Recent content by Jim P

Ann, It looks like TS Fay might finally be moving out of our area, back on land and headed your way. I live in the eastern part of Orlando, and we came out of this relatively well -- only about 6 inches of rain and winds up to about 45 mph. But about 20 miles east of us, and to the coast, there...

Hi Debby, Ref your question about "whether cutting out worldwide travel was a direct consequence of your surgery and what was your reasoning? Or was it the back pain?" There were many factors involved in my decision to cut out leading so many international tours. 1. Leading these tours is a...

Hi everyone, It has now been 18 months since my AVR surgery. I started being active again at the 3-4 month point and have felt fully back-to-normal since about the 10-month point. Recently my life has been very busy, almost hectic. For that reason, I do not check in as often as I did earlier...

Superbob: I was having similar symptoms to yours -- a mild cough, almost choking when eating, and it seemed to be getting worse. I was worried that it was related to the aorta so went to my cardiologist. After an MRI showed that not to be a problem, he sent me to a gastroenterologist. She...

I am 16 months post-op and still taking one 25mg tablet of Metoprolol twice per day -- the same amount I was taking the first day I left the hospital. My cardiologist said that I should continue this dosage forever -- for some of the same reasons mentioned by others earlier ("prolongs the life...

Nick, All of your questions are good ones, and this is a good place to come to ask them. We can all give you our experiences; but, of course, everyone?s body is different and you may go a slightly different route down the path to recovery. I found the Web site ?Life After Open Heart Surgery...

Way to gto Lisa!! Congratulations on this great accomplishment -- keep up the good work. You will be an inspiration for many of us.

Dear Swim Mom, I am a resident of Orlando, and my cardiologist is Dr. Sandeep Bajaj, 483 N. Semoran Blvd, Winter Park, FL 32792 ? phone: 407-645-1847. I heartily recommend Dr. Bajaj to you. He is a very busy man, and I do not know how easy it is to get an appointment with him. In my case, I...

Per doctor's instructions, I was taking four 325mg tabs of Percocet per day when I came home from the hospital. I started weaning myself off the Percocet several weeks later (substituting Extra Strength Tylenol). At the 1-month point after surgery, I was off pain killers. The big problem I had...

Matt, Congratulations on successful surgery. Sorry to hear about the a-fib. Hopefully that will be a one-time occurrence for you. Stay strong.

Jkm7, Thank you for posting your story so quickly after surgery and I am glad to hear you are doing so well. It must be a fear of most of us who have had OHS that there will need to be a "redo" sometime in the future. It made me feel much better that you seemed to weather this second storm...

Re: Snow, Heavy Snow, Cold Freezing Snow, Shoveling, Slipping, Sliding. . . . Been there, done that. I'm glad you loyal northerners enjoy that stuff. It wouldn't bother me if I never see snow again. Of course, we had about 10 palm trees uprooted in our neighborhood by a wind storm last night.

Matt, Best wishes for successful surgery and uneventful recovery. Stay strong -- we're all rooting for you!

Happy Birthday Ross. Have a great day -- enjoy! We're hoping to see you next year at reunion in St. Louis.

This was my first reunion, and I want to say how much I enjoyed meeting all of you who attended. It was inspirational to see so many valvers looking and acting ?normal? -- but, especially, having so much fun together. I felt like I was among friends, even though I had never met any of you...