Recent content by HiMyNameIsDale

Congrats GymGuy! You have 4 years under your belt and you are still going strong. You are an inspiration to me since you are still exercising at a high level. I , on the other hand, am still a little afraid of doing heavy lifts. Keep on living the good life.

I made a post a while back about the relationship between atherosclerosis and warfarin users and most of the replies didn't think there was a correlation between warfarin use and atherosclerosis rates. This book seems interesting to me, so I will check it out. I am worried that the k2 will not...

Hello Anne. I hade my valve surgery back in 2012 And I was 23. The surgeon wanted to repair my bicuspid aortic valve and I wanted a mechanical valve. I let the surgeon try to repair it because he felt confident that it would work. It failed a couple of days after the surgery and they put in a...

Yeah, I guess I was just worried because I have to take warfarin for a long time if I live to a ripe old age. Thanks for all of the input everyone. This site really helps put things into perspective and put me at ease with some of my fears. It is comforting seeing people that have been living...

I have been living my life for more than two years past my surgery to replace my aortic valve with a mechanical valve. It was a little bumpy at first, but everything seems to be going well apart from daily bouts of palpitations (I am accepting them as the norm). The thing I am a little worried...

Hello Everyone, I know that the general consensus on this forum and with doctors is that you should only have 2-3 alcoholic beverages in a day while taking warfarin. I am fine with that considering that I don't drink much or often. But, is there any restrictions on the time that you drink the...

Hey Greg, Would you mind telling me some of the signs and symptoms that you had as your infection progressed? I have had no fever or aches. I don't have any shortness of breath. I didn't have any symptoms at all other than the drainage from my chest tube hole. The drainage has stopped. I will...

The infection seems to be clearing up now that I am taking bactrim. There is no yellow pus draining from my chest tube hole anymore. My doctor and I have decided to reduce my coumadin dose to help with the increase caused by the antibiotics. That tactic seems to be working because my INR...

My chest tube hole was found to be infected with MRSA. They prescribed Bactrim DS for me. I hope that I can get rid of it before it becomes a problem since I do not have a fever or any other signs of infection. I hope the bactrim DS gets rid of the infection too.

I went to the doctor and she took a swab of the drainage to see if it is an infection. I won't know the answer until Monday, but she prescribed antibiotics anyway. I am taking the antibiotics now. I called a nurse practitioner at Cleveland clinic and she said that it wasn't common for a chest...

My heart rate stays between 50 and 70 depending on what I am doing. Not including exercise though. I am currently on beta blockers (50mg). I just feel my heart beating against my sternum and I can actually hear it hitting my sternum if I inhale deeply. My wife could hear i too when I showed it...

It feels like my heart is beating or pounding against my sternum whenever I take a deep breath in. My heart does not feel like that when I breath normally. Only when I take deep breaths. Is this a normal experience? Has anyone else experienced this? Does this kind of thing go away over time? It...

When the doctor was going to remove the stitches the hole was healed up pretty good, but when she attempted to remove the stitches she felt the need to remove the clotting and open it back up to remove the stitches. It sucks because without the stitches or the clots holding it together it is...

Is it possible to take a low dose vitamin K supplement everyday to create stability and then not take the pill on days that I eat vitamin K in my diet? The reason I am asking is because I am a vegetarian, but I don't eat vitamin K every single day. I usually eat it a couple of times a week. I...

Hey everyone, A couple of weeks ago I visited my primary care physician to get the stitches removed from my chest tube hole. At the time my chest tube hole was all clotted up and healing nicely, but the doctor had to remove all of the clotting to get the stitches out. So now I have had a gaping...