Recent content by Rachel

When I had my surgery, I clearly remember being so very grateful that I was the patient and not the caregiver! I was more concerned about my husband than I was about myself, and he never said that he was concerned about me, but I just know that it has got to be tough waiting around not knowing...

I had heart palpitations almost every night beginning in January of 2011 – didn’t think much about it since my 42 year old brother had just been killed in a bike accident six months prior so I was grieving and I thought I was stressed. A couple weeks later I blacked out while driving my car...

For three days right after surgery, food didn't taste good.....but then..... I ate.....and ate..... and ate!!! For whatever reason it was super hard for me to gain weight after surgery and so eating was a ton of fun....I think the surgery took its toll on me and I needed all the food and sleep I...

Thinking of you Catie - all the best!!!

WOW - Just saw your video, thanks so much for posting that, I love it! You are so strong and such a beautiful person, I can tell you live your life to the fullest. I don't post here as often as I'd like, but I'm really glad I caught your post and I'm really happy you joined and got connected to...

Congrats on a great echo report!!!! ​ I go in every year for an echo and every other year for a MRI with contrast dye....and I'm super comfortable with that...then again I have a tissue valve and the doctor's visits keep me humble and grounded to my reality. Failure is less of an option with a...

I'm in menopause - I'm 51 and I've been dealing with all sorts of menopausal related symptoms from dry everything to mood swings to insomnia due to hot flashes for almost a full year now - but I will not take HRT - I have a tissue valve and am not on any anticoagulant therapies - I have just...

I will second this plan - GREAT plan - worked for me too!

Hi HopefulHeart – I know how scary this is - but it sounds like you're doing a great job being proactive. This was my experience I’m 5’4 and 117lbs My aortic aneurysm was 5.2cm with BAV First cardiologist I saw told me he wouldn’t recommend anything for me for the next...

I agree with both of you - I think that if your heart and arteries are healthy then you don't have heart disease. I don't have heart disease, I have a birth defect which required surgery to fix. So unless I start having symptoms of heart disease I'll continue to leave the heart disease boxes...

This is great! My first day home after surgery I woke up in the middle of the night and thought I heard a comet hitting the Earth…......I swore it was a comet…......and it was going to kill us all –HAHAHA!!! Then I thought – “oh great, I survived open heart...

Time to come out of the shadows….sounds like a good place for me to jump in – I’ve been a member here for several years but I don’t post much, however seeing that your situation seems to be similar to mine I’ll share my experiences – I found out about my bicuspid...

I get these - zig/zaging flashing lights, starting with a blind spot in the center of my vision, eventually dispersing out of my visual field after 20-30 minutes and no headache.....started in my early 30's - freaked me out the first couple times - thought I was going blind!!!! Mine were worse...

Congrats!!! That's great news!

Also thinking of you - I also had an aneurysm - mine was 5.2cm when detected - yup very scary. So glad you're having your surgery - I too hope all went well.