Recent content by a_dalhouse

Thanks Bina and Steve. Yes I do have lowish blood pressure - especially during the rapid HR episodes. My surgeon decreased my Metoprolol to only once a day a few weeks after surgery and then my cardiologist brought it back up to twice a day when she saw my HR. But your right, I wouldn't...

Thanks y'all! I am already on Metoprolol (before and after surgery). It's a low dose, 12.5 mg, twice daily. I'm wondering if I need to increase that. I had another scary bout about an hour ago, much like last week's. I came in from walking and about 20 minutes after stopping I got up from...

I'm 7 weeks out from a minithoracotomy mitral valve repair and have been experiencing a heart rate mostly in the 90's. At first I wasn't feeling the pounding/racing heart sensations that I had before surgery. But I lost a bit of blood and assume now that I'm building it back up I am able to...

So glad to find this thread! I'm 4 weeks out of mitral valve repair and all is well except for my heart rate in the 90"s. My cardiologist was surprised but not concerned. I'm really glad to read here that it's a normal thing. Thanks!! Andrea

Oh, and I guess I should also mention, most importantly, my surgeon is very happy with the way things went and he got an even better repair than he thought he would.

Hi Mike, I understand your reasoning, and the same thing gave be pause before I went ahead with my gut and did minimally invasive. I just had too much anxiety about having a sternotomy and also the quicker recovery time was too hard to resist, as I have elementary aged children. I just had my...

Thanks again everyone! So comforting to hear from my comrades out there! The doc and I agreed to take me off of lasix (only had it one day really) and just let the swelling go down on it's. I think we both were trying wean me off of so many drugs. And I was starting to move around pretty...

Well, that cranky doctor, came in this morning with a very different demeanor and spent some time explaining what was going on with me. It was just what I needed and now I feel much better. I just needed to know what was going on with my body.

While the nursing staff up here and the residents have been great, I am not so thrilled with the cranky doctor (not my surgeon) who's been checking on me daily. He doesn't seem to like questions and answers everything with just "you're fine, you're fine". It's hard for me to trust that and I...

I posted here a few months ago about how to find a surgeon for a minimally invasive mitral valve repair. I got a lot of help and really appreciate all of you. But since then I haven't posted much as I started the busy-ness of getting myself and my family prepared for this giant jump. And this...

Thanks iheart and big_L! Honestly this is how I'm kind of feeling. Like, for me, it is not worth the risk - I am a healthy, 45 year old woman. As my doctor said, it is highly unlikely that there would be any blockages and it doesn't seem worth the risk. The more I'm learning about my...

big_L, if you don't mind, I'd love to hear your reasons for not wanting the angiogram. Is it just that you feel it's pointless, given your health and family history?

Thanks for all the replies!! I posted that and then went away for the weekend so am just now catching up. I must say, now I'm feeling more worried about it - which is what I thought would happen. But it's good to get all of my concerns out and know that they are valid. I think now I will...

So I've picked my surgeon - Dr. Todd Rosengart, at St. Lukes, in Houston - to do my Mitral Valve Repair. We had scheduled it for June 18, but then while on vacation in early June I developed a staph infection from an ingrown hair (very ironic timing as I've never had that happen before!)!! So...

Yes ejc61. Here is what Dr. Ott said in his email: "My obligations to the patient are three 1) is to do the operation the safest way, 2) is to do it the way that allows us the best exposure in order to get the very best repair and, 3) is to do it the least painful way. All three of these...