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Wow, 2 years later and here I am, living, breathing and being oooohhhh ssoooo thankful! Especially to everyone here at VR.com for all the support. Best wishes to all for health, optimism, courage, strength and love for life! Betsy

Thanks, Dina. she did go to ER and her heart rate was back to normal and all fine by the time she was admitted into ER. Her heart rate was 106, now sweating and not really SOB, just feeling like she ran a mile. Doc said it could have been change of thyroid meds, she has hypothyroidism. To see...

Hi, My friend is 51 and just starting perimenopause symptoms. Today, she has had a heart palpitation, shortness of breath, very slight dizziness, racing heart (pulse 106) for the first time. So far it has lasted about 4 hours and she says it has been coming and going. I have read this is a...

Chocolate! When I had my OHS, I had designed a box for a chocolate bar and gave the surgeon one the night before my surgery when I met with him. Then, a few days later when one of the surgeons assisting him came in, he said...oh, hi..you are the one that designs chocolate bars, we were all...

Anyone figure out yet if we are in high-risk group for complications of swine flu?? Thanks, Betsy

Hi Dan, I'm 1 yr and 8 mo. post OHS and have PVC's, which are considered benign, but can get fairly strong and annoying (and worrying even tho I know they are "OK"). Anyway, don't know if there are any parallels with actual irregular heart rhythm, but caffeine, chocolate, alcohol and stress...

Hello, Just jumping up and down for joy tonite, had the first big test, MRA since my OHS in Nov. 2007. Everything looks great, no problems whatsoever! Didn't realize how emotional it is to get another big test in hospital after going thru the biggie of OHS. My stomach was in knots for 2...

Thanks, Bob, for all the great facts. Knowing it is a pretty rare occurence is helpful, too. Brush, floss and forget about it...great advice! I also just got back from seeing my GP and she emphasized, you don't get endocarditis from a cold or flu, BUT if you have something like that and...

Good site about prosthetic heart valves: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/780702-overview Sounds like, if I am interpreting this right, there is not a huge risk of endocarditis for people with prosthetic heart valves: PVE (Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis) occurs in 2-4% of patients. The...

Gail, did they ever figure out what might have caused your endocarditis?

Depends on what else is going on. My friend with endocardititis got IV antibiotics in hospital until he stabilized, then was sent home with pic line and administered it himself afterwards.

Hmm, what was you low-grade fever, Adrienne? I ask because aside from asking about endocarditis because of a future travel, I also have had a sore throat, low grade fever 99.8, and head cold last 3 days. It feels like something I have had about 3 times since my surgery 1 1/2 years ago, and I...

I think it's good to know about the possible risk of infection and understand it more thoroughly. I will be asking my cardio and doc so will post when I do. So, it seems the first step is with sign of fever, is to rule out common causes (flu, bronchitis). But that seems to be easily...

Good point, Petros. My friend, who had a similar endo story had so much antibiotic it was hard to identify bacteria. Maybe the thing to do is at sign of high fever, when going to doc, request blood sample be drawn before first antibiotic is given. I remember them culturing his blood for days...

Thanks, Gail. How did they know the staph infection went to your valve? What were the symptoms and how fast did it happen? Betsy

Hi, I'm trying to understand the risk of infection and my bovine heart valve. First, I am planning a trip to India this winter. Now, I know I need antibiotics for teeth cleaning or any surgery. Also, that if I think I have a local infection on my skin, or strep throat, I should see a doc...

Hi Barb, I had a cardiac cath done at Cleaveland Clinic, too. I had to stay about 8 hours afterwards and got dizzy everytime I tried to get up. I was very bruised (the doctor explained something about skin facia??) and limped around the next 2 days before my surgery. Not a fun experience...

Jen, I started having mine about 6 mo. post op, definitely triggered by caffeine (never drank coffee, from tea and green tea),alcohol or chocolate. So I have been having them about 9 mos. now and really only noticed them strongly about 3 different few week periods in that time. First time was...

Great to hear you will be back in good old New Mexico soon!!! All the best, Betsy

Does anyone have experience where their benign pvc's turned into something else over time? Thanks, Betsy