Tomorrow is my day for AVR

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Recovery is going well. At the 3 week mark and can't wait to get back to normal. Still some sternal discomfort, but is to be expected with the mini sternotomy.
Great to hear that recovery is going well! Thank you for sharing your experience and hope that the sternal discomfort disappears very soon. I am right behind you. I'm getting SAVR in about 36 hours. Like you I am going mechanical, St. Jude in my case. And, I will also be getting a mini-sternotomy.
Please continue to keep us posted.
 
I am off the pain meds. Withdrawals were the worst. Nightmares, cold sweats, the feeling of being pinned down, waking up every hour screaming in pain. Now I can sleep and have normal dreams which is a lot better.

INR is taking its' dear sweet time. 2 weeks ago it was 2.1 and then 4 days later it was 4.2..... go figure.
Then back to 2.2 and again a 4.2 and the last check a 3.4
I started out on 6mg Warfarin and now down to 4MG. I have a feeling I will end up around 3-3.5mg daily to maintain the 2-3 INR. I go-in to the clinic twice a week to get checked and it is about 2 miles from my house so real close. I keep the same diet, which includes a beer a night or a Squirt grapefruit soda a day to every-other day. It's all consistent and my Dr has approved having those in moderation. I still eat my greens in moderation as well and more than likely have the exact same diet.

Most days I don't hear my valve and sometimes forget I even have a new one. However when I get a severe muscle spasm that feels like a heart attack.... then I know.

I take 1000mg Tylenol 3 times a day for pain management. That's it. Plus the 750mg of muscle relaxer, which I might get a refill of. I take one blood pressure pill in the morning to keep the pressure down while the valve tissue heals. I have about 2 more weeks of that then I'm done with lower blood pressure. I have to do clinic INR checking for at least 6 months before they will approve me for home checking. Meters and strips are not cheap and my insurance will pay for all of it. My surgery cost around $200,000 USD for everything so far and my insurance has paid 90% of it.

Thats alot of money but good that you had most of it covered. American health system is really advanced but costly. That being said heart surgery is never going to be cheap.

Thanks for sharing, can you please keep us updated with your progress. Its very inspiring to me and im sure many others, when you share your experience.
Best of luck with cardiac rehab.. physiotherapists are pretty brutal but they know what they are doing and good to have a team around you for the recovery..
 

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