kerri73
Well-known member
Hello all! It's been a while since I've posted, I hop on and read occasionally to see what's going on in here, tho...
My valversary was just a couple weeks ago - 2 years on the current On-X mitral valve that I had put in. Things are going well for the most part, though I do have some things going on that I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with.
First of all - I have noticed pitting edema going on. Not so much on extreme swelling or anything, but if I squeeze my arms or press my fingers into my cheeks or sides of my legs, the prints slowly come out... the legs they will stay there for 10-20 seconds, depending on how bad it is. Who's to say how long this has really been going on - I noticed it in June when I had an infection (cellulitus) and was just paying much more attention to my body out of fear of it spreading.
Also, since my surgery my echos have started to show paradoxical septal motion, so while my heart is beating strong and there's no muscle damage, the septal wall isn't going in the right direction, so my congenital heart doctors estimate my actual EF to be in the 30s. They say it's due to my ventricular pacing, and it's fairly common... but will have to keep a closer eye on it. (I'm also on enalapril, an ace inhibitor for the lower EF).
Needless to say I'm now back to 6 month checkups (had graduated to a year for one whole year). lol. (part of that I'm sure is that my pacemaker's down to a 3 year life, so I know they'll want to keep an eye on it too).
That all sounds gloom and doom, huh? I do really feel well, other than some tiredness... which could be my not being able to sleep or everything above.
Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone else has had the pitting edema without excessive swelling or the paradoxical septal motion due to pacing... I had to look up a lot of info on the septal motion because I had never even heard of it before this!!
Thanks so much and hope all of you are doing well!!
Kerri
My valversary was just a couple weeks ago - 2 years on the current On-X mitral valve that I had put in. Things are going well for the most part, though I do have some things going on that I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with.
First of all - I have noticed pitting edema going on. Not so much on extreme swelling or anything, but if I squeeze my arms or press my fingers into my cheeks or sides of my legs, the prints slowly come out... the legs they will stay there for 10-20 seconds, depending on how bad it is. Who's to say how long this has really been going on - I noticed it in June when I had an infection (cellulitus) and was just paying much more attention to my body out of fear of it spreading.
Also, since my surgery my echos have started to show paradoxical septal motion, so while my heart is beating strong and there's no muscle damage, the septal wall isn't going in the right direction, so my congenital heart doctors estimate my actual EF to be in the 30s. They say it's due to my ventricular pacing, and it's fairly common... but will have to keep a closer eye on it. (I'm also on enalapril, an ace inhibitor for the lower EF).
Needless to say I'm now back to 6 month checkups (had graduated to a year for one whole year). lol. (part of that I'm sure is that my pacemaker's down to a 3 year life, so I know they'll want to keep an eye on it too).
That all sounds gloom and doom, huh? I do really feel well, other than some tiredness... which could be my not being able to sleep or everything above.
Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone else has had the pitting edema without excessive swelling or the paradoxical septal motion due to pacing... I had to look up a lot of info on the septal motion because I had never even heard of it before this!!
Thanks so much and hope all of you are doing well!!
Kerri