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I never lost any GOOD friends...just fair weather friends. It's easy to tell the difference when you go through something like this.

Both of my surgeries were in the morning and I remember waking up both times in the evening with the vent still in. But like others said I was in the twilight zone so it didn't really bother me. My most recent one the nurse would say "do you want the ventilator removed" and I would give her a...

I took this 3 hour course this morning and i just wanted to recommend to anyone who hasn't taken it to consider it. It cost 50.00 to take and I have to take a renewal course every 2 years to keep it current, but I found it well worth the money. There are a lot of myths about CPR that this class...

According to my infectious disease doctor it was caused by chronic bronchitis. It took the doctors 2 months to knock out the bronchitis and 3 months to diagnose that I had encodarditis. I was born with a large VSD that was causing one of my aortic valve leaflets to prolapse and that is where the...

"This may seem simplistic but my body would tell me if I had done too much" I feel like Rodney Dangerfield...I get no respect. I've lived through two of these damn surgeries and I have shared my experiences and either no one listens or someone repeats what I say but in a different way. You...

Wanda, This may seem simplistic but my body would tell me if I had done too much. I realize you are specifically talking about the heart, but IMO the heart will tell the body that is enough and the body will tell the brain that is enough. That is my experience through 2 heart surgeries. I never...

Sounds like everything is progressing well Wanda. We all have bumps in the road but they seem to smooth out as time moves forward. It is cool to watch not only your heart but your new valve in action. When I had a MRI done in July of 09 to check on my aortic root / ascending aorta dilation the...

I forgot to mention that I actually had a surgical consult over a year before I had surgery, but because I didn't have health insurance and my condition wasn't considered "emergent" at the time I was unable to have the surgery. If I had been able to he said there was about a 70% chance of saving...

I have always struggled with insomnia regardless of how my heart was doing and the only thing that helped without taking drugs is going through it for a couple of nights. Eventually I got tired enough that I would be able to sleep. Since my last surgery I have had an issue with my heart...

Us guys know all about that ;) (sorry I couldn't resist) I have had epidural cortisone shots in my back and had the same reaction with my heart rate. You'll do fine when you get back to work. Just don't overdo it and ask for help at first if you need it. Your co-workers know you are coming back...

Dan, It seems quite normal even if you want to have the surgery to feel better. I had aortic root and ascending aorta dilation that was rapidly deteriorating but I needed financial assistance (cardios had me on no work order for 2 years so I didn't have health insurance). After about a year I...

I don't have a lot of experience in having arrhythmias other than having A-Flutter for 3 months about this time last year (before my surgery), but my heartbeat was steady...just racing like I was running a marathon 24/7. I have an occasional PVC but even that is rare. I had the A-Flutter...

+1 Sounds like things are getting better as time goes on. Sometimes it is hard to realize that until we look in the rear view mirror.

Pekster, To answer your 2nd question first, they usually start thinking about surgery at 5.0cm so you are about there. As far as dangerous I can't answer that specifically but obviously it gets more dangerous the larger it gets. My ascending aorta at the top of the root measured 5.8cm when I...

Congrats on making it to the other side. Having said that, it sounds like the pain killers are working just fine. ;) I never had the hot flashes but i did have the night sweats among other weird stuff. Just keep doing what they tell you and when you get home walk as much as you can (even if it...

Petra, We must be talking about different levels of endocarditis because my blood cultures came back positive within 24 hours. My doctor took them on a Friday afternoon and he actually called me Sunday morning to tell me they had already come back positive. You are right that if you are on or...

Carol, Please ask your doctor to do some blood cultures on you while you are at the office on Wednesday. Not to scare you but this will let them know for sure if you have a bacterial infection. Spiking a 102 fever makes me feel that it is possible that you do. If you do an echo is in order...

Double whammy for me as I take both. I take a baby aspirin daily. I am sure they are talking about the side-effects of possible GI problems, but I have a hard time believing that 81mg of aspirin a day is going to cause GI problems unless that person already has GI problems (this is only my...

I think they consider the normal HR range 60-100. My HR is around 70-75 and that is taking Metroprolol (beta blocker) 50mg twice a day. If I wasn't taking this my heart rate may be in the 100 range as well. Like others have said...I would check it out with your cardiologist. I am hoping my HR...

I am afraid I can't help you because at 12 weeks my stamina is still quite low. I notice that it gets a little better each week but it is a very slow process. I am also on beta blockers so it seems like the more I push myself the crappier I feel. When you push yourself hard but your heart rate...