Jen
Well-known member
Hi all,
So my one year valveversary came and went on June 7th(On-x Aortic valve). Things were going very well - I completed 2 sprint triathlons, one in April and then one June 2nd which was an open water swim! I rode my bike 3 times a week 20-30 miles each time, jogged, swam, lost 45 pounds over the last year, watched my INR levels, cholesteral levels always been around 135, bp always been around 114/70, no plauqe buildup, nothing, zip zilch... THEN... June 18th arrives and my riding partner and I head out for our routine normal lunch time ride, only this time it was not so routine... I spin nice and easy up a hill, and on the way down start to get this very uncomfortable feeling in my chest, by the time we get to the bottom, it feels like I drank a bottle of soda way to fast and had to burp, but multiplied 100 fold.. then my jaw started to hurt, my left arm got achey, I was getting light head and weak... I was having a heart attack, but I did not know it, I thought it is just the humidity...So I started to walk my bike back to work - did not get far before I had to stop. My friend called a co-worker who came out to get us, we took the bikes back to work, and she drove me to the urgent care, which thank God was only 1 mile the other direction from work. Within minutes I was in the back of an ambulance heading to Charlotte. Multiple tests and bouts of vomiting later I was admitted.. I had had a heart attack at the age of 39. I was admitted with an INR of 2.4, perfectly fine..June 20, we did a radial cath and that showed a VERY angry clot of 23mm length, 3 mm diameter in my median LAD, causing 95% blockage...My valve threw a clot... No other causes could be found. Received a bollus of some clot buster and a drip all night, June 21 we did another cath to try to remove the clot, no such luck, this thing was not going anywhere, I had the best interventional cardiologist in the area, and he pulled out all the stops but in the end had to use 3 stents to pin this thing to the wall. On the way out I started bleeding and had to go into emergency surgery and received a unit of blood during surgery and 1 two days later.
I thank God that that clot stayed in my heart and did not travel to my brain, although best case would have been to not have this happen at all....My husband and I knew there was a risk of this happening with a mechanical valve, regardless of what studies show, etc. etc.. this is still a foreign object in a human body. Now, don't get me wrong, I would make the same decision to go artificial again if I ever (god forbid) have to go thru this again.
I really just wanted to share, because right now, I am having a hard time going from training for triathlons to gasping for breath if I go up too many stairs at one time.. I know this is temporary.. but holy smokes!!
So my one year valveversary came and went on June 7th(On-x Aortic valve). Things were going very well - I completed 2 sprint triathlons, one in April and then one June 2nd which was an open water swim! I rode my bike 3 times a week 20-30 miles each time, jogged, swam, lost 45 pounds over the last year, watched my INR levels, cholesteral levels always been around 135, bp always been around 114/70, no plauqe buildup, nothing, zip zilch... THEN... June 18th arrives and my riding partner and I head out for our routine normal lunch time ride, only this time it was not so routine... I spin nice and easy up a hill, and on the way down start to get this very uncomfortable feeling in my chest, by the time we get to the bottom, it feels like I drank a bottle of soda way to fast and had to burp, but multiplied 100 fold.. then my jaw started to hurt, my left arm got achey, I was getting light head and weak... I was having a heart attack, but I did not know it, I thought it is just the humidity...So I started to walk my bike back to work - did not get far before I had to stop. My friend called a co-worker who came out to get us, we took the bikes back to work, and she drove me to the urgent care, which thank God was only 1 mile the other direction from work. Within minutes I was in the back of an ambulance heading to Charlotte. Multiple tests and bouts of vomiting later I was admitted.. I had had a heart attack at the age of 39. I was admitted with an INR of 2.4, perfectly fine..June 20, we did a radial cath and that showed a VERY angry clot of 23mm length, 3 mm diameter in my median LAD, causing 95% blockage...My valve threw a clot... No other causes could be found. Received a bollus of some clot buster and a drip all night, June 21 we did another cath to try to remove the clot, no such luck, this thing was not going anywhere, I had the best interventional cardiologist in the area, and he pulled out all the stops but in the end had to use 3 stents to pin this thing to the wall. On the way out I started bleeding and had to go into emergency surgery and received a unit of blood during surgery and 1 two days later.
I thank God that that clot stayed in my heart and did not travel to my brain, although best case would have been to not have this happen at all....My husband and I knew there was a risk of this happening with a mechanical valve, regardless of what studies show, etc. etc.. this is still a foreign object in a human body. Now, don't get me wrong, I would make the same decision to go artificial again if I ever (god forbid) have to go thru this again.
I really just wanted to share, because right now, I am having a hard time going from training for triathlons to gasping for breath if I go up too many stairs at one time.. I know this is temporary.. but holy smokes!!
