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Congrats on making it through! I did a minimally invasive mitral valve repair just over 19 months ago. They shook me awake and asked me, "You want this tube out?". I couldn't even open my eyes and nodded my head yes (I couldn't even feel the tube at that point but I figured that was the answer...

Yes! I had two ocular migraines, a few years apart, in my life before my OHS in May of 2022. In the first month after my surgery I think I had like 10 or 12. Since then I'll have one only every few months. My surgeon's office just said it was common and is something that happens after OHS, but...

At least you have metric, but make them repeat your height back to you a couple of times!

I highly recommend bringing a sleep mask. I'm glad I brought one as the room I was in was right off the front desk and they always had a bunch of lights on 24/7, and so much of that went through the glass door and windows to my room and otherwise made going to, or staying, asleep difficult for...

I did minimally invasive right thoracic repair at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. I spoke to my surgeon about robotic surgery and he said if I wanted to do it then he'd refer me to his friend who does them at Yale, because it's the only place in New England that does it that way currently...

Oh yeah, that was my resting HR for sure. I checked with my finger on my neck and also my wrist, with my oximeter, through my blood pressure cuff, at cardiac rehab, at the surgeon's office, with my visiting nurse, etc. No idea why, but for three weeks I had the resting HR of a world class...

I wound up speaking to my cardiologist after my last post on this topic and she also said to cut my Metoprolol dose to 12.5mg. The reduction had no impact on my blood pressure but my heart rate actually went even lower, as in it dropped to the mid-40s while laying down and was around 50 or so...

Yes, I had minimally invasive mitral valve repair and my incision areas weren't all that painful at all. I only needed painkillers for the muscles in my back. Getting back to our experiences, you hear so much about people who got hooked on opioids after surgery that perhaps our brains initially...

Were you on oxycodone or some strong painkiller by chance? I don't drink or do drugs and when they gave me oxycodone the day after my surgery for my back pain (see my answer above in this thread). I got a bit sleepy and each time I closed my eyes for the next 90 minutes or so I was seeing...

Adding to the comedic element, this guy looks like Mr. Moneybags from Monopoly, right down to the bushy white 'stache. I only went to him three times over a course of two months before I bailed, but the laughter lives on. He's still practicing in Boston and is also a professor at a university...

Hi - We have a somewhat similar story. I'm a 47 year-old male and just had minimally invasive mitral valve repair surgery in Boston at Brigham and Women's Hospital. I first felt some palpitations even while resting when I was in college in the late 1990s and the doctor I spoke to was very...

To follow-up, I spoke to someone with MGH and I also saw my surgeon and a PA from his office (separately) last week. They attributed those little white comet-like things I saw to the pump. They couldn't explain why, just how, and they were unconcerned about them and said many patients report...

Yup, I've seen this trivia question before. The other two are Liberia and Myanmar! I suppose in some countries like Canada you can encounter it here and there, but generally it's just the three of us. I know this is getting really off topic now, but when I was in grad school I read a book about...

A different type of answer - While told to expect pain near the incisions and drain tubes after surgery, I wound up coming to with a terribly sore back due to a clerical error. When I woke up from surgery I felt the soles of my feet pushing against the rails at the end of my bed and my muscles...

Hi - I had a mitral valve repair done exactly one month ago and after surgery was given a daily prescription of 81mg baby aspirin and 25mg of metoprolol. My blood pressure was pretty consistent of either 110/70 or 120/70 and my pulse was generally 80 while seated, 85 standing and 90 when walking...

Thanks, I'll try and figure out their take on this.

Interesting! Do you test right after you finish your ride? Do you eat or drink anything before or after riding? I have cycled for over 20 years, and daily on my indoor bike for the two years leading up to my surgery last month. I hadn't really considered the impact on my blood sugar. I had my...

Sure, I'd appreciate that. I wouldn't have minded if my surgery was at MGH or Brigham and Women's. Glad I didn't do Beth Israel. I remember when I met the surgeon there I made a mental note of how bad the bathrooms were. Not a good first sign of choosing a location for surgery!

Just to follow up on all this, when I told my visiting nurse two days ago about my bright white floaters she nodded and said she knows about those occuring post-surgery and attributed them to changes in blood pressure. She said that because I'm on Metoprolol that my blood pressure is lower than...

Some days I think she's not much of a cardiologist either!