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Julieaka

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 5, 2010
Messages
90
Location
Phoenix AZ
happy to see you all over the mtn - thanks so much for the thoughts prayers and well wishes -most of them were 100%

you were right - the surgery was not as bad as I thought

you were right - the hospital care was amazing

you were right, however, that this is a VERY individual experience - I could see the little devil hanging in the air (thought it was Ross) tell me the bumps in the road just had to be jumped - by me and I could do it!

summary for now - then off to bed -

surgery to replace BAV perfect - new ATS valve working great
surgery included repair of anuerysm - and total was under 4 hours less than 2 on bypass
measured the scar today - it is only 5" so I want to ask the surgeon if he REALLY got it all done!
St Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix - best hospital in Phoenix!

bumps included
low red blood cell finallly had to take a bag a couple days in
slow to oxygenate - although awake two hours after surgery on vent for a bit (not so bad!!)
slow to oxgenate throughoutht the care - although picked it up and ran with it and doing great O2 now
lousy eater - had to drink ensure etc (more on that later)
got the iron, food, blood in me and started to perk up
crappy person on narcotics so have had to do a lot of switching around to not BARF (no fun)
finally - heart rate continued up - many test later, no fluid so they are pretty sure it's anxiety
last hurdle to go home - coumdin numbers not up so have to do the 'love shots' - husband agreed to do so I could come home

got home last night - that's a whole nother story

more when I can

love to all - especially my last week friends who all seem to be out and doing surgery

Andy - photo soon because I am darn proud of this 5 inch scar!
 
Julie!
Happy to hear you are so positive about your experience! Thanks for posting an update about it :)
You will feel better and back to your old self with every day that passes !

Take care!
 
Julie,
It's good to hear you're home. Hope you're over all the bumps and the rest of your recovery continues to be uneventful!
 
So glad you are doing well!!! The other side of the mountain is much nicer isn't it?? :).. Now take it easy and let your body recover.........Lots of love....Michael
 
Congratulations! I can relate to lousy eating. The first few days, I had zero appetite and would order whatever I thought I could take down. My wife did bring in a lot of ensure that I had to supplement my lack of food.
 
Julieaka said:
had to drink ensure etc (more on that later)

coumadin numbers not up so have to do the 'love shots' - husband agreed to do so I could come home.
Click to expand...

Right there is why your INR is not going up. Ensure is sabotaging your INR it is loaded with Vitamin K!!!!! I see those silly professionals are once again being stupid.

Each can contains Vitamin K 19.9mcg 25% of RDA.
 
Glad to hear you are on the road to recovery and home. I am sure that feels much better. Thanks for your story, I found it interesting. Looking forward to your future posts as you feel better. Pat
 
Welcome home!

Ross is right, they probably didn't adjust your dosage for the Ensure. You can drink it, if you can swallow that swill, but your dosage will need increased.
Besides at this point they have no idea how well you will metabolize the coumadin - you might be a naturally higher doser than some of us.
 
Ensure, Boost, Carnation instant breakfasts, are all loaded with Vit K.

As for Ensure or Boost, I'd rather drink chalk.
 
crap - I knew I needed to come read in here - I read on the back of the ensure and did not see K but I know that labels don't say anything

my INR was still down around 1.5 on Tuesday at the clinic (this was after shooting to a 3.9 in the hospital!) so this might be the culprit - thanks

had a great day today, but I am up tonight with some diaharrea (after days of constipation the doc took me off the iron pills today ) - can also hear my new ticker so that's a little disconcerting - thought I would get on here for moral support and look - got some already!
 
Moral support? I ain't got no morals, so I don't know if I can provide that kind of support.
 
Slimfast is another thing (like Ensure) that I've found has significant Vit. K, so I'm being careful with that too (in case anyone out there uses slimfast like me). Glad you had a great day Julie! Many more to come I'm sure! Gotta run, but one last thing. Since you went bionic like me, I hear my ticker too, but it doesn't bother me, or keep me up or anything. You'll get used to it! And it'll get a little quieter as time goes on too. So not to worry! Talk to y'all tomorrow - gonna go play all day and into the night, lol. But, I'll be careful!
 
Don't get me wrong folks, you can drink that stuff, but the Coumadin dose is going to have to be adjusted to compensate for it and if you stop drinking it, again, your dose will have to be adjusted for the lack of it.

What kills me is, they have a patient safety goal initiative set up so that those on Coumadin don't get large amounts of Vit K, yet they serve up those drinks without any thought about it. I couldn't get a darn salad or anything green for that matter, but they always included that darn can of yuck on every tray.
 
Julie, So glad you are doing well and are now on the other side! Interesting info about the nutritional supplements. Colin should be having a repair so we won't have an INR to worry about, but seems like so many of you lose your appetite. I think I will bring down a few boxes of Carnation Instant Breakfast.
 
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