Brian Lind
New member
Hi, I'm new to this forum. I must say this is the best resource I have found. I have been searching for about 9-10 months for a decent place to discuss my condition. Of all the places I have looked this is the only one I have encountered similar people who have or soon will be going through the same things I have.
I am 27 years old (a month ago). My wife of 2 1/2 years is extremely supportive of my condition (although she jokes occasionally about "lemon-law"). We have a wonderful daughter who just turned one on the 13th.
I found out I had an aortic aneurysm and a tricuspid aortic valve in august of 2010. I was in the ER for completely unrelated abdominal pain which was never truly diagnosed, and just before I was discharged I passed out for 2 minutes. That's when they decided to keep me overnight and take a look at my heart. My aorta was just shy of the minimum size they do surgery on, and my surgeon told me it was up to me when I wanted to have the OHS, but I would definitely need it within the next year. So I spoke to my wife and we decided that the sooner the better because our daughter was not mobile yet and easy to take care of. So 2 months later I had surgery. Everything went well, I now have an artificial aortic root and a mechanical aortic valve. I also had a pacemaker put in a week later because I had some electrical blockage between the top and bottom of my heart. So now I am paced 99% on the bottom and between 3-5% on the top with about 9 years left on the battery so far.
My recovery went fairly well, I rested as much as I could stand to and resisted doing too much with my daughter for the first few months. I am on warfarin for the rest of my life. I also take Zoloft, omeprazole, simvastatin, colcrys, carvedilol and prednisone. About a month after surgery I started having some shortness of breath and chest pains and ended up in the hospital for several days. This is when they said it was probably Dressler's syndrome which was more common among younger individuals. Since then I have been back to the ER about 4-5 times for the same issue in varying degrees and pain levels. They send me home with nsaids or steroids which work for a while but eventually it keeps coming back. I just got out of the hospital after a 24 hour stay last week. This time I have a prednisone taper (again) along with colcrys and carvedilol. I had some fluid around my left lung and heart and decreased function in my heart. This treatment is definitely a step up from the treatments in the past and I hope it will do the trick for me. It mostly an annoyance more than anything else having to return to the hospital so many times. Its gotten to the point where I recognize at least 1-2 nurses or more each visit. I'm getting to know them a little too well.
All the doctors and nurses I have spoken to have all said they have seen a case where it lasted 2 years (which was very rare). I am already at 7 months and everyone is baffled about getting it to stop recurring. I'm not looking forward to encroaching on the record. Has anyone else had similar recurring complications that they just can't shake? Or are there any helpful suggestions that I can try to keep it from coming back again?
Thank you for your support!
I am 27 years old (a month ago). My wife of 2 1/2 years is extremely supportive of my condition (although she jokes occasionally about "lemon-law"). We have a wonderful daughter who just turned one on the 13th.
I found out I had an aortic aneurysm and a tricuspid aortic valve in august of 2010. I was in the ER for completely unrelated abdominal pain which was never truly diagnosed, and just before I was discharged I passed out for 2 minutes. That's when they decided to keep me overnight and take a look at my heart. My aorta was just shy of the minimum size they do surgery on, and my surgeon told me it was up to me when I wanted to have the OHS, but I would definitely need it within the next year. So I spoke to my wife and we decided that the sooner the better because our daughter was not mobile yet and easy to take care of. So 2 months later I had surgery. Everything went well, I now have an artificial aortic root and a mechanical aortic valve. I also had a pacemaker put in a week later because I had some electrical blockage between the top and bottom of my heart. So now I am paced 99% on the bottom and between 3-5% on the top with about 9 years left on the battery so far.
My recovery went fairly well, I rested as much as I could stand to and resisted doing too much with my daughter for the first few months. I am on warfarin for the rest of my life. I also take Zoloft, omeprazole, simvastatin, colcrys, carvedilol and prednisone. About a month after surgery I started having some shortness of breath and chest pains and ended up in the hospital for several days. This is when they said it was probably Dressler's syndrome which was more common among younger individuals. Since then I have been back to the ER about 4-5 times for the same issue in varying degrees and pain levels. They send me home with nsaids or steroids which work for a while but eventually it keeps coming back. I just got out of the hospital after a 24 hour stay last week. This time I have a prednisone taper (again) along with colcrys and carvedilol. I had some fluid around my left lung and heart and decreased function in my heart. This treatment is definitely a step up from the treatments in the past and I hope it will do the trick for me. It mostly an annoyance more than anything else having to return to the hospital so many times. Its gotten to the point where I recognize at least 1-2 nurses or more each visit. I'm getting to know them a little too well.
All the doctors and nurses I have spoken to have all said they have seen a case where it lasted 2 years (which was very rare). I am already at 7 months and everyone is baffled about getting it to stop recurring. I'm not looking forward to encroaching on the record. Has anyone else had similar recurring complications that they just can't shake? Or are there any helpful suggestions that I can try to keep it from coming back again?
Thank you for your support!
