Terri's Journal

Hey everyone I received my call today to be admitted tobhave my wires removed on Wednesday, I hope I finally get some relief from sneezing coughing bending over to tie my shoe and then straightening up afterwards....wish me luck!!!

It's been a couple months since I've been on, and to just update what has been going on with regards to my previous, I got to see my cardiologist and he was very thorough and put me at ease it seems that all of my symptoms are being caused by my new job and the overwhelming duties that I have had to endure and cause a lot of stress in my life but it is getting better slowly!!! I am currently waiting for surgery to have my wires removed from my sternum as they are causing lots of grief I even have one wire I can play with and kind and f move around, I am having some trouble with reaction to the metal so we decided to go ahead and remove them rather than keep having the issues I am having, not sure if any of you have had this procedure done but would love any info you have to offer On the plus side it's almost 2 years since I received my mechanical valve and am overall doing great!!

It's been 19 months since I received my mechanical mitral valve, these past few weeks I have begun having multiple palpitations and dizziness all the time, not sure if it is AFIB and don't know if I should be concerned has anyone else experienced this. I also have a very sore sternum I can actually feel my top wires and have to decide whether to have them removed or not ughhh...I still have considerable pain when I sneeze and after a sneeze it feels like an ache in my heart, I feel like I am never going to be 100% better am I crazy?😒

I just wanted to update on my surgery, I have completed my cardiac rehab and have made many new friends through my class they have also become a support group during the journey but now that rehab has finished I feel a little lost, I keep in contact with one of my classmates which is great and we all plan on getting together next summer as a reunion and see how each of us is doing. I still have anxiety from my surgery, although I try to hide it but sometimes my emotions get the best of me but each day it does get better as I am now used to hearing my beating ticker from my valve. My sternum is slowly getting better but still have a very sensitive spot where my doctor thinks that I may have a wire sticking up... My cardiologist did a stress test on me and I was at 11 METS which I guess is really good....I just live my life as a happy day each and every day now, although stress is an everyday part of life I try to follow the rules of Dr Robert Elliott "don't sweat the small stuff" have a cool reaction and not a hot reaction. I also would like to wish each and everyone of you a very merry Christmas as we are in the home stretch of the Christmas day....

It's been a bit since I have been on here so much going on and back to work and playing catch up... I am feeling pretty great for the most and finally getting the INR stabilized....I still seem to have some issues with the sternum healing I went to my family doctor and requested a chest x-ray but he doesn't want to seem to send me for one, I would like this for my own peace of mind because I have a sore spot at the top of my sternum and it is very sensitive and when I asked my doctor about it he said that it felt like a stitch sticking out, in my mind I would like to know for sure, the other issue I seem to have is that it feels like my heart hurts sometimes when I take deep breaths... Does anyone else have any of these kinds of issues that have had a mechanical valve put in?

I can't believe how much of a difference just a few days make, on Friday I felt I was still struggling to feel normal and get out walking a long distance I also was still struggling with some nausea which I believe was from the metoprolol or lack of sleep because I was lucky to be sleeping for 4 hours a night so my family physician suggested that I start taking a gravol in the evening and it may help with the nausea that I was waking up with and I may get some added sleep from it, so that's what I did and low and behold I have been getting about 7 hours sleep now and the nausea has finally subsided....My INR numbers were also high on Friday 4.4 way too high so I had to skip a day of coumadin and then continue taking 6mg a day until I went back today...My numbers today were 2.8 so we are getting closer to the 3.0 mark so today I took 7mg and then I will go back to 6mg the rest of the week and be tested again Friday.... These past couple days I can't believe how much better I feel and how much better I am getting around however getting out of bed in the morning still feels quite sore but all in time right!!!!

Hey Everyone, sorry for the late posts after surgery...My surgery was a success and I had a St Judes Mechanical Valve replacement and also a Maze procedure....I am not going to lie I felt like I was hit by a truck after my surgery to the point that I had to send my family home the day following because I just was not up to any visitors because I was very ill from the Morphine and anesthetic but after I got out of the SICU and the Step down Unit in to my own room I started to feel much better however still today I am having lots of pain at my incision and chest area....I keep trying to tell myself that it's just recovery but I have to admit I am always thinking something is wrong does anyone else have this same feeling or this same pain any advice would be great? I am still having a battle with the warfarin and trying to get my levels straight but I seem to go from one extreme to the next...because of this type of valve they said my INR levels need to be between 3.0 -3.5 but after I was released from the hospital after my surgery I had to be admitted again because my levels dropped to 1.7 and they were concerned that I would form a blood clot on the valve itself and I had to be put on heparin and stayed 3 days in hospital.... I always seems to feel scared that something is going to be wrong because it always seems to happen that way for me and I try to stay as positive as possible but it's hard.... I feel like my collar bone hurts badly but they keep telling me that it's just my muscles healing and because of my age it is going to hurt more than someone who is elderly... I just want to recover and not be sore and be normal again...Is anyone else feeling the same way as me?

Today is the day the beginning of my new life a new improved life it will be. Thank you for all the support and guidance I have had in here, I have been telling the nurses here about this site and how informed I have been and this is such a resourceful site...thank you all so much and I lol forward to posting my experience as soon as I am able to 😊

Got the news for my new date and it is quickly, being admitted Wednesday and surgery is on Thursday...Such big emotions going on wasn't expecting a call until Friday but they surprised me with one today...

So, Feeling a bit down it takes so much to prepare your self for this surgery and then you receive a call on to receive another to say it is currently cancelled maybe next week we will be able to do it.....They want you to have no stress but yet they are the ones causing extra anxiety....ughhh so we start all over again and wait for another call maybe on Friday... :(

I got my call for my surgery it will be one week from today May 8th, I will be admitted on the 7th which I am assuming that this is when they will explain the surgery to me and what exactly will be happening....So happy it's finally going to be over with waiting is the hardest part!!!

Well I have been told my surgery will be within 2 weeks and as close as this Monday, I had a little episode happen and they had thought I had a mini stroke but met with the neurologist and he did some testing and determined it wasn't a T.I.A. that it has to do with my heart valve situation and called it a near fainting spell that reacted like a mini stroke and that I needed to have my surgery ASAP...They told me that I could receive a call on Friday as they make their calls on Friday's to be admitted on Sunday and operate Monday which is a bit scary with the reality of it all happening so quick...My symptoms have grown more severe to the point I am not even allowed to sweep my floor at the moment or endure anything that will ultimately put any stress on my heart.....But I have to take comfort in that it is almost over and soon enough I will be on my way to recovery...I will be sitting on my phone all day Friday.....

I am still awaiting my date for valve replacement surgery but lately I have started feeling like I am being shocked with tiny shock feelings in my heart should I be worried, I don't want to run to the hospital every time I feel something different so thought I would ask first if anyone knows what I mean?

While I was talking to my surgeon he suggested that I get a INR testing at home device, does anyone on here have one of these devices? I have checked out online and I am not sure if it is covered by insurance in Canada as it has stipulation in the States and one of the eligible things are mechanical heart valve.

Today I made myself a dentist appointment and got in quickly (tomorrow) I have to take antibiotics for the appointment because another thing I learned from my surgeon was that the bacteria in the back of your mouth is much like the bacteria that caused the rheumatic valve disease and Oral care is a major thing after having this surgery so the surgeon suggested I have a cleaning if I hadn't had them done in the past 3 months....So prepping begins my journey... :)

Today I met with my surgeon and it has helped me a lot and he has answered all of my questions that I needed answering to help me understand. My surgery will be within the next 4-6 weeks I will get a call the week prior and will be admitted the day before my surgery. Dr Forgie explained to me all of my options and we felt it best that I go with the mechanical valve as oppose to the tissue one due to my age and he said I would be looking at a second surgery with the tissue valve after about 10 years and I only want to go through this once, the only down fall is that I will no longer be able to return to Roller Derby after I recover from the surgery which makes me very sad but my health is more important. We talked about being able to go through my ribs for the surgery but because my lung pressure is currently double what it should be and the chance that I could also end up with broken ribs and if there were to be any complications they would have to go through the breast bone anyway, so with that said I opted to go with them doing it through the breast bone because I rarely have anything go straight forward and any surgery I have ever had has lead to some kind of complication I think it would be safer to do it this way the first time and then any complications could be addressed while they can see everything wide open. The Dr told me I have had this condition (Rheumatic Valve Disease) for many years my aortic valve is dilated double what it should be and the mitral valve leaflets are just not working properly and because of the two issues they can't be repaired and the Mitral needs to be replaced because of the stenosis and regurgitation, which is causing the pressure of my lungs double the normal as well, it is very scary in this position but I have to be positive that it will be resolved shortly and I will be a healthy 44 year old again...I just will have to figure out some new sports that I can enjoy that isn't a contact sport....So now I wait for that call to say "next week is your surgery"

I realize this is an American website but wondering if there are any other Canadian members on here? I am trying to locate information on our Canadian Surgeons but not able to do so and suggestions?

Well I finally got a call from the Surgeons office to go meet with him on March.11, 2015, I thought I was going to be sick to my stomach after I hung up the phone because it means everything is really real and that I have to have valve replacement surgery...I am hoping to find out more information from the surgeon on what I have to look forward to and more detail to help me ease my mind...So this is the next step towards the surgery...