thanks!!
thanks!!
Hello my friends!
Thank you for remembering my little anniversary here, and for all your well wishes! John, thanks for your message on my machine, too. I got home very early this morning from Minnesota, and it was so nice to hear that someone had remembered! I couldn't have made it through this past year or two without all of you here. I really appreciate all your support and friendships.
How did I celebrate? I fell off a horse! Or, well, it was a mutual parting - he bucked me off and I sort of dived off at the same time. He got spooked by another horse, and started galloping, and things were getting out of control, and I figured I'd rather jump off while I had my wits about me than be bounced off and under him and get stepped on!! I tell you, that mid-west farm life is bad for my health!
But the real celebration was the next day, when I had my sternal wires removed. They were noticable, and I wasn't sure whether it was something to bother with or not, but I've been thinking about it for a while, and the doc noticed it before I even said anything, and seemed to think it was a good move, so I went for it. They also cleaned up some of my scar, so hopefully it will be nicer. It was an outpatient thing, twelve hours total, nothing in comparison to last year's surgery. Pain is fairly minimal, I'm just doing some Tylenol with a Tylenol/codeine at night. I have been getting a little emotional here and there, mainly when looking at my incision (6 cm long, over the top part of the old incision). I guess I was feeling all positive and healed, with the past year behind me, and now, it's sort of like a step back. I'm questioning myself a bit as to whether I should have had it done, but I know the question wouldn't have gone away. A nurse told me that wires sticking out like that (meaning I could feel them through my skin) are prone to infection, and a sternal infection is a big bad thing. I know in time I will feel better about my decision. Part of it is, duh, I was thinking they'd just numb me up a bit in the office and take a pair of pliers to them. I wasn't quite prepared to be retracing the same "surgery" path as last year.
Otherwise, my one-year checkup went pretty well. I had all the tests, including the treadmill and holter monitor. Things look pretty good. My mitral valve isn't all that it should be, but I'm not going to let that worry me. My response (antigens) to the SynerGraft valve has been very good at the one- and three-month points, and though I haven't seen this week's results yet, I suspect they are good as well. I should receive a copy of all my test results in a couple weeks, so I'm very curious to see how they compare with previous tests.
Anyway, that's the scoop. All in all it was a good visit...!! Thanks again for all your well wishes!! You guys are the best!
Jennie
