Search results

I am about to celebrate my 7 year anniversary of a double valve replacement , mitral and aortic, and lately have begun to have an erratic heart beat. I am not feeling any adverse symtoms from this and it was actually detected first by my NP on a visit to my primary doctors office. I feel I...

And she was a really nice one too....too bad she would not show her face....

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year that is just around the corner. May all your problems seem smaller than they are and the solutions easier than you expected!

What a great Thanksgiving! One year ago on November 15th, had the biggie..both valves replaced with a mechanical valve and a hole in the heart repaired. We arrived home from the hospital 2 days before Thanksgiving. We have taken three vacations this year and life is back to normal. What more...

We haven't posted anything in quite a while...just have popped in and out to read a bit. Just wanted to add maybe a note of encouragement to anyone facing surgery that recovery is possible for even those who are not so young any more. Noel is feeling wonderful, doing all the things he once...

This has been a VERY long day! Just got home a bit ago. Arrived at UAB at 6:10 AM and Noel was not taken back to surgery until 3:00...to say he was antsy is putting it mildly.:) Actually Dr. McGiffin did not have to remove a wire..it was not the problem...a suture seems to have caused a hole...

Noel has had a recurring irritation in the upper portion of his incision and finally contracted a staph infection. Our Internist had run a culture last Friday. We saw Dr. McGiffin yesterday....he will be doing some one-day surgery on Thursday. He is taking Lovenox injection twice a day in lieu...

Noel saw Dr. McGiffin today and he was so pleased with Noel's progress. Took him off about three of his meds and dismissed him into the care of his cardiologist. Also told him he could drive. Yeah! He can't lift anything until middle of January heavier than a gallon of milk...but ah, the...

Noel is doing extremely well...already walking 1 miles a day since 10 days post-op...went for an INR check this morning and it was 2.6 on a dosage of 5 mg. he returns in two weeks for a recheck. The surgeons goal set is 2.5 to 3.5. He is feeling very good. Sleeping well and no pain . He sees...

Surgery brought a few surprises...for example, we did not know his aortic valve was also leaking severely...not did we know he had a hole in his heart. Dr. McGiffin could hardly believe he was not having symptoms. The night before surgery he came in and told Noel he had a perfectly good case to...

Noel had his surgery on Wednesday Nov. 15...Dr. McGiffin had to do both the aortic valve and the mitral valve( St. Jude prosthetic valve) and he also found a hole in his heart that we did not know about. He has amazed even the doctors with his recovery pace. What I see is a such a huge...

Well, Noel has taken a slight head cold...sort of what I had last week and still have...should we call the surgeon and reschedule...should we call our internist and see him first? I just know this is going to throw a monkey wrench in everything and we just wanted it to be over. But neither do...

Noel will have a heart cath on Nov. 14th and surgery the following day. Dr. McGiffin thinks a repair of the mitral valve might be possible and I stress might. If replacement is needed he will do a mechanical as he is already on coumadin for life. We did like the doctor. I had my little melt...

It's here. We have our armload of papers and CD's and then there's a bunch of stuff been faxed....so we hope we get some kind of verdict today. Wish us well. We are anxious. Robbie

It is now three days and counting...after numerous calls and visits to get all the records they have asked for...the list of questions made...we hope we are ready. Echo will be at 11:15 on Friday morning and see the surgeon at 12:30. Anxious to have his opinion.

We made some progress today...received the packet from Dr. McGiffin's office and Noel is scheduled for an echo at 11:15 AM before seeing the doctor at 12:30. Also got the release forms from Trinity Med Cntr and filled those out and back in the mail and also reports from Cullman Regional Med...

I was wondering if this could possibly be related to the valve problems...usually Noel's first attempts at swallowing are met with resistence...he describes it as it having to get over the hump...he does have a hiatal hernia and also has had the esophagus stretched in the past but the last time...

Well, we have an appointment with Dr. McGiffin for November 3rd at 12:30 PM. That is about all that has gone well....today. Frustration is setting in. He needs records from the surgeon and the cardio in Birmingham plus our cardio here...I am waiting for a call back from the cardiologist...

We had a call while we were out to dinner from Noel's cardiologist advising us that Dr. McGiffin at UAB would be calling us with an appointment for what she thinks is next Friday...the 27th. To say we are both nervous is stating it mildly.

First off let me say I am posting for my husband who's name actually appears (afraid he shies away from a computer). I just need to relate our story I guess and maybe someone will come along with some ideas what I should actually be asking our doctor. We have known for quite some time that...