Tanya's Posts

I am excited to announce that I am 6 months post op from an aortic valve replacement today! For those of you in the waiting period, either waiting for surgery or waiting to be fully recovered, it will get better! Just keep the end result in mind, try to stay positive, and know that God will provide and pull you through. Here's what 6 months post op looks like for me: My INR is finally where they want it, that took 5 months. Im on 12 mg of warfarin, which is an unusually high dose, but thats what it takes to keep everything therapeutic. I'm now down to blood draws once a month instead of every week. Hooray! I'm hoping to start working towards being off of the metoprolol, or at least decreasing my dose. I will discuss this with my cardiologist next week. It took about 4 months, but I'm no longer having episodes of afib. It did eventually go away on its own. I can stand for long periods of time without feeling like I'm going to pass out! I can run and workout! My sternum still hurts from time to time, and I can feel the wires, so I will be discussing that next week as well. I still can't open anything that requires a twisting motion, like jars or bottles. I'm sure those muscles will continue to build up. I can play and run with my children, and I will be able to tolerate the hot Texas heat this summer without feeling like I'm going to pass out. Praise God! This is just a little bit of motivation to hopefully help get you through. The waiting is by far the hardest part. You've got This! 💓

My apologies for not updating sooner. Energy lately is lowwww. Much lower than I anticipated, but I do want to thank everyone for their prayers and positive thoughts leading up to surgery last week. My fears of waking up on the breathing tube, having the drainage tubes and central lines pulled out, and the pacer wires were not as bad as I thought it would be. I think I could have handled it with a little more grace, as I was so anxious about it before my surgery that that carried over after surgery and definitely affected how I handled it. Waking up with the breathing tube wasn't that bad. I was heavily medicated, but still anxious, and having all of the lines pulled wasn't awful either. So to everyone with surgeries coming up with similar concerns and fears, please don't allow these fears and negative thoughts consume you before surgery. My husband would just tell me right before they'd come in to pull a line, with my anxiety through the roof that "this too shall pass" and it WILL be ok. And guess what...he was right. The first 48 hours after surgery were the hardest. Again..."this too shall pass", and Christian songs that calm me helped me get through it all. Now I am 1 week post op, I am home now, and my biggest complaint is that my appetite is extremely poor, almost non existent. I have to force myself to eat. I'm definitely looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. Reading everyone's post op stories are so inspiring, as I know that this too shall pass and I WILL start feeling better! I am doing my best to stay positive as I know a positive mindset is mighty powerful!