First bump

[Gary Miller]

Bad day yesterday. First my traveling nurse tells me my INR is 4.5 and then she thought I should get the surgeon to take out the pace maker wire out before it gets so in grown they can't. I felt so blah after my first walk that I didn't do the afternoon walk. Than last night i was sitting in the chair watching TV and 6 consecutive Sharpe pains right over the AV. I know Bi-cusp valvers in the waiting room will tell you, they have experienced many, many kinds of pain and symptoms before surgery. This made all those I use to feel fairly tame in comparison. Lost my vision, head started spinning, and couldn't move for a few seconds. I finally got up and walked around for a bit trying to get my balance, breath back. I called to the wife that i was in trouble and she came in the room. The only thing I could think of is, was the valve still working?( I guess I'm lucky in one respect, I seldom hear my valve ticking.) After she confirmed that it was still ticking I started to calm down. The dizziness and chest discomfort lasted for about 20 minutes the wife was manning the car when I stopped her and said I think whatever it was has passed. This can't be normal cuz its tooo scary to go through a lot of these. The only thing I can figure out or at least wonder about, is the size of my valve. 23mm I'm 6' 2" and 225lbs and that's biggest valve he could get in? Vadim has a 25 and I don't think he is a lot bigger than me. It's the SOB that bothers me. I know this takes time but a mismatch would really suck! Guess I’ll have to wait for the echo to confirm or not. Walked 1/2 mile this morning and it did get better on the return half. As always I appreciate your kind and generous advice and comments!

 

[Greg a]

Bad day yesterday. First my traveling nurse tells me my INR is 4.5 and then she thought I should get the surgeon to take out the pace maker wire out before it gets so in grown they can't.

I was told it takes a LONG time for that to happen as I have a permanent ICD/pacemaker

I felt so blah after my first walk that I didn't do the afternoon walk.

These walks do more than get youin shape they get the blood moving and prevent pooling that can lead to clots

Than last night i was sitting in the chair watching TV and 6 consecutive Sharpe pains right over the AV. I know Bi-cusp valvers in the waiting room will tell you, they have experienced many, many kinds of pain and symptoms before surgery. This made all those I use to feel fairly tame in comparison. Lost my vision, head started spinning, and couldn't move for a few seconds. I finally got up and walked around for a bit trying to get my balance, breath back. I called to the wife that i was in trouble and she came in the room. The only thing I could think of is, was the valve still working?( I guess I'm lucky in one respect, I seldom hear my valve ticking.) After she confirmed that it was still ticking I started to calm down. The dizziness and chest discomfort lasted for about 20 minutes the wife was manning the car when I stopped her and said I think whatever it was has passed. This can't be normal cuz its tooo scary to go through a lot of these. The only thing I can figure out or at least wonder about, is the size of my valve. 23mm I'm 6' 2" and 225lbs and that's biggest valve he could get in? Vadim has a 25 and I don't think he is a lot bigger than me. It's the SOB that bothers me. I know this takes time but a mismatch would really suck! Guess I’ll have to wait for the echo to confirm or not. Walked 1/2 mile this morning and it did get better on the return half. As always I appreciate your kind and generous advice and comments!

You are really early in the game and the assault your body went through will take time to normalize many things may be going on including fluctating glucose levels .....Linda will help you along the way by just being there for you but a new mantra to live by if in doubt check it out :thumbup:

 

[sarahsunshine]

Sorry about yesterday. I agree about the walks, even if they really wipe you out, go for a shorter one, but keep the practice of going of you can.

Also, I would call your doc if that pain happens again. They need to be kept abreast of your healing as well.

Hope all goes smoothely today!

 

[kfay]

Gary, you need to call either your cardio or surgeon and tell them what happened yesterday. I don't think it is "normal" for you to have the symptoms you experienced yesterday. You need to listen to your body at this phase of recovery and reach out to medical professionals when something doesn't seem right. It doesn't matter if you're bothering them, that's what they just got paid all of that money from your insurance company for! I would put in a call to them now!

 

[Lynlw]

Gary, you need to call either your cardio or surgeon and tell them what happened yesterday. I don't think it is "normal" for you to have the symptoms you experienced yesterday. You need to listen to your body at this phase of recovery and reach out to medical professionals when something doesn't seem right. It doesn't matter if you're bothering them, that's what they just got paid all of that money from your insurance company for! I would put in a call to them now!

i agree with Kim, I would place a cal today, even if it is just to have a record of it now.

 

[TheGymGuy]

Hey Gary. This is a little bump. Some of the feelings we have are, how can I put it gently, just us looking for symptoms from small symptoms that appear. Next time you feel funny, just really really reassure yourself that everything is fine and see if the symptoms persist. Our brain has a way of making us feel funny at times from little or medium nothings. Though, if you felt that bad, a consult with your doctor would be a good idea.

Before the surgery my surgeon told me that valve sizes while somewhat proportional to our size are basically what fits into the opening best. My sino-tubular junction is actually narrower than my aortic valve. So, in theory they could have fit 27/29mm in there, but only 25mm would pass through. Do not let the 23mm bother you, that valve provides a huge aortic opening somewhere in the order of 2.4-2.5 cm^2 which is very very nice. You are taller than me, I am only 5'8" (damn, I am short), though when I am training for a competition I stay around 190, and if I get lazy I compete at 198.

 

[Bassman]

I am in week 5 of recovery and I have experienced:
dizzyness
loss of vision
increased heart rate
sharp pain in my back on a scale of 9 from 1 to 10 which only lasts 30 seconds

All of these have either decreased or disappeared completely. Just want to share but I would always advize to tell your doctor of them.

 

[Gary Miller]

Now What?
My legs quit working this morning! I have been walking for 20 min a day for the last 6 days, and this morning I get out of the recliner and my calves and thighs are so numb I almost feel over. Blood pressure has dropped to 90/59 sitting resting and the doctor’s office hasn't bothered to call back yet (been 3 hours). That I can't walk half the time is really frustrating. Almost like there is a colt blocking the blood flow to my legs. Anyone had to deal with this in recovery? I hope it will pass soon or I'm going into the emergency room.

 

[sarahsunshine]

Personally, I would just go in to the doctor's office even if I don't have an appointment. You need to talk to the doc and it's a lot harder for them to say "No" if you are standing there. Sorry you are dealing with this.

 

[kfay]

First off, did you speak to the receptionist, or the Dr's nurse? It is not acceptable that they haven't called you back after 3 hours, but if the right person doesn't have the info, they might not realize what is going on, so I would always ask to speak to the nurse in a situation like this, and if they balk, I would then tell the receptionist what the situation is and that you expect a call back in x amount of minutes (say 30). If I didn't get a call back in that time, I would call again and keep calling until someone answered me. However, having said that, I'd have to get myself to the ER if I were you. The only thing similar to what you are experiencing that I have had is a certain type of migraine that can cause numbness, tingling and weakness in your limbs, and it is not unusual to have migraine issues after this surgery. You won't know what is going on though unless you go to the ER, and it is better to be safe than sorry in a situation like this.

Kim

 

[Gary Miller]

The nurse finally called back and had me stop 25mg Metropolol (Take 25 2x a day ) and 20 mg of lisinopril to get my Systolic pressure above 115 or at 120. My heart rate jumped all over the place yesterday afternoon from 72-112 bpm back and fourth for about an hour then stabilized at 77. I hope the 1/2 dose of Metropolol doesn't effect that too badly. This morning was 114/66 @ 72 HR. I did have one bout of my legs giving out for a couple of seconds but none since. One thing that is a bother is if I bend over and try to pick up something up off the floor I am completely out of breath almost immediately, I mean rally huffing and puffing. Fluid buildup or something else. I'm not sure if Ill try to walk today I play that by ear. I see the surgeon on Thursday afternoon I hope he is ready for my inquisition.

 

[Greg a]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. I see the surgeon on Thursday afternoon I hope he is ready for my inquisition.

Gary, be prepared and if you aren't already doing one ....start a journal tracking all your stats and questions

 

[Lynlw]

The nurse finally called back and had me stop 25mg Metropolol (Take 25 2x a day ) and 20 mg of lisinopril to get my Systolic pressure above 115 or at 120. My heart rate jumped all over the place yesterday afternoon from 72-112 bpm back and fourth for about an hour then stabilized at 77. I hope the 1/2 dose of Metropolol doesn't effect that too badly. This morning was 114/66 @ 72 HR. I did have one bout of my legs giving out for a couple of seconds but none since. One thing that is a bother is if I bend over and try to pick up something up off the floor I am completely out of breath almost immediately, I mean rally huffing and puffing. Fluid buildup or something else. I'm not sure if Ill try to walk today I play that by ear. I see the surgeon on Thursday afternoon I hope he is ready for my inquisition.

I'm surprised they didn't have you come in just to check maybe do an echo and make sure everything is fine with all the "weird' things you have gone thru. When you called about your legs not working, d you mention the earlier thing when you lost your vision and were dizzy etc? Is the problem bending since then or has that been going on a few days, if it has been going on, did you mention that or the SOB?
Chances are you could be right and there is some kind of fluid problem like pericardial or plueral effusions causing some of your problems, like the bending or SOB, Justin had bad pericardial effusions after his 2nd surgery, since he was a toddler he couldnt tell us there was a problem, but if i noticed him asking me for things on the floor instead of bending and picking them up himself i called the docotr and it was always his fluid building back up. It was easier for his later surgery when he would recognise something wasnt right and we caught it early enough that just meds helped.

IF it is pericardial or plueral effusions they can get pretty bad (dangerously bad) pretty fast, and is one of the things the earlier it is diagnosed the better (might be able to get rid of it with meds instead of needing it drained or surgery) so I probably wouldnt wait a week until your appt with the surgeon. IF it gets worse I'd call who is ever on call for the weekend go to the ER, proably the one where you had surgery if it isn't too far.

 

[Gary Miller]

Just got back from the emergency room. I woke up this morning and could barely drag myself into the bathroom as I was showering it got worse and worse. I told the wife to get the car out and I tried to get dressed. Then I started for the door and it went real bad. I was fighting to stay conscious at that point. My dog ran out the door and I yelled at as loud as i could to get him to stay in the house. I started to get some oxygen back enough to stay conscious. We live 20 miles from the emergency room so by the time we made it in the EKG showed I was in a-fib at 150 bpm. Than like a light switch i converted! How do you spell relief? Now comes the scary part. During my surgery they called in a rhythm specialist as i something not expected when they got in. The surgeon explained it to my wife but she never mentioned it to me until we were home and talking about the whole thing, that he had to repair something in the lower heart and they weren’t sure if it was ventricular flutter or not. I called his nurse and she saw nothing on the surgical notes that he repaired anything but did have rhythm specialist come in. I see my cardio on Wed and the surgeon on Thursday. I'm going to get some answers believe me! The surgeon's nurse still believes its a-fib only. But I don't think a-fib or a- flutter goes over 200 bpms does it. I was starting to function pretty good at 150 bpm so it must have been 200+ to cause those kind of symptoms I think. Hey thanks for listening I’m so frustrated and don’t know how else to vent.

 

[sarahsunshine]

Totally understandable! Vent away!

I'm not one who knows about A-fib, but I'm glad you are getting checked out and that you got to the emergency room! Hope you get some answers at your appointment.

 

[Duffey]

Thanks for letting us know what's going on. Your experience might be something someone else encounters on their post-op recovery and will be able to use your information.

 

[escargome]

Yes I would agree with Duffey, your experience is certainly helpful to all of us. Also you certainly do need to get answers from your doctors, peace of mind is a primary step to a great recovery. I hope things go smoother for you.

 

[Gary Miller]

Ok its a-fib (I knew I shouldn't feel that lousy at this point). Had three runs for about an hour or more and have been in and out of rhythm for most of the time. Cardiologist says to increase amiodarone from 200 a day to 1 day 800mg loading dose and 400 a day for thirty days, Plus 250 Digoxin daily for 30 days. That all three of the drugs I was trying to avoid. The EP guy is booked until next month so he will decide what to do after this drug treatment when I get an appointment with him. The surgery was pretty eventful I find out. I had bout of PSVT during surgery that had to be shocked, and my cardiologist said he had to convert me from a-fib twice in ICU. His words yesterday were and I quote "your heart is pretty pissed off" it may take some time to settle down. I'm still fighting the anemia getting better but not very quickly. I'm at 3.17 hemoglobin and need to be at 4.6 at least. I guess I had some things working the other way in recovery but I'm better informed as to what i can do to help now. Iron, B-12, B-6, Copper and some steak on occasion. I can't wait for the headaches from the increased amiodrone. I hear they are no picnic. Anyway its good to have all the facts and feel like I can help to enhance the recovery in some way or another.