When did you start feeling ok?

[Trinalovescats]

Again-

I wear the ring proudly and it helps with explaining to people what it looks like otherwise,I get looked at like i have two heads.

 

[Superman]

Oh and their reaction to me saying I can hear the ticking is priceless!

Not quite as good as when you're in a quiet room, and THEY can hear the ticking! I've had a few surprised reactions at that.

 

[Superman]

The green seaweed since I'm on Coumadin

I eat sushi whenever I want. Coumadin shouldn't be an issue. Just test regular, eat greens regular, and dose the diet. No worries.

 

[pellicle]

The green seaweed since I'm on Coumadin

green paint is green too and doesn't have any Vitamin K

its not green that's the issue its Vitamin K ... next its "how much" vitamin K ... Spinach is about the highest amount of Vitamin K per oz of food ... go grab a sheet of "nori" (that's what the green paper wrap is) and see how many sheets are required to equal 10 Oz

Thats a LLLLLOOOOOTTTTTT of sushi

get the idea?

PS: recently I was working with someone from here (Gym Guy) who wanted to actually reverse his INR to normal by natural methods. So as well as stopping his coumadine he also took 35Oz of spinach and juiced it and drank it ... just to get his INR to fall from 2.6 to 1.8

I want you to go and get 35Oz of fresh spinach on a plate and look at it ... when you see that you'll understand what I'm on about

 

[Superman]

green paint is green too and doesn't have any Vitamin K

its not green that's the issue its Vitamin K ... next its "how much" vitamin K ... Spinach is about the highest amount of Vitamin K per oz of food ... go grab a sheet of "nori" (that's what the green paper wrap is) and see how many sheets are required to equal 10 Oz

Thats a LLLLLOOOOOTTTTTT of sushi

get the idea?

"
Is that like the old 'Total' commercials? "How many bowls of your cereal to get the vitamins and nutrition in one bowl of Total?"

Or the old Saturday Night Live bit? "How many bowls of your cereal to get the fiber content in one bowl of Colon Blow?"

"How many sheets of "nori" does it take to get the Vitamin K content of one serving of Spinach?"

Just to add - I can't believe after all these years, there are people in the medical profession still buying into this garbage. Feel bad for Trina giving up something she loves when she didn't have to.

Trina,

If you are taking 5 mg Coumadin daily, and are fairly consistent in consuming foods with vitamin K in them, your current dose is keeping you in range along with your current diet. If you completely eliminate vitamin K from your system, and a dose of 4 mg daily keeps you in range, then throwing in a big spinach salad might drop you out of therapeutic range. That's because of the dramatic change in diet, not because vitamin K is bad. That's what is generally meant by dosing the diet. Be consistent. Test regularly. Eat.

 

[pellicle]

"How many sheets of "nori" does it take to get the Vitamin K content of one serving of Spinach?"

I'm of the view more than a lifetimes consumption of Nori (the green paper in sushi)

http://www.ptinr.com/en/home/warfari...-warfarin.html

suggests that there is one micro gram (yep one) in 10 sheets of Nori

So what does that mean?
From:
European Society of Cardiology
Guidelines on the management of valvular heart disease (version 2012)

Writes:
It is possible to stop oral anticoagulation and to allow the INR to fall gradually or to give oral vitamin K in increments of 1
or 2 mg. If the INR is .10, higher doses of oral vitamin K (5 mg) should be considered.

Now, remember that there is one thousand micro grams in a milligram (mg) ... so if there is one microgram of K in 10 sheets you'll need to eat something like 10,000 sheets of nori to make an impact on your INR

happy munching

 

[Mellyouttaphase]

I am not on anti-coag so am continuing my diet full of leafy greens. My carnivorous boss has always paid out on the way I eat and said something about my salads being all but indigestible so I casually mentioned that I am kind of a cow now so... speaking of which, I have had no issues consuming beef. I thought I would turn my nose up at it!

Back on topic, emotionally I thought I felt okay a while back but when I had INSANE PMS (we're talking full throttle rage) followed by an incident wherein I became wildly belligerent after a few too many drinks I realised I still was totally not. My outward anxiety had eased but there was still something rumbling under the surface. In the last few weeks there has been a dynamic shift that feels like a weight was lifted - every day I am naturally in a fantastic mood again finally and finding it generally easier to get out of bed again. This recent month I did not fly off the handle about creaking doors or of scream at any inanimate objects during "that time" and I went out in the city last weekend and just had a wicked time dancing and enjoying my friends' company rather than throwing things and picking fights with those closest to me. Weird gauges perhaps and I am laying myself on the line owning up to some seriously poor behaviour but these have been obvious indicators for me.

 

[FredW]

To answer your question: 'When did I start feeling OK?", one must define "OK" first.

If you mean "OK, I'm not doing to die soon." I felt OK when I woke from the surgery.

f you mean "OK", I'm feel stronger than I did before surgery: "I would say about 3 to 5 weeks."

If you mean "OK, I have a number of years more to live and I better make the best of it.", I'm still trying to figure that out.

I got physically better every day. I'm now almost three months post op and know I can't lift too much without my sternum hurting the next day. I can't center 10 pounds of clay on the potters wheel without hurting the next day. But, I don't get winded walking up the hill in my back yard or going to the mail box. I can almost sleep in any position I want, (sleeping on my left side hurts my chest still - I think where they took the artery to do the bypass with). I still hear and feel my valve opening and closing at nights when I'm trying to go to sleep - and I have a tissue valve! But time will fix all of these.

I try to forget that I was at significant risk and am dealing with a physical issue, until I have to take my meds, go to cardiac rehab, look in the mirror without a shirt on, or sign on to this forum to see how my friends are doing. I want to a live normal life, but realize that is not possible for me anymore.

I frequently remind myself that I may have only 12 +/- more years to live with my tissue valve, but even without OHS, I should have realized that. So physically, I'm getting to OK and will be there someday.

Emotionally, it is still a work in progress.

 

[Agian]

Fred, why do you feel you can't live a 'normal' life?
I'm also confused when you say you only have 12 more years to live.... If and when your valve deteriorates, you can have a replacement or a TAVI. Please reassure me you didn't believe a failing AVR was a death sentence.

Chin up.

 

[epstns]

Fred. . . LISTEN TO ME! I probably was more messed up before, during and after surgery than you were. I think I'm older, too. But life for me. . . LOOK OUT! I have enough medical issues to write a best-selling tear-jerker book, but I won't waste the time doing that. I'm too busy living life, or as another friend on another medical board said, "Wringing the very life out of each and every day I'm given."

When it comes to heart valve patients after surgery, there is nothing wrong until there is something wrong. You won't break, so go out and just live your life. Yes, I look a little bit funnier with my shirt off (I just got a new pacemaker, and it is even larger than the old one), but who cares? If anyone at the gym locker room looks at me funny, I just growl at them and tell them "You don't want to **** with the old guy."

I understand where you're at right now. I, too, was a mess after surgery for a valve, bypass and pacemaker. You know what? It took a while, but I got to the place where I am now -- where my life is NORMAL. True, normal may be just a tad bit different, but really not much difference at all. I still do everything I want to do. Once I got past the healing and rehab, I never looked back. I'm stronger now and in better shape than I was before surgery, and I wasn't bad even then. Life is good. Stick with it, and you will get there.

Time has a way of smoothing over the problems. As long as none of them become chronic, you will re-define a new normal for yourself. Then a couple of years later you will realize that the new normal really isn't much different than the old. It is yours for the taking. Grab that brass ring!

P.S. OK - I just looked. You're a couple of years older than I but I still think I was more messed up before, during and after surgery. ;-)

 

[Mellyouttaphase]

I am having a moment.
I am about to start my bar shift at my second job after working all day at my first job. I am in an excellent mood and literally bouncing around. No, actually I am bouncing around. I went for a run last night. You could say I am feeling pretty great. More than okay. I actually am completely confounded by the idea that I had heart surgery twice in eight day only 14-15 weeks ago!

 

[pellicle]

I am having a moment.
...I am in an excellent mood and literally bouncing around. No, actually I am bouncing around.

Apply for a job with the wiggles

 

[Mellyouttaphase]

Apply for a job with the wiggles

I would make an awesome Wiggle! I can't sing or dance (even though I do those things anyway) but have the right type of energy in spades.