Just had my TAVR two days ago.

[dornole]

"I've really loved your company, and I'm feeling tired now."

After 2.5 hours I'm guessing she was ready to go too!

 

[Ladybug]

When people call to come over, I should say, “Yes, please come. I’m OK for brief visits.”

 

[Ladybug]

And don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for people that care.

 

[harrietW]

Harriet, I’m having chills off and on. No fever. Huge areas across my upper legs, that are eggplant purple. A quarter sized hard knot is at my femoral incision site. Not warm to touch. It’s ok.
I can put on make-up and decent clothes and nobody would know I’m 8 days out. If people come to visit, don’t put on make-up and decent clothes. A lady from church stayed 2.5 hrs, and I was as limp as a dishrag. To drop the hint that she was overstaying, I laid down on the sofa. I couldn’t help it. How do you convey to people that this miraculous procedure involves the HEART, and I/you are not shot from a cannon into a Wonder Woman outfit?

Ladybug
l hope you're chills are subsiding a bit. Don't over do it, it takes time to bounce back every time we do.
Ugh !!! Company that doesn't know when to leave. I suppose as hard as it is we have to just say l'm sorry l really need my rest. Easier said than done. I had a friend bringing me food when l got home which was nice of her but l asked her to please stop ever day .. I was throwing so much good out .. And sometimes you just want what you want or nothing at all and then it piled up. But she would come and just sit. I hated it. I don't like people seeing me sick listening to me moan.
Your right we cannot just put on a super hero suit. No matter how tough we are or people think we are .. Most times alone l wanted to just sit and cry for what I'd been threw. I hope your able to do the same.
Sending hugs Xx

 

[Agian]

My mother has a friend who sticks around all day long. I would feel like a trapped animal, if it happened to me. She's so dumb and has an annoying voice.

I suggest a couple of scripts, you can use as an exit strategy.

How about looking vague and saying you have an awful migraine and need to lie in the dark for a few hours. 'Sorry, can we catch up some other time.'

'I hope you don't mind if I can't keep you company today... I have been getting these terrible pains.'

'I've caught a virus. I don't wan't you to get it.'

'I didn't get any sleep last night and really need a nap.'

'Your friends have told me you're not fit to eat with pigs. But I disagree.'

 

[rich01]

..

How is your incision and the area under it healing?

My incision is almost healed, but the area underneath is hard and still hurts. I've been taking tylenol and benedryl before bed and putting an ice pack on it, otherwise I wouldn't get much sleep.

 

[Ladybug]

I’m not having enough discomfort to even need Tylenol regarding actual pain. I was eggplant black and blue over large areas of both femoral arteries. In the hospital on 9-20, some PA told me that I no longer have a murmur. I saw my regular cardiologist today and he said I still have a bit of a murmur which is normal after TAVR. They told me they would use a Sapien stroke prevention filter during the procedure. It’s the reason I didn’t go to the Cleveland Clinic. The interventional cardiologist said, “The path to your carotids was real curvy. We got very little calcium.” Well I’ll bet there was very little calcium because they aborted the d—-
filter mission! Confirmed on the OR report. And people wonder why I have post traumatic Emory disorder.
My husband was in my appointment today. The dr suggested I have cardiac rehab but it was to be totally my choice. After my husband chimed in his two cents worth (he has Aspergers...) about how his expert physical therapist sister says I need need it, I virtually had NO CHOICE. By the end of the appointment, I left the dr office wearing a BERKA! My legs are as weak as water. I just had to cancel my mountain plans. My blood pressure has been swinging around daily. Other than that, I’m depressed, fed up, and angry.

 

[harrietW]

Ladybug oh my !
Sorry your having a hard time. I think l understand better second go around that no one really understands the psychological effect heart procedures have on us. Not having a sapien screen if l read that right .. Must have an effect of just plain old feeling of Uneasiness. I'm sorry!
Others also always seem to think they know what's best for us and our recovery.
I say wait just a damn minute. !!!!
I am sorry you are feeling angry depressed & just plane old fed up. I can relate on all three accounts.
I am ready to see a shrink .. Aka psychologist for trama counselling. As l am still traumatized by the trama this go around

Hang in there Ladybug Xx ❤
Xx

 

[honeybunny]

Honey bunny, how is life treating you? I’m sending you flowers.

Ohhhh. How sweet! Thank you!

 

[ejc61]

On Thursday, 9-19-19, I had my TAVR procedure here in Atlanta at Emory St. Joseph’s. The best fit for my size was the Medtronic Evolute Pro. I was amazed when they wheeled me into an OR that looked like Star Wars. The set up must have cost Emory millions of dollars.
The bed in the OR was shaped like an ironing board. Once on that, they attached a “gutter” like trap tray to place my left arm. Just before we got started they used a Velcro soft padded wrist band to anchor that arm in place so I couldn’t flail around. Not as bad as childbirth where they treat you like something out of a scene from One Flew Over The Coo Coo Nest.
Now for the nitty gritty. My eyes crack open when I’m sleeping, so in recovery...and I am not exaggerating...I was in acute distress with bee sting feelings in my eyes. I put on a black eye mask. When they would peel that back I would nearly scream. I was so light sensitive that the florescent lights in the hall felt like looking at an atomic bomb explosion.
I can’t feel the device in my chest at all and I’m not one bit sore. My right groin area has a bruise that two days out is black as a grape and it’s the size of a dollar bill. That first night around 9 PM I got uncontrollable teeth chattering chills. I had 8 blankets placed on me from out of the warmer. Also, a long sleeve fleece bathrobe that zipped up to the top of my neck, and my Linus blanket from home. I shook almost like a seizure but it was just chills. I developed a 102.2 fever. By midnight I knew I would not be dismissed on the first day. They put me on “sepsis watch.” The chills got better around 4 AM. Fever dropped to 101. Later broke. That whole next day, people paraded in and out of my room wearing mask, etc. I had two EKG’s over the day. I had a nearly 2 hr long
echo cardiogram. Blood draws galore...and double sized vials of those. BP’d me to death. I never even got a nap. Around 5 PM, the dr came by. He has a radiant smile and needs to TEACH bedside manner 101 to the the heart transplant guy. The heart transplant guy need to learn how to fake empathy. Medicare required that a full blown heart surgeon be in the room for the entire procedure.
Just watching the echo screen post TAVR, a first grader could have recognized a perfect beating heart. The valve is perfectly sized and placed. My left ventricle is not under strain any long. It’s hour glass shape was the best shape for me because the horizontal pressure of my heart needed that hour glass volume to afix in that spot.
By yesterday afternoon I was chipper and walking three times more than they asked of me. My daughter was my walking partner but did now need to have my arm.
My potassium is low but that’s from all the water I drank plus the IV’s.
I’m hooked up to 5 wires stickered onto my chest to measure electrical rhythm.
I am not in one ounce of pain. The only painful thing I’ve had was the eye episode which calmed down after Refresh was administered several times. And the IV line with adhesive holding it in place, had some pain, and Tylenol knocked it right out.
I’m 95% sure I will go home today. The dr thinks my chills and fever was an anesthesia reaction. My flu swab is negative. I had a senior citizen high dose flu shot a month ago. I highly recommend that people going to the hospital germ-fest, get a flu shot two weeks prior to TAVR.
Dr says my heart is in pristine condition. And it feels like my creative lights are on and somebody is finally home. They let me listen to my heart beat. I almost had tears. It doesn’t sound like a slurpy machine any more. I laid here in the wee hours thinking about how much I have to be thankful for. How lucky we are to be needing heart help at a time where the care is incredibly advanced.
Here is a picture of my 41 yr old cardiologist that’s done 700 TAVRs.
Life’s best blessings to all of you on this journey.

OMG I go to the same cardiology group at Emory St. Joseph's. The cardio in your photo isn't my cardio but he did perform a TEE on me 6 years ago.