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  1. marc_kowal

    12 years and counting

    12 years ago I had my AVR surgery and aside from a few little bumps here and there, life has been great! if it wasn’t for that surgery, I wouldn’t be here watching my boys growing up or celebrating my 22nd wedding anniversary with my wife, who is my rock. Hope everyone is doing well, I’m...
  2. marc_kowal

    AVR need to do my 1st Colonoscopy, freaking out.

    Hi Farid, I wouldn’t be too worried about bridging. A couple of years after I had my mechanical valve surgery, my doctor wanted me to have colonoscopy done after I had about a diverticulitis, to make sure nothing else was going on. I was 46 at the time. I was apprehensive myself about going...
  3. marc_kowal

    Lovenox for bridging with a Mechanical Valve

    Greetings all, Next month I need to have an outpatient procedure done and when my Gastro received the cardiac clearance from my cardiologist, the instructions were to stop my warfarin 3 days prior to the procedure, no bridging mentioned. I sent my cardio a message asking about that and that...
  4. marc_kowal

    10 years!

    I had an Aortic Valve Replacement/Bentall procedure. I have a nice mechanical valve now that should outlast me!
  5. marc_kowal

    10 years!

    Guess I need to update my profile 😊, we relocated to NC about 5 years ago. We were living in Hatfield, which is close to Doylestown. But no matter where I live, I’ll always be a Jersey boy at heart!
  6. marc_kowal

    10 years!

    It’s been a while since I’ve been on the boards, but I figured I would post since this past Saturday was my 10 year anniversary. I can happily say that there have been more ups than downs since my surgery. I guess Joe Walsh sang it best, “Life‘s been good to me so far!”
  7. marc_kowal

    Schatzki ring treatment

    I was wondering if anyone ever had Schatzki Ring treatment while on warfarin and if they had any issues with their procedure. Schatzki Ring is basically a narrowing of the esophagus before the stomach. This sometimes causes food to become “stuck “until it passes it through this narrow section...
  8. marc_kowal

    anyone on warfarin (coumadine) who uses a fitbit or other activity tracker

    I have an Apple Watch, and I can share some info with you as well. Question- since everyone’s metabolic rate is unique to themself, how are you going to make the correlation between activity and INR if there’s always a varying factor between each person? Just a thought.
  9. marc_kowal

    Small magnets and mechanical valves

    Thanks for the info Pellicle!
  10. marc_kowal

    Small magnets and mechanical valves

    Hi Everyone! With my new job, I have a name tag that I wear when meeting new clients or hosting open houses. Instead of a clip-on or pin type name tag, this one is a two piece (one part is the magnet and the other is the name tag). It doesn't seem like the company offers any non-magnet name...
  11. marc_kowal

    a Golden Anniversary

    Happy 50th Dick and heres to another 50!!!
  12. marc_kowal

    I'm baaack!

    Hey guys and gals! Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive and ticking. Things have been pretty busy since we relocated to North Carolina this past spring! The weather is sooo much better than the North East. My wife and kids also love it down here, it was definitely a good choice...
  13. marc_kowal

    5 years

    5 years ago today I became cyborg. Looking forward to many, many more years to come.
  14. marc_kowal

    Giving myself my first Lovenox injection.

    Glad the results came back ok MrsBray!
  15. marc_kowal

    Mechanical valvers, what's your INR vs. Warfarin dose?

    45 year old somewhat active male. 2.5 - 3.5 is my target INR 4.5 mgs every day except 6 mgs Tues and Thurs Eat about 90 mgs of Vitamin K foods daily. Self test once a week
  16. marc_kowal

    Tissue valve or Mechanical Valve for your adults

    Seriously, way off topic here for this post gents. Please take it to PM or another Forum. And before you bash me, I also voted for the lesser of the two schmucks.
  17. marc_kowal

    Time between meeting surgeon and surgery

    I was told it was time at my check-up in November of 2011. Since my doctor was ok with it, I held off surgery until after my son's birthday in Feb and had my surgery on March 5, 2012. Main reason I waited was that I in case I didn't make it through surgery, I didn't want his birthday to be a...
  18. marc_kowal

    Life Insurance disclosure?

    When I had my life insurance quoted, I was still pre-surgery and my rates were pretty high since I was in a higher risk tier; but after my surgery, my rates went down (even though I was now on Warfarin). The reason it went down was because I already had my surgery, I was less of a risk to...
  19. marc_kowal

    Surgery tomorrow :0

    Best of luck to you Shane (that's my youngest sons name btw)! See you on the other side!
  20. marc_kowal

    Blood clot in spleen, now leg pain!

    Anne, I wish you and your son the best. As a parent, I can't even begin to imagine how hard this has to be on you. I hope his rehab goes well and makes a full recovery.
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