ar bee
April 19th, 2006, 10:10 AM
dear co-valvers
today a year ago i was wheeled out of the theatre with a brand new st judes aortic valve clicking and ticking in me.
Want to share some observations with all of you:
* luckily been a text-book case all the way through, left ventricle size back to normal after 3 month
* went back to work after 6.5 weeks, that was probably a bit too early, should have given it another 10 days rest
* the tube in the throat: yes it is a nuisance, but bear in mind: this is about a multi-month process (surgery, recovery, rehab, etc) so the 15 minutes of tube nuisance do NOT matter at all in the light of the bigger picture!!
* trying to go to the gym regularly (business trips getting into the way..) in order to keep the pump in shape
* started travelling overseas after four month (to Vietnam)
* the warfarin: it took me about three month to get it under control, now stable between 2.2 and 2.5. Artificial sweetener seems to have caused the initial problems
* i drink some red wine (less than half bottle per week), i eat little green vegi
* since march 15 I'm the proud (and stressed out) father of the sweetest of all baby girls (all fathers say that I guess)
* the clicking/ticking: yes it is there and sometimes loud, but much to my surprise it does NOT disturb me. It has become part of me
* only issue i had was period of app 3 month, during which there were skipped heart beats. Disappeared the same way it appeared. Came again during post-natal sleep deprivation while carrying around a crying baby :(
* tks to my wife for greatest support
* tks to my surgeon grandmaster Shankar in Singapore for doing a good job
* tks to all the knowledgeable posters here
* tks to Raverlaw for getting me into rowing
all the best to all of you
ar bee
today a year ago i was wheeled out of the theatre with a brand new st judes aortic valve clicking and ticking in me.
Want to share some observations with all of you:
* luckily been a text-book case all the way through, left ventricle size back to normal after 3 month
* went back to work after 6.5 weeks, that was probably a bit too early, should have given it another 10 days rest
* the tube in the throat: yes it is a nuisance, but bear in mind: this is about a multi-month process (surgery, recovery, rehab, etc) so the 15 minutes of tube nuisance do NOT matter at all in the light of the bigger picture!!
* trying to go to the gym regularly (business trips getting into the way..) in order to keep the pump in shape
* started travelling overseas after four month (to Vietnam)
* the warfarin: it took me about three month to get it under control, now stable between 2.2 and 2.5. Artificial sweetener seems to have caused the initial problems
* i drink some red wine (less than half bottle per week), i eat little green vegi
* since march 15 I'm the proud (and stressed out) father of the sweetest of all baby girls (all fathers say that I guess)
* the clicking/ticking: yes it is there and sometimes loud, but much to my surprise it does NOT disturb me. It has become part of me
* only issue i had was period of app 3 month, during which there were skipped heart beats. Disappeared the same way it appeared. Came again during post-natal sleep deprivation while carrying around a crying baby :(
* tks to my wife for greatest support
* tks to my surgeon grandmaster Shankar in Singapore for doing a good job
* tks to all the knowledgeable posters here
* tks to Raverlaw for getting me into rowing
all the best to all of you
ar bee