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I spent hours and hours on this site in 2013 prior to and immediately after my aortic valve replacement (mechanical). Hadn't been on the site in years. My neighbors son is needing AV replacement, so I thought about this site. Anyway, life's good. I feel great. Anticoagulation is just...

I found Kate Rheaume-Bleue's book on Vitamin K2 and Calcium to be quite good. This has been discussed in other threads, so I won't rehash here. I decided to start taking it. I am on Warfarin due to my mechanical valve. See the image. This is my INR, both from the Coaguchek and from the...

I haven't been on the board for awhile. We moved back to Texas recently and I started a new job. Today's my one year anniversary. I feel great! I may go an entire week without even thinking about the surgery or the valve. Yes, the warfarin management is a minor annoyance, but it's not too bad...

I was released yesterday for return to work Monday. I was hoping to manage my work load and ease back into it. I get a call today from my boss, my co-worker (dept. supervisor) has a new job (internal) and I'll be covering both jobs (I'm technical) practically from the first day back. I told...

My wife has a nice embroidery machine. I want to embroider a nice shirt with text "My scar is cooler than your tattoo" (Thanks - Superbob!). I want the text surrounding some sort of logo. So, I'm trying to find some sort of logo/image to use. I found these two on one of the pay sites...

I walked out of Mayo with a Rx for simvastatin (10 mg daily). Their (limited) explanation was that "there's some evidence that it will protect your new valve". I absolutely hate taking meds if I'm not absolutely sure I need them. I can find a lot of information on the Internet re- tissue...

I stumbled across this looking for more information on lifting restrictions post-surgery. Found it interesting and I thought others might also. I'm a scientist and I found the 'vagueness' of my restriction to be unsettling (No more than 5 lbs for 6 weeks). Wow - then is 50 lbs OK at six weeks...

I'm starting to see some preliminary bills and I have my entire medical record from Mayo. We're starting to work through these. I was told, pre-surgery, that I would not be transfused - other than with my own blood, [edit - ie - capturing and recycling during surgery, not autologous...

No one told me when to stop. I'm 2.5 weeks out and routinely pulling 2125 or 2500 ml on the spirometer with no pain at all. How long were you told to keep doing it?

I'm getting very frustrated with this. I must tell you that my wife is a Med Tech with years of experience, so we should be able to handle this. I'm using maybe 3 strips each time to get a single reading. This is getting expensive. It's the Error 5 each time. I hold my hand under warm...

My surgeon wrote a 6 week work release for me with instructions to work with my local cardio if I needed it extended. I met with my cardio today and he didn't seem to be very interested in this. All I could get out of him was a "we'll see if there's a medical reason to extend it". I just...

Well it's been nine days and overall I feel surprisingly well. I'm sleeping as well as before surgery and even managed to stay in the bed all night last night. My appetite is great, it returned day 2-3 after surgery. My stamina isn't that great, but I'm working on it. Tylenol only for pain...

Surgery day Preop preparation went fairly well, although the chin to knee shaving surprised me. It was very thorough. I woke up in ICU, breathing tube in place. They won't take it out until they're sure you can breathe on your own. Thankfully, I have absolutely no memory of this or the tube...

A few final items, puppy to the kennel and we're on the road. We should be in Rochester by 3 pm. A few final tests tomorrow, cath CD to the surgeon, final consult. Then report at 5:45 Friday am for admission. I can't say I'm truly ready, I suppose, but I'm as ready as I'll ever be. The...

I just received my copy of my cath/angiogram. Very pleased with all the "free of any disease" statements:). The text 'prominent aortic root' concerns me. My last two echos showed aortic root of 3.5 and 3.3 cm. The Mayo cardio mentioned the aortic root, first time anyone had. I really want...

Good news, my echo on Wednesday looked great. The cardio told my wife, we don't see many like this. Clean as a whistle! Thank goodness all the bypass worries are put to rest now. Surgery is one week from today.

My dear wife purchased this book for me (I'm 10 days pre-surgery). I've ordered the CD and expect it later this week. In the meantime, I Google this up. (scroll down for the files) I've been listening to the 'before surgery....mp3' file for a day or so. Wow, maybe it's all in my head (ha...

I guess I must have filled out a form on the Internet awhile back and forgot about it. Anyway, the Roche rep called me about the Coaguchek and I received my packet in the mail yesterday. Looks good, except they won't do anything until you're on warfarin for three months. Wow, I want to start...

Big surprise with the surgeon's nurse today. The surgeon told us that self-testing was great and he was all in favor of it. Not that I wasn't going to do it, even if I need to buy it all out of my own pocket. The nurse tells me today that I'm the first patient that ever asked about it. She...

Monday August 12th in Aurora, IL with Dr. Bonilla. He's adamant on the pre-surgery cath and won't allow the CTA. The radial cath, cross-match, and carotid artery echo is scheduled for next Tuesday, again in Aurora. So it's two trips to Chicago less than a week apart, ugh. It's only 100...