12 - week followup: Doin' great!

[Johnny Stephens]

Had my 12-week followup with my cardiologist. My lungs are doing well, but I will have another echo in a month to make sure there is no lingering pulmonary hypertension. At my last echo, they couldn't measure it because it requires some leakage from the tricuspid valve to indirectly measure it. Mine wasn't leaking, even though I was told pre-test that EVERYBODY's tricuspid valve leaks a tiny bit. They are inferring from this that my pulmonary pressures are quite low (a good thing).

He took me off of Imdur, (for pulmonary hypertension) but raised my beta blocker back to it's pre-surgery level as my pulse was a bit fast. He changed my diuretic regimen to "whenever you think you need it." So, effectively I'm down from 9 drugs on discharge to 2, Coumadin and Toprol-XL (beta blocker).

More good news...he's more than willing to help me get a Protime unit, so off I go to get those forms done. The anticoagulation clinic has several patients doing their own testing.

He was really pleased with my progress and I don't go back for 6 months. Time to break - in my new treadmill!

Johnny

 

[Nancy]

Hi Johnny-

You've strudged down a long hard road and came out a WINNER! It great to see your post and you sound just wonderful.

Wishing you all the best

 

[Zipper]

Good for you Johnny..sounds like you're doing Great! Both Treadmill and ProTime are the way to go!!!! BTW..glad to hear you don't like to live in a mess.. bet your wife appreciates that!!!!

Takecare,

Zipper *~*

 

[John Cochran]

Johnny,
What good news! After all you went through, you really deserve to be doing this well now! Keep it going!
--John

 

[sylviayasgur]

hi johnny!
so glad to see you are doing so well. wishing you a continued smooth recovery.
stay well, sylvia

 

[Jennie]

Hey Johnny!

Nine drugs down to two! This is fantastic! It certainly sounds like you're going in the right direction! Glad to hear about the Protime too. Then you can find other hobbies besides sitting in doctor offices...!

I'm thirteen weeks tomorrow. Today I took a half day from work, went to the dentist for a cleaning (no cavities!!) (Yes I did pre-med!) I was a bit worried about that, you hear all the horror stories. I was also worried about him throwing all sorts of metal utensils on my chest (you know how they use you as a table), but then I realized, that was the orthodontist who did that, in my early years. ANYWAY! I did a ton of "spring cleaning" this weekend - I guess I missed out on that this year - trying to catch up with things, and totally wore myself out. It was a mental game too, I had to psych myself up for every little chore, sometimes that took longer than the task itself. Couldn't go back to work after the dentist, just in a total fog, went home and did the old crash-out on the couch for a couple hours. Hadn't done that for two weeks. Tonight I halved my "happy pill", maybe I don't need it all, I wander around feeling like my eyes are a bit dialated, like I'm on something.

So, I know we had our surgeries around the same time. Glad to hear you're doing well! I am too, really, I guess every now and then one has to have a bad day in there - think I just have been overdoing it lately. Glad to hear about the Protime unit. (Did I already say that? Just a bit spacey today!)

-JEnnie