I'm back home!

[bvdr]

Christina, thanks for the suggestion. I'll ask about the Rhythmol. He may feel more comfortable with that then the Flecainide. I have always liked the Flecainide since I don't think it makes me feel tired but my cardiologist is clearly nervous about it. My husband and I were talking about it after he visited once in the hospital and thought maybe he had lost a patient on it or something....pure conjecture of course but its just the feeling we had. I take an aspirin everyday but you are right about that also helping prevent clots.

A plus now though is that I'm off the atenolol and cadizem. I no longer feel like I am asleep on my feet.

Nancy, you mentioned in another threat that Joe just got put on atenolol? I was on 12.5mg a day of that and it still made me tired. After a few weeks I started adjusting to it but it took a while. I hope he does well with it.

 

[hensylee]

welcome home, Betty. We sure missed you. I know you are happy to sleep in your own bed.

my brother is on rhythmol to keep his afib controlled.

 

[JAMES W]

WELCOME HOME BETTY

WELCOME HOME BETTY

BETTY,

GLAD TO SEE YOU ARE HOME AND UP TO TELLING US WHAT GOING ON....YOU HAD US ALL WORRIED. REST EASY...WE ARE THINKING ABOUT YOU....YOUR FRIEND....

 

[KimC]

Betty, I have fallen behind on the boards and had no idea that you were in the hospital! Oh, geez. As if you needed that during the holidays. How stressful for you and your family.

Please be well. Take it easy, and know you and your family are in my prayers.

With love,

 

[pillarpaul]

Welcome back, Betty. Can you tell one or two of us missed you?

Paul

 

[Nancy]

Hi Betty-

Joe is on 12.5 mg, twice a day. It did lower his heart rate by at least 30 points from 108 to 78, at rest. He is a little tired, but he'a also on Neurontin for PHN and that makes you tired too, so it's hard to figure out which one is doing it. I also noticed that the rhythm was irregular, though slower.

This is the third card that has tried to put him on a beta-blocker. He clearly needs to be on one. He's in afib or aflutter much of the time. The main problem that Joe has with them is that he starts to retain enormous amounts of fluid, and with the CHF and PH it is NOT a good thing. Plus he says they make him feel terrible. He's having a Digoxin level on Monday. They had lowered the Dig a while back, and maybe it needs to come up a little. A little increase in Dig and the small dose of Atenolol might work for him. His cardiologist said he never starts such a small dosage of Atenolol, but Joe made such a fuss about it, he relented. His medication balance is so tricky with about 16 different ones, that one small change can upset the applecart.

He had his morning doses lined up, and I said,"You don't need any breakfast, that and a cup of coffee will just about fill you up".

I asked him if he noticed that his heart was more relaxed, and he said he never pays any attention to what his heart is doing, that he's had problems since he was 13, and he just doesn't focus on any of it. He says that's what he has me for. Sometimes that's good, and sometimes, not.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Welcome back Betty !

As you see, you created quite a 'stir' here on VR.com.
Try not to do that again !

Hopefully, your heart will 'settle' down now and behave itself.

'AL' (another transplanted Michigander from a nearby suburb)

 

[fisher6476]

Betty,
Glad you are back where you belong.
Steve

 

[ShezaGirlie]

Gosh Mizz Betty! We're sure happy you're home.

Interesting you said: "The bothersome part of this to the whole team has been that my INR was 4.0 on admission and this still happened. The goal now is to do whatever it takes to keep me out of a-fib episodes to try to prevent another clot."

Does an a-fib episode tend to cause a clot? And can they 'see' a clot by doing a MRI? I'm just fulla questions, but so glad you're with us once again! This time -- make it for a long time.

 

[MarciaB]

Betty,

So glad to see that you are home. Now you've got the rest of us on Coumadin thinking! I'm sure they will get it figured out soon. Your knowledge of all heart related stuff has been missed.

Marcia

 

[Kathy]

I know he is very frustrated right now because he has me on a high dose of flecainide

I have been on 75 mg of Flecainide twice a day since July. I wonder if that would be considered a high dose. The a-fib has been under control since mid October, and my cardio said that he would look at discontinuing some meds in the summer.

 

[bvdr]

Kathy,

I was upped from 150mg every 12 hours to 200mg every 12 hours. He now has me back down to the 150mg dose until I see him on Tuesday.

Janie,

A-fib does increase the risk. I didn't have an MRI but I had high speed cat scans of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis. I also had a colonoscopy. They did not do an angiogram when I first arrived which may have shown a definite clot. My TTE did not show any thrombus but my cardio says it is a poor method to determine if a clot is present and he has never seen one that way.

I feel uneasy about this whole thing and have unanswered questions. Did the resistance exercises I did about two hours before this began have anthing to do with a clot breaking loose?
Are there other clots on my valve and if there are what do we do?
How do we find out? I do have thick blood and I don't know if that factored in or not (my hemoglobin often is above 16). I guess I just have to wait and see what happens and take it day by day.

 

[MelissaM]

Betty,

Glad to hear that you are home, but distaught to hear you are having such a tough time of it. Hang in there - plenty of time to make this a great year yet!

Melissa

 

[Shirley]

Betty,

It's so good to have you back!
You continue to be in our thoughts and prayers. I don't remember from Chicago - do you take a magnesium supplement? That really helped Jim when he had some troubles. If my memory is right his trouble started about 2-3 months post-op. The Dr. put him on some rough meds which didn't help and the magnesium did. We found out about that from a heart book.

We will all be watching and learning and God willing we will be able to continue to help each other. That's what this is all about.

Happy New Year it's getting better now that you are home.

Shirley

 

[Granbonny]

Betty

Betty

Try not to worry about there being other clots on your valve..Will drive you crazy..However, if it were me..I don't think I would exercise hard anytime soon. Remember. You are still healing.....Takes a long time for those cells, muscles, bones, tissue, ect. to get back in place. Hard to believe you had a clot at 4.0.. Maybe Al can shed an answer on this one...if he knows of anyone who had a clot when their INR was that high.Glad you are home..Now, take it easy...Bonnie

 

[bvdr]

Bonnie, when I went to the ER my INR was 4.0 but I guess that doesn't mean I formed a clot at 4.0. I suppose it could have been formed earlier at a lower INR and just broke loose when the INR happened to be 4.0 but how would I ever know?

Anyway, I feel good and even spent part of the afternoon trying to build a snowman with my grandson. We had to give up because it was sticking more to our mittens than to itself. It was a beautiful snow however and the sun was out and the sky cloudless.

Shirley, I do take magnesium now and have for the last month or so. My potasium dropped a little low in the hospital but my magnesium was real good.