JimL
Well-known member
Two years ago this morning I was taken into surgery with my congenitally bicuspid aortic valve nearly calcified shut. After that was scraped out and thrown away, the mitral valve was repaired with a ring, a St. Jude?s was installed in the aortic position, and the aorta got a Dacron wrap.
One year and a day later I started a second job, which lasted for nine months. Up to that point, I had had many evidences of steady improvement. Now at the two year mark, those various evidences have blurred together. I take the stairs whenever I can instead of the elevator, since the stairs are so easy and much faster. Most people walk incredibly slowly.... I shaved a couple of minutes off my time on the annual four-mile walk in support of the cardiac rehab I went to.
I?d like to comment on what, for lack of a better term, could be called the REJUVENATION FACTOR of valve replacement. This is not true of everyone, but I see elements of it in a large percentage of our membership.
Many have commented on how they were just feeling old before surgery. Is this was 40 feels like? 45? 50? It isn?t, but many of us were deceived (by ourselves?) into thinking it was, as the symptoms of serious problems got explained away. For me, it got to the point where I would have to sit down and rest after walking halfway across the room -- in fact, I had to stay sitting and try to get back my breath because I thought about walking across the room.
About four months after surgery, I had reason to go back to one of the hospitals I had stayed in and saw again one of my favorite nurses. I called her Susie Sunshine when I was hospitalized, because she brightened the whole room when she walked in. She didn?t remember me as a patient, but she shared the fact that she was celebrating her 37th birthday. I thought to myself that I felt like I was 37, even though I had a few more weeks before my 47th birthday.
I think that this REJUVENATION FACTOR should be kept in mind by those approaching valve replacement surgery. Rejuvenation means to be young again. It is a positive factor and a negative factor. It is definitely positive to be able to breathe easily, effortlessly. It is definitely a positive factor to be able to walk and walk rapidly without much increase in the breathing rate. It is definitely a positive factor not to feel old any longer. This is what 48 is supposed to feel like.
But there is also a negative factor in this rejuvenation business, and that is that a person can feel too young. Is it really a bad thing if I don?t act my age? One song says, ?I?m eighteen and I don?t know what I want? -- maybe that?s pumpheadedness? ?Eighteen, I get confused everyday, Eighteen, I just don?t know what to say.? This was certainly illustrated at the Chicago reunion, a gathering of a great bunch of YOUNG people. ?I?m eighteen and I like it!? Shirley and I met many wonderful people in Chicago, and more than once we commented how young they look and act, even those a year or two older than us.
Alright, I?m not eighteen, and I don?t feel eighteen, and I don?t think I want to be eighteen again. My eyesight is getting worse, my hearing is becoming more selective, my memory is all full of holes (I can?t even remember a poker game). But I do feel a whole lot younger than I did two years ago. And I have met a wonderful group of friends, many of whom also feel much younger.
One year and a day later I started a second job, which lasted for nine months. Up to that point, I had had many evidences of steady improvement. Now at the two year mark, those various evidences have blurred together. I take the stairs whenever I can instead of the elevator, since the stairs are so easy and much faster. Most people walk incredibly slowly.... I shaved a couple of minutes off my time on the annual four-mile walk in support of the cardiac rehab I went to.
I?d like to comment on what, for lack of a better term, could be called the REJUVENATION FACTOR of valve replacement. This is not true of everyone, but I see elements of it in a large percentage of our membership.
Many have commented on how they were just feeling old before surgery. Is this was 40 feels like? 45? 50? It isn?t, but many of us were deceived (by ourselves?) into thinking it was, as the symptoms of serious problems got explained away. For me, it got to the point where I would have to sit down and rest after walking halfway across the room -- in fact, I had to stay sitting and try to get back my breath because I thought about walking across the room.
About four months after surgery, I had reason to go back to one of the hospitals I had stayed in and saw again one of my favorite nurses. I called her Susie Sunshine when I was hospitalized, because she brightened the whole room when she walked in. She didn?t remember me as a patient, but she shared the fact that she was celebrating her 37th birthday. I thought to myself that I felt like I was 37, even though I had a few more weeks before my 47th birthday.
I think that this REJUVENATION FACTOR should be kept in mind by those approaching valve replacement surgery. Rejuvenation means to be young again. It is a positive factor and a negative factor. It is definitely positive to be able to breathe easily, effortlessly. It is definitely a positive factor to be able to walk and walk rapidly without much increase in the breathing rate. It is definitely a positive factor not to feel old any longer. This is what 48 is supposed to feel like.
But there is also a negative factor in this rejuvenation business, and that is that a person can feel too young. Is it really a bad thing if I don?t act my age? One song says, ?I?m eighteen and I don?t know what I want? -- maybe that?s pumpheadedness? ?Eighteen, I get confused everyday, Eighteen, I just don?t know what to say.? This was certainly illustrated at the Chicago reunion, a gathering of a great bunch of YOUNG people. ?I?m eighteen and I like it!? Shirley and I met many wonderful people in Chicago, and more than once we commented how young they look and act, even those a year or two older than us.
Alright, I?m not eighteen, and I don?t feel eighteen, and I don?t think I want to be eighteen again. My eyesight is getting worse, my hearing is becoming more selective, my memory is all full of holes (I can?t even remember a poker game). But I do feel a whole lot younger than I did two years ago. And I have met a wonderful group of friends, many of whom also feel much younger.
