Let me be the first here

[Mike M. in Hous]

Well I get to be first at something anyway!
91/2 weeks post op and feeling good. may have over did it a bit today. helped a friend replace a broken window Well actually I replaced the window. Might have been a little to much reaching over my head. I sure felt it when I was done but didn't feel it while I was working. Good sign I think. Tonight feels pretty good. Oh yeh went to VA INR clinic Thursday ( only took 6 hours to get there, less than 20 miles) INR is back up. Going by what the surgeons told me it is just right . They wanted me at 2.0 to 3.0.The Nurse Practitioner in the INR clinic say though that I should be at 2.5to 3.5. I am at 2.25 now.
The foul up in raiseing my dosage last time was due to a typo In the computer it said that I had been on 4.0 per day instead of 6.0 per day so when she raised me only 1/2 mg per week she thought she was raiseing me 14.5 per week. But it worked out ok. I think going by where I am now 2.25 that I would have gone through the ceiling if she had really raised me 14.5.

 

[Christina]

Hi Mike..

You'll probably overdo it many times yet before the first anniversary. I did several times, and let me tell you it doesn't feel good. And like you said, you don't realize it while you are doing it. Same with me.
I am 9 months post-op and I still feel a bit of discomfort in and around the chest. I feel little jabs of pain here and there, but the echo said that everything is okay, so I have to go by that.
With a mechanical valve your INR should be between 2.5 - 3.5. I have a mechanical St. Jude, and am taking 18mg a day to keep it in that range. No clue why I need that much. I have taken as much as 20mg already. I have my own Protime machine and check my INR twice a week.

Weather gtting better in Houston? I hope so.

Christina:

 

[David Y in NI]

Yeah I overdid it too

Yeah I overdid it too

Hi Mike

Yeah I overdid things the day before yesterday, got the bicycle off the pegs on the garage wall for the first time in an age.

I thought I would go for a few gentle miles, you know the sort of thing !?

Well even though the Op was about 17 weeks ago, I really knew all about it when I made it back home, never realized those hills were so steep or so many, ( they never seemed that way in the car). Needless to say I went less distance than I had intended, a lot less.

I am just about over the feeling stupid stage and thinking about another WISER attempt.

So you are not alone, must be something we all have to experience eh!!

David

 

[Sam Scholz]

Boy your not kidding about over doing it, even at 1 1/2 years, I don't do the big hills bycicling (sp.) . I remember monitor wrestling was a big favorite of mine 3 weeks after surger, never could figure out why I was so sore.

 

[Kevin M]

I think sometimes we feel so good we forget that it takes quite a while to heal through and through.

I remember with my first surgery, I experienced the same thing. I would frustrate myself by getting choked because I would tire after mowing the lawn 3-4 months after surgery.

I don't know about all of you, but some days I would feel fantastic, only to get a little discouraged when reality kicks in and your body tells you to slow it down a bit.

I'm enjoying reading about post-surgery because I'm going in for my second AVR next week and am getting a little freaked out.

It gives me great comfort to read about this kind of stuff.
Kev

 

[Laura]

Overdoing

Overdoing

I agree with all of you. You feel good one day and try to take on the world and pay for it the next. I am 10 weeks post surgery and was back to work (part time) after 6 weeks. Am back full time now. I didn't think playing basketball with my daughter or making a new flower garden would hurt. Chest pain is very minimal for me at this point. More "achy" when I over do. Of course, my doctor said age is on my side (32).

 

[Christina]

Certain days I still feel so tired.

Certain days I still feel so tired.

I again had an off day today, and this after 9 months. You'd think I'd be much better after such a long time, but some days I still feel crappy. I was so tired today that I almost fell asleep behind the wheel of my car, and I still had to get gas on my way home, go to the postoffice, and stop at the bank. I was real glad to get home because by then I was running on empty.
I collapsed in bed and slept for a few hours. Woke up with a sick headache and I was simply unable to do anything for the rest of the afternoon.
My chest feels okay most of the time, but I do feel little jabs of pain at times. How long does it really take to feel completely normal, if ever?

 

[hensylee]

As to overdoing - when my surgeon told me I couldn't drive for about 4-6 wks, I asked why. His answer: you HAVE HAD MAJOR SURGERY! I just said "oh". Found out later what he meant - so, you have HAD MAJOR SURGERY, so take it easy, except when the urge strikes that you just have to move that furniture, pick up that heavy thing, etc!!

 

[Kevin M]

To: Christina

To: Christina

Based on my last AVR, I too had poor days long after the surgery. Don't forget that it is not only the body that is healing. Your whole being is dealing with this.

I remember wondering things like, "When will this scar fade? How come this wire feels like it's poking almost right out of my skin after a full year of healing? Will this tenderness ever go away, it's been a year? How did I ever do this much in one day before my surgery?".

Eventually, it all heals up and one day you'll wake and remember that you haven't felt these things for a long time. For me, I would say after the first year, I barely noticed these things anymore. Well, except when I went on my honeymoon and forgot to put sunscreen on anything except my scar.

I know it's frustrating. Sometimes we forget (perhaps intentionally) the trauma we've been through. It becomes a dull sort of dreamy thing. When that happens, we can get frustrated easily because we forget. Look at that as a good thing because it means you are almost through all of it.

Keep your chin up.
Kev

 

[Jeff Summers]

I had AVR on 6/7/00(St Judes), along with ascending Aortic anuerysm repair. I never had the popping, nor did I ever feel the wire. The best relief I had were the drain tubes being removed on day 3. Man, what a relief, and it did not hurt a bit. For the first 4 weeks post-op, I walked every morning between 2-3 miles, but I always had to take a nap each day. At the 5th week, it was if I turned a major corner-I didn't need the nap, and I was now power walking-never been a runner-about 3-4 miles. My wierdest feeling was when I would take in a big breath, or hold my breath, I could feel a thumping in my chest. My Surgeon told me that it was the repaired aorta bumping into the Dacron. It eventually subsided. I also had some funky rythym issues for the first 12 weeks, and took rythmol to keep that in check, but that is not an issue any more. Doing the coumadin thing 10/10/7.5 etc., and have been stable for 7 months, I also take a baby aspirin, and a Multi-vitamin, that DOES NOT have vitamin K.