This is first time I have logged on here since my wife had her heart cath. Actually her heart cath did go well that Friday afternoon, but it was that Friday evening she had chills. The next day she had chills, low grade fever. I took her to ER on Sunday as she still had fever and her face was swollen. She was admitted to CTICU. The surgeon came in to talk to me on Tuesday, August 30th and said he wanted to replace her heart valve tomorrow. He asked me what I thought. I said, "you're the expert and do you think she is well enough to endure that surgery". He said there will be no perfect window. So, she had her surgery on my birthday, Aug 31 and lasted about 5 1/2 hours. He said the mechanical valve was just sitting there not really attached. The surgery went well, but she is still recovering in the CTICU. She walked around the unit today which was the farthest she has walked since being out of surgery. She is still weak, but progressing very slowly. And she had to have a temporary pacemaker put in. They will be putting a permanent one in once the white blood cell count comes down.