Hi All, the WIFI at the hospital went down so I didn't have access any more, but I'm home now and doing well.
I thought the most interesting thing to this group of experienced AVR'ers would be my defective old valve. If you can imagine a normal tri-cuspid valve that 2 of the 3 cuspids didn't open and from the surgeons asessment probably never did, he said it looked like there was just one little flap about 25%-35% of the total area. He has done over a thousand AVRs and said this was the first time he had seen one like this. Now I'm even more excited about my complete recovery knowing I had been doing some of the things I was doing at 1/3 blood flow.
Other Interesting things:
I notice some of my senses more, I can't really explain it, but my taste buds are picking up more or maybe the drugs are just allowing me to focus on one thing better. I could very clearly make out conversations in other rooms, and in the past I was somewhat hard of hearing. I notice every smell. I knew which nurse was in the room by the smell of their lotion/perfume, not kidding at all. Some of them would come in at night and not turn the lights on that much but I would call them by name every time, I think it freaked them out. However my sight is pretty bad right now, slightly blurry with glasses or contacts, I hope that's just the drugs.
My good friends really surprized me. One of them organized a large gift, got many people to donate to it, and they bought me a Play Station 3 with 2 games. They delivered it to me on Thursday and I was so overwhelmed I cried for like the 2nd time in my adult life. I couldn't believe how thoughtful it was, then they came over and set it up for me the day I came home (yesterday).
Warfarin/Coumadin... OK, I don't know why I was freaked out at all. I shaved off a small whitehead on my face last night with an INR of around 2.8 and it barely bled at all. I thought blood was going to gush from my face. What a joke! Ok, I'm probably over doing it, but I'm starting to realize that it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I also found a lab about a half mile from my house that I can go to, until I can get my home kit. Two of the Dr.s I talked to didn't like the home kits, but one of the cardiologists I consulted that was there during the surgery and prescribed my drugs is all for them, so I think I will be able to get that at some point. I will probably wait a couple months until everything is under control first. I was surprized at home much drugs I need to take though. Mine is like 6mg per day plus a baby aspirin, does that seem high?
Clicking... Ok this is the only negative so far, and I've been able to sleep with it, so it's not that big a deal I guess. No one else can hear it either, but for me it's REALLY loud. I can hear it right now while I'm typing or even while watching TV. It sounds like I'm holding a wristwatch up to my ear and can hear the second hand ticking. Pretty high pitched.
