RTZdad
Well-known member
August 4th was the four month anniversary for my valve (mechanical) and aortic root replacement. I have been absent from regular posting here on the site recently and I hope to start up again now. Funny how things manage to fall back to "normal" once you get over the hump recovering from surgery. To date, the only real issue that I have dealt with so far is in leveling out my INR levels. It's been all over the place since the beginning. As a matter of fact, I had to stay a few days longer in the hospital because my numbers were too low. Currently I am sitting at 3.3 and on Saturday, I received my at-home CoaguChek XS monitor. It is very easy to operate and I am looking forward to using it whenever necessary. Because I am in range, I shouldn't have to check it more often than every few weeks. It also means that I can stop receiving arm sticks over at Labcorp. Not sure, but I think I may have developed some scar tissue in my arms from so many pokes. It had become a bit more painful than usual the past few times.
I currently take 15 mg of Warfarin every night before dinner. I also take 50 mg Metoprolol, an 81 mg baby aspirin and a multi-vitamin every morning. I attempt to exercise at least an hour every day. I rotate between casual walking, speed walking and a 15 minute jog. Prior to prepping for my surgery, I wasn't much of a fitness enthusiast. I played sports and golf for exercise, but never really concentrated too much on working out. I plan on starting some type of weight training exercise as well, but have not started anything beyond carrying my 4 year-old son around as much as possible.
I turned 38 on the day I was discharged from the hospital in Cleveland. We drove home to Denver over the course of the next three days. Cleveland to Valparaiso, IN the first day, on to Lincoln, NE the next day and finally home to Denver the last. It was a long trip but turned out to be very manageable. Since then we have also driven to and from a nice two week stint in California as well. I didn't experience any trouble on either trip, except a very poorly timed bout with hemorrhoids on the way out west. Not a fun ride to say the least. I made sure to stop every couple of hours and walk around to avoid any clotting issues. I played golf on June 17th, two and a half months after surgery. It took a few holes to get past my fear of hurting myself by hitting the ground, but after chunking an approach shot on the third hole and not splitting in half, I began to hit the ball ok for someone who hadn't played in 10 months. Overall it was a huge deal for me to be back out there, and I REALLY enjoyed playing with one of my best friends.
One last thing to mention is of regret. I was asymptomatic for the most part prior to my surgery. As a result, once I got over the pain and discomfort during my recovery, I fell back into my old self. I find that to be a major disappointment. While I had few doubts that I would survive the surgery, I looked at this as an opportunity to live my life with a renewed purpose. In sitting on my hospital bed post-op, I was determined to stop coasting through my life and begin to apply a more determined focus in everything that I did. While I may have had the best intentions to do so, I can't honestly say that I have done it. This is unacceptable to me. I have begun to take life for granted again, and have forgotten how lucky that I am to have been fortunate enough to sit here today. While my leaky valve and bloated aorta may have gotten fixed, the challenge to live a healthy life hasn't stopped. I need to eat better and continue to exercise more every day. I am going to use this post as a reminder to myself that my work here is not done. I hope to honor my successful surgery today and every day going forward by continuing to improve upon everything that I do. I will be a better husband, father, man, and friend today than I was yesterday. Identify were you are today, respect where you were, and be limitless in where you will go tomorrow. I will not take my condition for granted any more!
Tom
I currently take 15 mg of Warfarin every night before dinner. I also take 50 mg Metoprolol, an 81 mg baby aspirin and a multi-vitamin every morning. I attempt to exercise at least an hour every day. I rotate between casual walking, speed walking and a 15 minute jog. Prior to prepping for my surgery, I wasn't much of a fitness enthusiast. I played sports and golf for exercise, but never really concentrated too much on working out. I plan on starting some type of weight training exercise as well, but have not started anything beyond carrying my 4 year-old son around as much as possible.
I turned 38 on the day I was discharged from the hospital in Cleveland. We drove home to Denver over the course of the next three days. Cleveland to Valparaiso, IN the first day, on to Lincoln, NE the next day and finally home to Denver the last. It was a long trip but turned out to be very manageable. Since then we have also driven to and from a nice two week stint in California as well. I didn't experience any trouble on either trip, except a very poorly timed bout with hemorrhoids on the way out west. Not a fun ride to say the least. I made sure to stop every couple of hours and walk around to avoid any clotting issues. I played golf on June 17th, two and a half months after surgery. It took a few holes to get past my fear of hurting myself by hitting the ground, but after chunking an approach shot on the third hole and not splitting in half, I began to hit the ball ok for someone who hadn't played in 10 months. Overall it was a huge deal for me to be back out there, and I REALLY enjoyed playing with one of my best friends.
One last thing to mention is of regret. I was asymptomatic for the most part prior to my surgery. As a result, once I got over the pain and discomfort during my recovery, I fell back into my old self. I find that to be a major disappointment. While I had few doubts that I would survive the surgery, I looked at this as an opportunity to live my life with a renewed purpose. In sitting on my hospital bed post-op, I was determined to stop coasting through my life and begin to apply a more determined focus in everything that I did. While I may have had the best intentions to do so, I can't honestly say that I have done it. This is unacceptable to me. I have begun to take life for granted again, and have forgotten how lucky that I am to have been fortunate enough to sit here today. While my leaky valve and bloated aorta may have gotten fixed, the challenge to live a healthy life hasn't stopped. I need to eat better and continue to exercise more every day. I am going to use this post as a reminder to myself that my work here is not done. I hope to honor my successful surgery today and every day going forward by continuing to improve upon everything that I do. I will be a better husband, father, man, and friend today than I was yesterday. Identify were you are today, respect where you were, and be limitless in where you will go tomorrow. I will not take my condition for granted any more!
Tom
Still, you can do better every day, and seems you are well on your way to doing so. It was great to hear from you!
