Recent content by TenPly

Hey Ovie – best wishes to you on your surgery tomorrow. I'll be praying that everything goes well for you!

While you wait for the date, spend time learning (about your specific surgery), talking to your parents about it (help them understand what you're going through), doing stuff that you love (you mentioned extreme sports before – maybe not that – just something that gets your mind off heart stuff...

That's awesome news! So glad to see your surgery was successful and you managed to make it home for Christmas – amazing story!

Cool man, yeah definitely stick around. I got so much encouragement/information here when I had my surgery in '05. I was 21 at the time. Really glad I didn't wait, and even more glad to have found this site. I don't post much anymore b/c of work, but I'll try to check in more often, as I know...

Ovie, to answer your question about deflating a lung, this is true. If you're going to be on cardiopulmonary bypass (the heart-lung machine) during your surgery, the surgeon will have to slow down your heart, bringing it to a complete stop. The lung becomes stationary as well. If you think about...

That's a new one for me. I've heard nothing about eyelash loss.

Ross said it best. Really, as long as you test when you're supposed to, keep a steady diet (no major changes in what you eat -- like don't go on a spinach and broccoli binge for a day :)) and stay up to date with your doctor, taking Coumadin is no sweat. If you're physically active, then of...

Bless your heart, buncle -- you are indeed a survivor!

Well, it sounds like you have a lot of people around ready to help, which is good. By the time you're released to go home, you should be well enough to care for your own basic needs. And of course, if you can have someone around to cook and take care of household business, so you can just focus...

I took it (25mg) after my surgery. It's not just a BP medication, it's also a beta-blocker, which basically just makes your heart relax so it doesn't beat so hard. From what I understand, it's supposed to improve the heart's pumping efficiency over time. Make sure you take it with food --...

Hey Matthew, welcome! As a fellow youngster with two mechanical valves, I can tell you the lifestyle change hasn't really had much of an effect at all. Aside from taking Coumadin daily, I still do 99.9% of what I did before my surgery. I'm pretty active -- I bike to and from school/work 5...

Not sure what "...with or without valve suspension" means, but an ascending aorta graft is basically an aortic prosthesis -- tubing that replaces a portion of the aorta, which is generally used for people who have aortic aneurysms. cardiopulmonary bypass is also referred to as a "heart-lung...

What's up Jordan -- to answer your question, you probably won't gain that much weight during recovery, because when your appetite does return, you'll probably be eating smaller-than-normal portions, and most people even lose their sweet tooth as well (I certainly did, but it came back eventually...

From what I understand, your family should be able to see you shortly after you're taken to the ICU. As for who can see you, that probably depends on the hospital. After my surgery at Loma Linda, only adults were allowed during the first 3 days or so. Whether or not you'll be awake is another...

In my opinion, the results of your echo are really quite normal. The terminology always sounds worse I know (Mild insufficiency, mild dilation -- it's natural to do a double-take on these words) but surely, if your heart health was in any life-threatening trouble, I'd imagine your doctors would...