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Hi All, It's the 12 month anniversary tomorrow for my mechanical valve. I feel great, have adapted to warfarin with no bother whatsoever and my valve beats so quietly I rarely hear it. So all up it couldn't be better. I saw my surgeon last week and he has cut me loose - he doesn't want...

I'm going to London later in the year and was completing my travel insurance form over the weekend. When it came to questions about my heart - I thought do I still have aortic stenosis? I had a mechanical valve replacement last year and fingers crossed it should see me out (I do know this is...

Hi All, I'm having a colonoscopy in two weeks time. The guy performing this contacted me to say hold-off taking warfarin on the night before the procedure and recommence taking it the night of the procedure. This means I will miss one dose. I don't feel particularly concerned about this, but...

Hi All, I had AVR in May last year. My scar has healed very well apart from the last 4 cms which is raised and still quite red (the rest of the scar is skin coloured and barely noticeable). Has anybody else had this raised and red issue and can you recommend a product to assist with flattening...

Hi All, I had AVR in June last year and I feel great. Previously, hot weather would really knock me around. Melbourne is having a heat wave at the moment. Yesterday was 41 C, today it is currently 40 C, tomorrow is forecasted to be 42 C and Friday 44 C and despite these extreme conditions I...

Hi All, I have been home monitoring for about 6 weeks. Since this time my INR has been 2.4, 2.5, 2.8 and 2.5 and I have been taking 5 mgs of warfarin each day. Before this time I was lab testing and really struggled to get my levels to stay within range. (I think the lab was under prescribing...

Hi All, It was 12 weeks on Wednesday spsince my AVR, MAZE ablation and aortic root replacement. All has gone very well and I'm feeling pretty good. I returned to work last week (gradual return to work program), but it has been hard. I'm not as quick, cognitively sharp and alert and I'm...

Hi all, I seem to be having trouble maintaining my INR levels. Post surgery when I was not exercising much my levels were pretty consistently within range. However, since exercising much more my levels seem to be very low. The last four tests results have been 1.7, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.4, despite...

Hi All, Today is my last day of cardiac rehab and on Monday I return to work. I feel this ends my successful second AVR and I couldn't be happier with my new ATS valve. I am now almost back to energy levels I had 18 months pre-surgery. I'm starting to do heavier weights and have recommenced...

Hi All, My CoaguChek XS arrived on Friday (free of charge). It stayed in the box over the weekend as I didn't want to deal with it. Yesterday I grab the bull by the horn, opened the package and with the help of my partner set up the meter and got it going in about 15 minutes. There were a...

Hi all, I'm due to have my 6 monthly scrape and clean - the first since being on warfarin (commencing 10 weeks ago). I understand I don't need to change my warfarin dose/routine, but I should have an INR test to ensure the antibiotics have not thrown my levels out of wack. Is this so, and...

Hi All, I'm 8 weeks post surgery and all is going well. I'm 4 weeks into rehab and am due to go back to work on 12 August. Energy levels are improving, I'm walking 5-8 Klms each day and last week I got good feedback from my surgeon and cardiologist. My scar has healed nicely, but is quite...

It's 5 weeks tomorrow and all is going pretty well. I started cardiac rehab today and it was great. It was nice exercising my body and building up a sweat. My INR level seems to be staying within range and the tests are getting further apart. Walking is good - most days I'm averaging around...

Hi All, A quick question - how long after surgery is one required to wear stockings? I'm 4 weeks post surgery this Wednesday. Cheers. Phil.

Hi All, I'm new to warfarin and am wondering if there is an app people can recommend so I can electronically record my INR levels and warfarin doses. Any suggestions appreciated. Cheers. Phil.

Things are going pretty well. Scar is healing nicely. No real pain in the chest area, but collar bones are still sore. Appetite is good, sleeping ok at night, night sweats are going and I'm better regulating my temperature. Walking a fair bit, but I get extremely fatigued each afternoon and...

Hi All, Day 12 today and feeling pretty good. I have a furious appetite especially for protein, am sleeping ok'ish, pain very manageable - just sore in the morning - feel like a scrunched up piece of paper that needs to be unfolded, walking increasing distances each day and feeling emotionally...

Have been home 2 days. Pain very manageable, in fact, I can easily sleep on both the right and left side. The click (more thud) of my new valve is not too bad. I thought it would be significantly louder and more of a pain to integrate into my life. Emotionally I feel much stronger. I couldn't...

I'm here and it feels nice. Today is day 5. The surgery went for 7 hours as he had to also replace a lot of the aortic root and there was a tear in one of the leaflets. He was surprised it took so long and as result it feels much harder than the surgery I had 11 years ago. I suspect age has...

Hi All, Checked in, shaved, seen surgeon and others, etc - so all set to go (and still feeling pretty calm). I'm first cab off the rank in the morning which I'm pleased about. I'll post from the other side when all is done and dusted. Until then take care. Phil.