Successful surgery, various complications

[AnnaK]

Good to see you made it through Catie, hope you zip through recovery now! I just wanted to weigh in with my experience with metatoprol... I had been on the generic all summer, really struggling with fatigue & dizziness. I switched to the brand name- Toprolxl- a few weeks ago & the difference is like day & night, feel quite wonderful, no side effects at all. Best wishes going forward

 

[LondonAndy]

Just to agree with Steve on the Pacemaker point - they are a piece of cake if needed. My reason for getting one was different - I have complete heart block because of surgical complication, or in other words my heart doesn't beat on its own at all because they damaged the natural electrics of the heart during surgery. Even the warnings about not going through airport scanners seem unnecessary - I told security staff the first couple of times, and went around for a manual pat-down etc, but not bothered since then.

Having said that, I think I am right in saying that pacemakers generally act as a 'safety net', ensuring that your heart beats as much as it should, but don't help with slowing a heartbeat down (like tachycardia) unless they deliberately cut the heart's electrics (the AV node) so that the pacemaker takes full control. I would look into this more if this applies to you.

 

[jwinter]

Catie, I am newly registered here but have been here a lot since having my first AVR four and a half years ago. I have been following your journey and was glad to see you got home. I wish you the best and all I have to add is that I suffered with fatique from one medication and when they changed to another it was like a miracle difference in the way I felt.
This group has soo much to offer and look forward to your updates. Take good good care of you

 

[FredW]

Just got caught up on your posts. I'm very happy you are on the recovery side of this. My best goes out to you. You sound like a fighter and a strong, determine person. With those traits, it will get better each day.

 

[Catie]

Thank you all for your insights and kind words. They are much appreciated.

There has been much doctoring. At GP office both Fri (returning to local care) and Saturday (chest tube site appeared infected, but was granulation tissue that began oozing). Today I spent another day in ER because I had many palpitations the previous two nights, that lasted hours. At least today it wasn't afib, but they sent me home with a Holter monitor for 24 hours. They also did an ultrasound on the arm that has cellulitis from a badly placed hospital IV. That checked out ok. My cardiologist's office is working me in on Thursday, which is the same day my dose of Amiodarone is to reduce from 400 mg to 200. A bit nervous about changing anything, but I realize it's a drug that needs tapering.