No Aorta replacement here, and I haven't noticed much shifting, but I DID notice lots of post-op pounding, heart beating out of my chest, thumping in my throat, etc. For the first few weeks, pounding heart was one of the things that kept me from sleeping more than 2 or 3 hours at a stretch.
It gradually faded for me. But very recently, towards 7 months post-op, my resting (in bed) HR has been dropping, often lower than I ever measured it during my first ~65 years, and when it does that, the individual heartbeats/pulses are HUGE. A coupla nights ago it took me an extra minute or two to fall asleep while I marveled at the slow drum-beat. A month ago I noticed some "ventricular bigemini", ~5 minutes of "regular irregular" beat, beat, skip, beat, beat, skip, beat, beat, skip, . . . That seems to have passed, but now I'm getting the slow (<50 bpm!) HR with BIG beats instead.
I mentioned the bigemini to the RN who runs my Cardio Rehab program. She didn't rush me to the ER, or even my Cardio, though we discussed it a bit -- and it went away. Haven't discussed the ultra-slow pounding with her, maybe tomorrow.
To me, all this stuff seems consistent with the concept of "remodeling". The heart -- as a pump and as a complex electrical gizmo that responds to the rest of the body's signals/needs -- is re-learning how to do all its different jobs: slowing down, speeding up, changing volumes, coordinating its many components, having a pulse-rate that's BOTH rock-solid steady AND flexible and variable. . . I think mine's generally doing a great job, but it seems to be doing some "hunting" or "exploring" on the way to finding its "new normal".
