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Amy, I posted this in your post-op thread before I saw this one. Actually hiccups are quite common after OHS. There can be several different causes. Vagus nerves or phrenic nerves can be irritated during surgery, anesthesia can cause it, and stress and/or anxiety can cause it. They do have a...

Amy, Actually hiccups are quite common after OHS. There can be several different causes. Vagus nerves or phrenic nerves can be irritated during surgery, anesthesia can cause it, and stress and/or anxiety can cause it.

Sorry I missed your post canon. My a-fib problems came up the summer before my last surgery. I had a catheter ablation done and I have been a-fib free since then.

I had one for both of my surgeries, and both surgeons said they usually order one for anyone over 40. Because of a high prevalence of coronary artery disease in patients with aortic valve disease, coronary angiography is recommended before aortic valve replacement...

I had infective endocarditis before valve replacement. I probably would have needed VR at some point in my life but the IE sped that process up. I was born with a large VSD which grew smaller but never closed. It was causing one of the leaflets on my aortic valve to prolapse, and this is where...

Wishing you a continued bump free recovery Sten. BTW love the screen name lol.

I had the night sweats after both of my surgeries. I think the body naturally reacts to a number of things after surgery, like being opened up, ribs spread apart, heart cut open, barrage of medications, stress, anxiety, the list goes on and on. It just takes awhile for the body to sort all of...

If you combine not eating much with opiate pain meds the result is usually mild to moderate nausea, but probably not enough to make you vomit. Try to eat a little something before you take the oxycodone, it should help with the nausea if the oxycodone is the cause. It took 2-3 weeks before my...

I can't say that VR.com swayed my decision as much as it let me know I had options. Even though I knew I would probably need my valve replaced one day I never really gave it much thought. I thought it was "way down the road" until I got endocarditis and it became "right around the corner". After...

Yeah that is a myth about needing to switch to an electric shaver. I don't have a mechanical valve but I was on Coumadin for several months for a-fib. I remember the nurse telling me I needed to switch to an electric shaver. I asked her if I would bleed to death if I cut myself shaving (I was...

When I was out on FMLA leave after my first surgery I did not get paid. I was allowed to use any vacation/sick time I had accrued, but they didn't pay me my salary while I was out. When I came back I had the same job position at the same salary. Did you actually generate the sales revenue before...

Why the thumbs down rareed? My guess is that your cardio told the ER to do a CT scan to check your ascending aorta. It is the "gold standard" in diagnostics for imaging the aorta. Since you have had an aortic aneurysm in the past they probably wanted to rule that out first and foremost as the...

I got a heart pillow both times. The first time all of the nurses who took care of me in the step down unit signed it with nice and/or funny remarks.

If this is inappropriate I apologize in advance, but I wanted to give you a perspective from a guy's point of view. If a guy is staring in the direction of your "girls" he most likely isn't looking at your scar. ;) In all seriousness though guys might not admit it but some of us can be self...

kfay is right about the lower pressures. Also due to these lower pressures there is a lot bigger chance of clotting. I have a homograft pulmonary valve. It was explained to me that this is basically an open and shut valve allowing blood to flow from the right ventricle into the lungs. Since the...

I had the cath before my first surgery 2 weeks ahead of time. I was living in Nashville, TN at the time and my surgeon at Duke was fine with it. I didn't meet my surgeon in person until the pre-op visit so I think he liked the fact that he could review the cath results ahead of time. For my 2nd...

First I researched who were the best surgeons for the type of surgery I needed. Then I narrowed it down by their location. Luckily I live 30 minutes from Duke Medical Center which is #7 on the US News & World Report rankings for heart hospitals. It has been in their top 10 for years and even...

From one of my posts on another thread. :)

youngmom, I had both of my surgeries at Duke and my cardiologists are also at Duke. They have several options to deal with paying your bills. I had a bout of atrial flutter the summer before my 2nd surgery and had two 3 day hospital stays and a cardiac ablation performed (plus an echo and a...

youngmom, The Family and Medical Leave act is a federal law that most employees in the USA are entitled to regardless of where they work. Here are the requirements to be eligible: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_and_Medical_Leave_Act_of_1993 Before 1993 they didn't have to hold your job...