in my chest on right side above my breast area. I had to deal with more needles poking me too ecks. here is the note my Aunt Lori wrote about my day i got my pacemaker. at noon, mom and Lori was with me while i was being prepped for surgery, they had to insert an IV in my right arm to measure my blood pressure. this was something i have not anticipated because i thought the IV in my neck would work for all things- unfortunately the neck IV is for meds, the arm is for blood pressure. they did have hard time finding my artery and was quite painful for me and i even had some meds to help me relax and took little nap. at 1:35 i finally went into surgery for pacemaker as my Surgeon was running alittle late from previous surgery. at 2:20, my surgeon came out to say pacemaker is in and surgery went well. so i went to recovery room. at 3:20, My anesthesiologist said i was slowly coming out and were communicating through paper by writing, i was not fighting or uncomfortable, but still had breathing tube in. I also kept asking for ice cubes too... so i got back to my same room i was in for whole week of May 18th to May 25th 2011. I remember feeling groggy but i did not get sick and was able to eat my dinner no problem after surgery. I remember feeling my pacemaker in place and it felt very strange and \"full\" on chest.

I noticed since almost a year from my tricuspid valve replacement in heart, i developed a super heart, cuz this weekend March 24 and 25th, Sat, i went for a 2 hour walk and felt good, Sunday, i went for 30 mins bike ride to one of my friends house to take her baby for a stroller ride walk, we walked for about a hour to a park then back to home. then after that i rode home for 30 mins. i rode on alot of uphills, found it easier to ride bike on uphills now as before my surgery i could not ride bike uphill. i was surpised about that and called my heart, \"Super heart\"... i am also on bystolic beta blocker meds too so that might have helped some.

During that time I been doing walks, resting with antibodies going in my Iv on my neck to protect heart from infections, also I had bunch of doctors coming in to see me and run bunch of tests on me like echo, EKG, and I have been doing a lot of breathing treatments and excercises to help improve my breathing. Also I did develop a post surgery cough too, it lasted for a week then it went away. Also I was suggested to join cardio rehab after I got home from hospital so I agreed to that. After doctors have been checking me out and seeing how my heart was doing, they have noticed something was not right about my heart as it was not beating quite right. Apparently my electrical system in the heart was not working right which is called 3rd degree heart block so the doctor decided I should get a pacemaker, at first i was puzzled as I had no symptoms of the 3rd degree heart block, I never noticed anything wrong with me but the doctor were worried that something might happen to me later on so they thought it best I get a pacemaker for safety. So I was like alright fine go for it for my sake. Also they wanted to get pacemaker in same area where I had my scar opening for my heart surgery to avoid me having more scars on my chest, which is thoughtful of my doctor... More stories to come about my pacemaker other day...

I remember i have been having trouble sleeping at night, trouble with going to restroom due to medications i had. During day, I would go for walks around the nursing station quite few times in a day, i even got to go outside with one of the nurse for fresh air, it was a long walk to go from 4th floor to the second floor of the hospital to go outside but i did pretty good. i had visitors who came to see me, i enjoyed it, even i was still in ICU but they treated me as i was in normal recovery room. i got to choose my own meals and watch tv and play on my laptop whenever i wanted to. I could say i was spoiled rotten during my stay after my heart surgery... nurses there were wow great and sweet... also cuz of after surgery my body pretty much got swelled up from water build up in body, it was hard to get on and off of the bed also on the bed, they have the leg massager that helps with blood circulation in the legs, i loved it when it was on me, it felt good... the cardiologist and my surgeon have done a great job of taking care of my heart. I did have bunch of meds i had to take and quite few of antibodies iv hooked to my neck iv tubes. more stories to come for other day, thanks for reading my stories so far...

the story continues... I have been having strangest dreams each night during my hospital stay and i actually loved it cuz it was very different in the dreams. it was effects from medications i was on. I volunteer at daycare with infants normally... so i had a strange dream that one night, i had to go save the 2 babies who are twin boys at daycare in middle of night during a bad rainy storm, so i run in and looked everywhere in daycare center, it was very dark and kinda scary as it is at a big old church, so eventually i found the 2 babies in a room just playing around so i spend the night with them in the room. i had this same dream repeatedly few nights at my icu room. other dream, the daycare center i work at had a huge makeover and everything was mixed up by, babies got stuck with 5 years olds, 3 year olds got stuck with one year olds so everyone was in wrong rooms. other dream, I went back in time to 1970s, (i was born in 1983), i was with my current friends and few old friends back in 1970 in my dream, somehow we was all in a swimming pool just hanging out. that all i remembered, main dreams i had was related to daycare and babies... cuz that what i do for a living is volunteer to help out with babies... that all and the story continues...

May 18th 2011, my story continues... I have been staying at ICU unit from May 18th to May 25th as it was just easier to keep me in one place. I woke up that first day after i had my surgery at about 2pm. I can remember i was asking to see my phone to my aunt lori, also i did have weird heartbeat episode as heart was racing for short time when i woke up, but it all got settled and i was fine. so after while i got to get up from bed and try walking around the nursing station with the walker to see how i did, i did pretty good... then after while i did get kinda tired so i rest most of the day and had my first meal at dinner time and rest more, i can remember feeling some pain but it was not too bad, i did have tubes in my chest area and iv on my neck. at night boy i could not sleep at all. in middle of night one of nurse tried to give me a morphine but it just burned me up that i hated it so nurse stopped the medicine fast. cuz i was having trouble sleeping so the nurse wanted to give me something to help me feel better. the story continues... enjoy...

My surgeon\'s name was Dr Edward Raines. He was a outgoing funny doctor who made me very comfortable with having surgery. So on May 18th 2011, i went in to have my open heart surgery done... here is my note my Aunt lori wrote about how i did in my surgery i had... My heart surgery from Wednesday…. My aunt Lori took notes when ever someone would let her know what up about my surgery and take note, I do not remember any of this… when I say “you” I am mentioning myself. 8:10- called your mom to say they were taking you into surgery. 8:51- Beth, head nurse came out to let us know you would have an interpreter probably between 12 to 2. She mentioned you were a little confused and frightened when the paper was over your face (for neck iv) but someone wrote you a note explaining, then you were okay. 9:28- Nurse Juile came in to tell us incision has been made, Dr. Raines has started procedure, you are “on” pump but your heart is beating slowly. Repair is hoped for, but if not, replacement (which is a tissue man made valve, which mean no anti-collugate coumadin will be required). Last possibility, a mechanical would be used. You mom and I heard this part differently J. When you wake up they may have your wrist restrained,, this is perfectly normal. They should have you sitting up and maybe eat something by tomorrow (Thursday). Breathing tube will be in for a couple hours after surgery. We do not get to see you until after recovery, which will probably not be until 3 or 4pm. They want you to sleep and not try to communicate for most of today. So when we see you later- do not be surprised when we just give you a hug or thumb up. 9:54- Beth the nurse came out to tell us Thomas B would be your interpreter and will arrive at 11am and stay until 6pm. 11:05- Dr. Raines came out to let us know he had to replace the valve with a pig valve, because of the ebstein anomaly, you did not have a hole in your heart (as they thought before) and he thought everything was a success. Because of the valve replacement, your ability to pump is much improved, because the position is better. He did mention, depending on how your electrical pulse or rhythm, they are going to monitor you closely to see if you may need a pacemaker. Dr. Raines will be closely monitoring you today and tomorrow morning. He seemed pleased with the surgery. 12:05- recovery nurse gwen called your mom and said you are now in four south, your doing fine and everything looks good. We probably cannot see you for 2 more hours. They want to get your breathing tube out before we come up. Your interpreter is there. You look good! But we already knew you would J 1:35- recovery called your mom, everything is okay, you’re just taking a little longer to wake up. The breathing tube is still in, they want to still try to take out before we see you.. You have moved your legs and everything is ok as far as they are concerned. 3:00- they are getting close to removing the tube. Should be another ½ hour. They just want to make sure you are breathing deep enough on your own. 3:40- room. 461, we finally got to see you in icu. Thomas B was there and knows you from long time ago. You are heavily sedated and your nose is very plugged up. As soon I walked in and took a picture, you asked for your Blackberry phone, you barely looked at it and you asked why your heart was beating so fast. You were having arrhymia and the alarm went off and few nurses came in. your heart corrected itself and we understand that is the first time it happened. Your mom and I felt guilty, but the nurse was not too concerned. I guess if it was going to happen, you are in the right place. Your mom has now gone home to rest for while. By tmw (thurs) I would be sitting up and eating something. Right now you are very heavily sedated and cannot keep your eyes open . You are drifting in and out of consciousness. It is difficult to see you soo helpless, but that is exactly what antesia does to everyone.