Actually I'm a little late, but I had my Ross Procedure on St. Patrick's Day in 2004. It's hard to believe it's been 5 years already.
OK...now for some news. Before I say anything I want to respectably ask that not a single post has the word "I'm sorry" in it, because it could end up not as bad as expected and even if it is I won't be "on deck" for surgery unless things continue to progress. And even if I need to have surgery again I have no regrets and would do the same thing over again when I made my decision 5+ years ago.
OK...now that we have that out of the way, I had my annual ACHD cardiologist appointment one week ago. I have been under a lot of stress (as I assume many others have been as well), I was put on a new medicine by a medical professional that I probably shouldn't have been put on, I got 2 hours of sleep the night before the appointment, I was about to give my two week notice to my boss, and yadda, yadda, yadda. When the nurse took my blood pressure it was 180/110.
The best reading they could get (2 tries by the nurse and 1 by the cardio) was 165/100. I might mention that I have a "slight phobia" of getting my blood pressure taken. Getting a shot...no problem. Need to draw blood...no problem. Need to put in an IV...no problem. Need to take my blood pressure...problem...especially if I haven't had it taken in awhile at a doctor's office. I also had my echo and it showed that my aortic root has dilated to 4.3cm. Two years ago the echo showed that I had a mild dilation of 3.7cm. Last year the echo showed that it had grown to 4.0cm. The cardio sent me back to get another reading from his most senior echo tech and he measured the entire root and reported that the absolutely highest reading he got was 3.8.
For my high BP I have been put on amlodipine 5mg. After a week of monitoring my BP my best reading (which was my latest reading today) was 138/82. On March 25th I go back to my cardio to see how the amlodipine is working for my blood pressure. On March 31st I'm having a MRI to get an exact measurement of my aortic root. The MRI could prove that I am having a significant trend towards an increased aortic root that could lead to re-surgery, or it could prove that that the tech that did my echo was not in the running for "echo tech of the year". My gut feeling is that it's somewhere in between the two. I'm almost positive the high blood pressure is not helping the situation. I'm not sure why I was taken off of the beta blocker I had been taking since the surgery when I went for my annual checkup 2 years ago, but I didn't argue with him because the beta blocker definitely made me feel sluggish (in more than one way ). Anyway after my MRI I should get some relief either way as I will know that things are better than I thought or I will know that I am trending towards a possible re-surgery (which would most likely still be a few years off).
My cardio said that besides the high BP and the aortic root dilation that everything looks great.
And to tell you the truth, physically I still feel great. My exercise tolerance is probably better than it's been since I surfed regularly in my early 30's (I'm 48 now).
So that's my update. The high BP seems to be quickly getting under control. The aortic root dilation could be something serious or it could just be a bad reading by the echo tech. The cardio even said that it's really hard to get an accurate reading on the size of your aortic root using an echo. The MRI on the 31st should set things straight one way or another. BUT...getting back to the beginning of the post...and IMO the most important part of the post...is that I have had 5 great years of heart health since my surgery on St. Patrick's Day of 2004.
So cheers everyone...have a cold one on me.
OK...now for some news. Before I say anything I want to respectably ask that not a single post has the word "I'm sorry" in it, because it could end up not as bad as expected and even if it is I won't be "on deck" for surgery unless things continue to progress. And even if I need to have surgery again I have no regrets and would do the same thing over again when I made my decision 5+ years ago.
OK...now that we have that out of the way, I had my annual ACHD cardiologist appointment one week ago. I have been under a lot of stress (as I assume many others have been as well), I was put on a new medicine by a medical professional that I probably shouldn't have been put on, I got 2 hours of sleep the night before the appointment, I was about to give my two week notice to my boss, and yadda, yadda, yadda. When the nurse took my blood pressure it was 180/110.
The best reading they could get (2 tries by the nurse and 1 by the cardio) was 165/100. I might mention that I have a "slight phobia" of getting my blood pressure taken. Getting a shot...no problem. Need to draw blood...no problem. Need to put in an IV...no problem. Need to take my blood pressure...problem...especially if I haven't had it taken in awhile at a doctor's office. I also had my echo and it showed that my aortic root has dilated to 4.3cm. Two years ago the echo showed that I had a mild dilation of 3.7cm. Last year the echo showed that it had grown to 4.0cm. The cardio sent me back to get another reading from his most senior echo tech and he measured the entire root and reported that the absolutely highest reading he got was 3.8.For my high BP I have been put on amlodipine 5mg. After a week of monitoring my BP my best reading (which was my latest reading today) was 138/82. On March 25th I go back to my cardio to see how the amlodipine is working for my blood pressure. On March 31st I'm having a MRI to get an exact measurement of my aortic root. The MRI could prove that I am having a significant trend towards an increased aortic root that could lead to re-surgery, or it could prove that that the tech that did my echo was not in the running for "echo tech of the year". My gut feeling is that it's somewhere in between the two. I'm almost positive the high blood pressure is not helping the situation. I'm not sure why I was taken off of the beta blocker I had been taking since the surgery when I went for my annual checkup 2 years ago, but I didn't argue with him because the beta blocker definitely made me feel sluggish (in more than one way
). Anyway after my MRI I should get some relief either way as I will know that things are better than I thought or I will know that I am trending towards a possible re-surgery (which would most likely still be a few years off).My cardio said that besides the high BP and the aortic root dilation that everything looks great.
And to tell you the truth, physically I still feel great. My exercise tolerance is probably better than it's been since I surfed regularly in my early 30's (I'm 48 now).
So that's my update. The high BP seems to be quickly getting under control. The aortic root dilation could be something serious or it could just be a bad reading by the echo tech. The cardio even said that it's really hard to get an accurate reading on the size of your aortic root using an echo. The MRI on the 31st should set things straight one way or another. BUT...getting back to the beginning of the post...and IMO the most important part of the post...is that I have had 5 great years of heart health since my surgery on St. Patrick's Day of 2004.
So cheers everyone...have a cold one on me.
