Andy's setback

[Hank]

I got the following message off of the old HeartTalk Forum and wanted to be sure everyone knew.

Andy In Montana
HearTalk
From: Andy's Bro
Date: Saturday, June 30, 2001


Comments
Hello all, This is Andy's bro letting you all know that Andy had a minor set back. He had some leakage in his heart that leaked into the sack around his heart. It was compressing his heart and he got very sick. A trip to the emergency room revealed this and they drained 1250 cc out of the sack. He is feeling much better however they are keeping him in the hospital as he had an episode after they took him off the blood thinners. He momentarily lost his vision on a walk he was taking. They attributed to a blood clot. They were trying to let the blood thicken to stop the leak. They have again started him on some blood thinner last night and will see if they made any progress. If this doesn't work they will have to go back in and repair. Andy wanted me to contact you all and let you know he is thinking of you and thanks you for the support. Sorry about the slang terminology I couldn't remember all the names of the medications and technical names. Andy's Bro.

 

[LUVMyBirman]

So sorry to hear about Andy. It almost sounds like he experienced cardiac tamponade. This happened to me three weeks post op. When he brother said he is feeling better.....I can centanly related. Have never in my life felt that sick! When was his original surgery? Sounds like the tamponade placed pressure on the valve possibly necessitating additional surgery??

Wish you a speedy recovery Andy!
God Bless,

 

[Nancy]

So sorry to hear about Andy. Please send him my good wishes for a speedy recovery. The body has miraculous healing powers and I hope by now that he's feeling much better.

Nancy

 

[Phil]

Please tell Andy that we are thinking about him. An episode like his just shows how fragile we all are. God bless

 

[Frank]

Please let Andy know that we are praying for him and keep us updated on his condition.

Frank

 

[Dianne]

Andy
We'll be thinking about you and hoping you'll soon be out of the hospital and back to playing guitar. Being married to someone who has played bass and guitar most of his life, I know you've got to be missing it! Good luck.

And to Andy's bro, some people dealing with valve replacement can't always remember the medical speak either. We're just glad you're keeping us in touch.
Take care to both of you.
Dianne

 

[Dan O'Brien]

To Andy and Andy's Brother,

Very sorry to hear the news of Andy's complications. I will be certain to pray that this will all be corrected in quick fashion, so that Andy can get back to recovering and feeling better than his old self. God bless!

 

[Andy in Montana]

Andy back home again

Andy back home again

Hi Hank and everyone else from Andy in Montana,

Well I'm back home again and hope I can climb out of this hole. I was back in the hospital again for another week - two weeks after my June 12th mitral valve repair. My feeling good quickly went downhill. It seems I had a leak from the sutures in the heart and my heart sack filled up with blood (cardiac tamponade). When I got to the emergency room on Tuesday they took x rays and an echo. I was in the heart cath lab within ten minutes. They put a cath tube thru my solar plexus and into the heart sack and drained off 1200 cc's of blood and they attached a sack to the tube and let it drain off another 80 cc's before they took it out. I was taken off blood thinners so the heart would stop bleeding as much. Then, as I was about to be released on Thursday I was walking down the hall and my vision became blurred and I felt light-headed and the nurses had to walk me back to my room. Apparently a blood clot broke of and went thru my head - luckily it kept going.
Then in came the neurologist, cardiologist, neck echo, brain cat scan - the works. Next week I have to get an MRI of my neck as the neurologist found something wrong with my reflexes.
I started this adventure at 185 lbs. When I got home from the hospital Sunday I weighed a whopping 156 lbs. My normal weight over the last ten years has been 175 lbs. and I worked real hard to get to 185.
My heart has not gone back into a sinus rhythm as of yet - it is in something called A-flutter. If it does not return to a sinus rhythm within a week or two - they are going to knock me out and give my heart a jolt of electricity to snap it back to the correct rhythm. Hopefully I can get thru these things.
They said the bleeding in the heart has slowed considerably and I'm on a ton of medication to take care of the various problems that could arise.
Anyhow - I'm feeling better and I hope I can get all of this behind me. Thank You all for your concern & Prayers. Andy

 

[RobThatsMe]

Hi Andy,

Good to hear from you. I hope being at home helps you get things straightened out for you soon. sorry to hear that you have had a rough go of it after surgery. Hopefully, that is behind you now.

I also lost alot of weight from my surgery. I was 174, only 7.6 % body fat, due to my weight training workouts.

Within 3 days of surgery I dropped to 151 lbs. Guess my body needed every bit of energy it could muster up to help it stay alive. You can always gain the weight back, (and I know it is an uphill battle to get back to where you where), but considering the alternative, it should be comforting to know that you are alive to tackle it.


Wishing you a speedy recovery... take your time and don't push yourself..

Rob

 

[Christina]

Andy.. So good to hear from you personally. Sorry to hear you had a bit of a set back, but hopefully you'll be back to normal in no time.
Will keep you in my prayers.

Christina..

 

[Nancy]

Hi Andy-

So sorry you've had such a time of it. All these things will be in the past soon. Your body has wonderful healing powers.

Best wishes,

Nancy

 

[Laura]

Andy-heart flutter

Andy-heart flutter

Andy,
Glad to have you back on line with us. I was in the hospital a week and a half because my heart was beating oddly after surgery also. They ran an echo and a TEE to confirm that no blockage or anything was causing it. They let me go home and about 3-4 weeks later I wore a Halter monitor for 24 hours and my heart had worked itself out and back to a normal rhythm. Hopefully yours will do the same. My surgeon told me that because of the "cutting" of your heart, it has to find a new "electrical" path since the original one was disrupted by surgery. Best wishes and many prayers to you.

 

[Jean]

Andy

Andy

Andy,

So sorry to hear about your setbacks, but I know you will grab on and climb back up to the top. We are all praying for you. Keep us posted.

Now I know you guys like to put on the buff pounds, but I have a bone to pick with you...I think I am wired backwards or something.

I nurse my babies and gain weight...I have chemo for two times and gain weight...I have heart surgery and at least I didn't gain but only lost about 10 pounds out of about 50 that should go. Although since surgery, I do admit it is easier to take it off and keep it off now...only about 20 to go! And it is so good to have good weather and good health to walk and jog and cycle now.

Thinking of you , Andy.

 

[hensylee]

Dear Andy - I just came on and found your setback and I am so sorry, but your recent post tells us that you are on the road again. Sometimes that road gets a bit bumpy and curvy. So good to have you back in the fold. God bless