Category: Heart

Update #2

Today is 3 weeks since my surgery.

I am slow moving trying to get my energy back again but not overdoing it.

It is hot here so 90% of my walking is indoor at this point. I go out early a.m. or later p.m.

The Livingston house update is slow and steady.

The framers are supposed to be there this week.

The people doing the front gable porch and the back lean too porch will be getting started soon. The concrete area for the porches is 12ft x 40 ft so the lean too back porch will be that size. The gable front porch will be 10ft each side of the front door and 12 ft out.

They will also custom build my island I am just trying to decide on 8ft or 9ft long.

2

My robotic mitral valve replacement surgery

I went into the hospital on Monday April 17, 2023 for my surgery.

None the less they came out and told my family they had started the surgery and I was on the heart lung machine this was at 9:00 a.m. My family could not see me until 7:00 p.m. that night.

I had wires and needles every where cartoid artery and femoral elbow wrist plus more. Drainage tube in ribs on the right side.

They have to deflate you lung to do this surgery but my lungs suck so afterwards I was 80% oxygen x 5 days and 60% for 4 days then they weaned me down from there. Oxygen high volume makes my nose throw clots not a fun thing.

My sister said once I made it to the 1st ICU recovery I had 3 IV poles with 4 computers on each one a tube jetting out my neck and a breathing tube. I really could not prepare anyone for all this because I did not know.

When I moved to second ICU room the breathing tube came out THANK GOD. I think it was day 3 the drainage tube came out oh geeze that was a relief.

Second night after the drainage tube was removed it leaked all over me in the night. By this point I am doing breathing treatments 4 x a day.

I really never was in pain from the actual procedue I think they said there are 6 incisions.

I was in AFIB going into surgery and coming out. I developed pneumonia from the AFIB so this means IV antibiotics.

IV lasix to get offf about 15#s of fluid from surgery. Thank goodness I had a catheter to pee it out.

I could not eat nothing tasted good, I still have no taste I went 9 days without eating anything and no I did not have a sodium IV drip they were pulling fluid off not adding it. Now at day 13 I am eating about 400 calories a day.

My potassium and magnesium both got low so yippee more IV junk.

My stomach hates meds it makes it burn so they gave me stuff to coat it.

I think it was day 4 I went to the ICU #3 the nurses do not bother you as much the cath came out and I can pee on my own but have to help with the IV pole.

Daily Xrays of my lungs, 3 echoes on my heart and a transesphogeal echo to check the valve and finally cardio version to stop the AFIB. They have me blowing in tubes to make me cough then it hurts to cough but I really do get it.

They had issues getting my INR in the blood to a therapeutic level so I could leave and be safe. It was the last minute on day 11. The international normalised ratio (INR) blood test tells you how long it takes for your blood to clot. 

I came home on the afternoon of day 11 on Thursday yesterday was my first full day home. I am so so glad to be home and so so grateful this much is behind me.

I have a mechanical valve so my INR has to be monitored every week or two. I take warfarin for this for the rest of my life.

ON day 12 I checked in with my cardio he said I am doing wonderful and he is is excited. He said I looked a little pale but he thinks its from the low BP.

Today is day 13 I feel pretty good , weak from not eating and now my BP is a bit low but I am getting there. Really the side where the drain was still hurts but that will get better over time. No other pain.

My family was great to visit me in the hospital and make me laugh. I am grateful to Jack my husband, Joshua and Cori our oldest son and his wife, Jeanelle our youngest daughter and Andrew my grandon, my sister Sheri and her husband David for making my time in the hospital go by faster. My mother n law who is 94 and kept checking on me she is the best. Love you all.

My recovery is 2 – 3 months before I can drive, pick up stuff thats heavier than 1 – 2 #s and have more energy again.

I am supposed to walk the distance I can without getting short of breath then stop and repeat 5 – 6 times a day. It is more about doing it often through out the day not all at once.

I had a team of wonderful skilled Drs from the Houston Medical Center and going with robotics it is a less invasive surgery to recover from.

I AM BLESSED IN SO MANY WAYS. LIFE IS GOOD!

7

Update on the heart

I saw my regular cardiologist last week.

Today I had a heart cath to rule out any issues before my valve replacement.

There were no surprises so that is a good thing.

If all goes well surgery is next week.

It’s a blessing to live close to the Houston Medical Center where some of the best drs around are.

I think one of the great things is they can do heart valve surgery with robotics this is our plan on mine.

I will keep you all posted as much as possible.

2

Heart update

We thought we had the AFIB under control then I went to Bradycardia my heart rate was super low.

It ranged from 42 to 46 beats per minute. What this does it make you feel cold inside your body like you are standing in a freezer. There’s not much blood moving at all.

I saw the cardio on Friday but he had me quit the Amioderane before I saw him.

I started a new script Warfarin to prevent blood clots.

I will see a heart valve specialist at Baylor/ St Lukes’s/ Texas Heart Institute next week.

This will see if I am a candidate for valvoplasty this is to get the AFIB under control. Evidently, my mitral valve is very small it’s stenotic. This makes my atrium very large and this causes too much blood to pool it is like flooding out the atrium and flooding my lungs.

It seems that the AFIB will continue and get worse each time this happens.

I am grateful we are outside of Houston and have access to some of the best Drs in the world. My current cardiologist has always listened to me and my concerns he is a great Dr.

Over the next few weeks there will be a lot more testing on my heart they have to make sure this will do me some good.

I will update you when I have more information to share.

3

Afib again

Monday night while watching TV, my throat closed up, and my heart started racing.

I found my Kardio Mobile my cardiologist had me buy and checked my heart rate.

It said AFIB I tried it 5 times and all 5 said AFIB. Off to the ER, we went. This thing is great for anyone that has heart rhythm issues.

I walked into the ER and told them I was in AFIB and they took me straight back this was a good thing because there was about 40 or 50 people in the ER.

My heart raced up to 178 beats a minute then down to 130 back and forth never going below 130. It took 3 IV injections of metoprolol and a digoxin pill to get it down to 120 as time went on slowly by 7 a.m. Tuesday it was in the 70s. I had about 12 hours of fast heart rate, and my whole chest felt bruised.

I developed fluid in my lungs from the afib but they kept me until Wednesday evening and finally I could go home.

They upped my metoprolol dosage and added amiodarone to the mix, so far so good. They said the fluid would go away from the fluid pills it was mild fluid in the lungs caused by being in AFIB. My current heart rate is 57 – 62.

It seems the mitral valve that is already damaged gets worse during AFIB, but when the heart rate returns to normal, the valve returns to its previous state.

I feel okay I have been a little more tired than usual but last time it took me about a week to get over the AFIB episode.

I am thankful I did not have to do cardioversion again and everything turned out okay.

7

My beating heart

I was able to go one time to rehab then I went into AFIB.

I was in AFIB for 8 days straight medications was not stopping my crazy heart beats. AFIB is quite exhausting your heart rate goes high then 30 beats slower then higher again all this back and forth feels like your heart is running a marathon. It makes you physically drained and exhausted. You can not even think about taking a walk any form of exertion increases your heart rate. Your chest pounds and you just can not breathe good it is a horrible feeling.

My dr suggested a Tranesphogeal echo to check out for any new clots, the new stent and my mitral valve all which could be causing the AFIB. As it turns out I had no new clots, the stent was fine and the mitral valve was the same.

My AFIB was from a chain of events. Apparently my body hated the heart attack so much that it decided to rebel against me. It has also screwed up some of my blood work which the Dr.’s all tell me will even back out in time.

He was able to get some good pics in 3D of my heart and then came the fun part.

They had to do a Cardioversion which is a procedure used to return an abnormal heartbeat to a normal rhythm.

I was already under deep anesthesia from the tee echo so the cardioversion came next.

It is like in the movies when someone has a heart attack and they bring out the paddles to shock the heart. They do this to get the heart back beating correctly.

My heart has returned to a normal rhythm but I feel like I have been beat up. Hopefully I will feel better in a few days.

I am adding another medication this medication hopefully will keep my heart in rhythm it is called Amiodarone it is a antiarrhythmics. I hate taking medication but it seems I have no choice.

Life is good and great medical care is essential.

2

Cardiac Rehab

Today I am starting cardiac rehab. It has been three weeks since my heart attack.

I will be doing rehab 3 x a week for 10 – 12 weeks. I set my appointments for early since I get up early anyway and that way I can still take mother in law to the church 2 x a week.

Rehab will not cost me any copays so that is a good thing.

Ever since I have been home from the hospital Jack and I walk for 30 minutes outdoors around 7:00 a.m. By the time I do that I am pooped out. I take a daily nap which I never did before the heart attack.

I see the cardiologist this week and will find out what testing is going to be done to evaluate my heart function. I have met my deductible on my health insurance as well as the maximum out of pocket so I want the best testing available.

Last week we ate salmon patties and tuna casserole to get in our two fish meals a week. I am sure fish will get old to me I would rather eat chicken.

6

Heartbeats of denial

On Monday and Tuesday I take my mother in law to the church and the ladies get together and make quilts and rosaries.

This past Monday I took her to church and all of a sudden while inside the building I got extreme left sided center chest pain. I was sweating really bad but the AC was out in the building for some reason. Then I got short of breath and my arms and shoulders got tingly and numb.

Since I do a lot of reading and have always been interested in medical information I knew what it was but at the same time I knew I was in a room of 12 ladies in their mid 70s – 95. I did not want to have a heart attack and scare them all to death. I got in mother in laws van and drove home its like a 10 minute drive. I called Jack and talked to him all the way home.

When I got home he wanted me to go to the ER right then but even though I knew what was happening I was in denial. I tried to blow it off that the peanut butter toast I had for breakfast gave me indigestion even though it had never done this before.

About 3:30 I emailed my cardio told him my symptoms went from left center chest pain to numb arms and shoulders but then the pain traveled from the left to the right after about 3 hours. He suggested I go to the ER right away so by this time was around 5:45 p.m. We were in the ER about 6:15 p.m. The really bad pain that was a 10+ was now around a 5 and on the opposite side.

We get to the ER and there are 60 people in there. I wanted to just leave but we stayed. There were people all around with puke bags and stuff all I could think of was all the germs in that room circulating all around. I kept my mask on and did not dare to take if off. I kept telling myself not to go the restroom.

We found out there were no empty rooms in the hospital they have 293 beds.

I was taken back fairly quickly for a EKG it was a bit squirly but not crazy. A few hours later finally blood work was done and my troponin levels were high that is the enzyme that tells if you have had a heart attack. At this point the Dr informed me I had a heart attack. I was immediately put in a ER room and put on a heparin IV for the next 6 hrs. During that time my blood was checked 2 or 3 times and for some reason my Troponin levels were going up and not down.

Troponins are a group of proteins found in skeletal and heart (cardiac) muscle fibers that regulate muscular contraction. Troponin tests measure the level of cardiac-specific troponin in the blood to help detect heart injury.

Next thing I know this nurse rushes in the room early a.m. takes my ice water and on her way out the door says no more drinking anything your going to surgery. Finally the nurse that was in charge of me came in there and explained the cardiologist was concerned about heart damage and I was going for a heart catherization and a stent.

I had surgery at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. I kept praying to god to watch over me and take care of me I still have lots of life I want to live. I tried my best not to fall asleep but the drugs knocked me out but I woke back up and talked to the Dr. a a few times. It is only 62 degrees in the catherization lab I was freezing. The nice thing is there is a 70″ screen and you can watch the procedure as its happening IF you are awake.

I had a blockage in the left anterior descending artery which branches off the left coronary artery that supplies blood to the left side front of the heart. I learned I had heart damage from this heart attack. The inside wall of the LA upper portion inside is damaged. I am grateful my cardiologist was able to meet me at the hospital and do my surgery.

The cardio said the blood thinner I was on saved my life it was Clopidogrel I was given it last September after the aorta illiac stent was put in. He changed me to a super blood thinner Brilinta 90 mg 2 x a day that should prevent any further heart attacks. It had only been 10 months since my last stent. It is those inherited disorders that will catch up to you at some point.

They ordered breathing treatments because I was very short of breath but my oxygen levels were 93-95 so I did not need or want oxygen I hate that thing in my nose or on my face. I was given the breathing treatments every 4 hours and the dr called in a script for a home nebulizer with 2 medications. This could be a side effect from the heart attack and it seems to be getting a bit better every day.

I finally got to come home Thursday night around 7:00 p.m. The cardio ordered cardiac rehab but I am not sure when I get to start it. I might have to wait until I see him for the follow up visit in about 3 weeks but I did call rehab to check on it.

My after affects of this heart attack I feel like I have been ran over by a freight train, chest is bruised and sore and I am exhausted. My whole body aches. Walking 500 steps seems like 5000. I have been through a lot in my lifetime and never have I ever felt this bad. I already have about 8 bruises from the blood thinners.

From what I have been told and read it says it can take up to 8 months to fully recover from a heart attack. I am stubborn I will not push myself to hard but will try to walk short walks a few times a day by short I mean 500 steps.

Never ignore symptoms and then go into denial. Pay attention to your body and what it is trying to tell you. Now I know for sure what a heart attack feels like I will get to the ER right away if this ever happens again. I am hoping by sharing my story I can help save someone else’s life.

Life is GOOD!

12

Mitral Valve Surgery Update

I had my transesophageal Tee Echo last week it is the one test that can give the best look at the heart and valves.

They do lots of measurements on the regurgitation, valve diameters, heartbeats, and other stuff.

Both my surgeon and my cardiologist have come to the conclusion that I can put off my valve surgery for now. This is a good thing because I was honestly dreading having my chest cracked open and that was the only surgery option I had.

How long it can be put off who knows but we are aiming for a year or so.

Some might ask why to put off something that is inevitable. Well, there are complications anytime you put a mechanical item into your body. There are complications for some people with the blood thinners and it requires monthly monitoring for some people it is weekly for others. This depends on how your body handles the drugs well I have A LOT of issues with medications so my luck I would be one that would have complications.

Right now my symptoms ( extreme shortness of breath, dizziness)  are being managed by adding new medications, changing old medications to better medications or reducing the dosage of an existing medication.

I feel very blessed and I am thankful I get to wait a while on this surgery. Thank you for all the prayers and good thoughts I appreciate your support.

 

 

 

2

My Heart Cath.

I have been tested so much lately it’s unreal.

The carotid artery scan last week the results were great.

I had my heart Cath on Wednesday of this week and the best thing happened to me.

My arteries are that of an 18-year-old. There were no blockages or partial blockages my arteries are perfect.

I contribute this to a change in our diets 26 years ago when my father n law had a heart attack. I made the decision at that time to stop frying so many foods and now we maybe have something fried 2 x a month.

I have young arteries and even though I will be doing heart valve replacement very soon this is such a blessing.

 

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