Finally back a little

[William Rogers]

I’m posting here as a reminder it is not a bad idea to get a medical checkup. Between the age of 20 and 50 I doubt I saw a doctor more than 5 times. I think I was more in fear that something would be found. About 2 years after getting a yearly physical my primary doctor scheduled me for a stress treadmill test. Ended up I had an enlarged heart. Went to a cardiologist and meds fixed it. Now 8 years later and yearly checkups with a cardiologist, I had open heart surgery at the end of September. I had my aortic valve replaced as mine was defective at birth and closing up. I was a-sympotomatic to this as I didn’t have any pain or indications failure was imminent. Get a checkup if you haven’t had one in a while. They can fix about anything these days.

I am at the 20 pound weight limit and have turned some wine/whiskey stoppers and bottle openers. I will be unlimited weight in a couple of weeks, but guess it will be January before I do larger turnings.

 

[Tom Gall]

Good advice....even though I don't heed that advice myself. Glad to hear your surgery went well and that you are on the mend. Nice little turnings!

 

[Bill Boehme]

Welcome back, William. Seeing a cardiologist is important even if we don't like what they tell us. I had a quadruple CABG a year ago and recovery was rough, but I wouldn't be here now if I had chosen to ignore the warning signs.

 

[robo hippy]

Well, no heart issues thus far. Getting an annual check up is important. I am still in the one thorough check up one year and a 'how you doing Doc?' the next year. Do pay attention to little things... Glad you are well!

robo hippy

 

[Russ Braun]

Easier said than done William! I did recently visit my cardiologist and the resulting heart flutter I got when I saw how attractive she was definitely had me booking a future appointment. Flutters can be very unnerving!! Growing old is certainly better than option B! Parts appear to be wearing out and it is important to not break down on the side of the road!!

 

[William Rogers]

Thanks all. Bill I remember when you had your CABG. However at the time didn’t appreciate the recovery that was associated. I did get a plate installed that is suppose to allow the bone to heal faster. I’m now doing Christmas ornaments.

 

[Bruce Miller]

Good to hear you're on the path to recovery, do all they say to do for your recovery.
I had heart issues at the ripe old age of 41, my 1st cardiologist said to me "well we're all going to die sometime" ... It was at that moment I went and found a new cardiologist, I'm 55 now and symptom free.

 

[William Rogers]

Well, hit another bump. At rehab was on the treadmill working moderate and passed out. They did CPR as they couldn’t find a pulse. When I “woke” up there were 15 or so doctors and nurses. Still undetermined. Will spend the night in the hospital. At least I was at the hospital when everything happened.

 

[hockenbery]

Wishing you well!
Glad you are with us.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

They did CPR as they couldn’t find a pulse.

Uh, yikes! Sad that happened, but glad we're hearing about this from you.

 

[John Torchick]

Good idea to check with a doctor. Glad you are dong better and continue to improve.
This summer was shot as I fought diverticulitis for a month and as a result, emergency surgery to remove a large bowel blockage August 10th.

Patient- Doc, I want a second opinion.
Doctor- OK, you are ugly, too.

 

[William Rogers]

Update


I’m now home after spending the night in the hospital. Good news is they found nothing. I had CT scans of chest and head, x-rays of chest, echograms of heart, multiple blood test, and brain scan. Bad news is my back is so sore I can hardly move at all. A slight cough is very painful, hopefully I don’t have to sneeze. Even a deep ywan breath is very painful. I found out this morning that I fell back against the wall when I passed out. I thought it was from the uncomfortable ER bed, but maybe not the real cause. Note sent to doctor to get some pain meds. Right now diagnosed as “syncope" that means you can get dizzy or pass out. Doctor said it was likely caused by exertion and in future if there is even the slightest sign of passing out, then “quit doing that". I had my fifteen minutes of hospital fame. They did call a CODE BLUE for me, so I guess I joined the survivor CODE BLUE club.

Well I was in the right place at the right time.

 

[robo hippy]

From my experience with hospital beds, they are designed for torture, and the people that designed them never had to sleep in them.... The nurses agreed with me.... Just take it slow and easy..

robo hippy

 

[William Rogers]

From my experience with hospital beds, they are designed for torture, and the people that designed them never had to sleep in them.... The nurses agreed with me.... Just take it slow and easy..

robo hippy

Thanks Reed

The ER bed I think is designed for 90 minutes max. I was in that for 10 hours. This Covid thing does have hospitals at the max. I went into ER at 10:00 am and didn’t get a room until 8:30 that night. I must say the staff was very attentive and provided great care.

 

[hockenbery]

This Covid thing does have hospitals at the max. I went into ER at 10:00 am and didn’t get a room until 8:30 that night.

Glad you had staff and a bed.

timing may prove to be fortunate. In two weeks you might not find any bed. It’s getting worse and we are just starting to see the bump from holiday travelers.

 

[William Rogers]

Thanks Al

At least you go to the front of the line when you are CODE BLUE for a ER bed and testing. After they run their test and determine you are stable you have to get in line for a room.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I'm guessing that "CODE BLUE" is self-explanatory. I'm glad to see that you are now back home and feeling much better.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

Last November 25th I had a TAVR (trans aortic valve replacement) procedure at the U of M hospital in Minneapolis and on the afternoon of the 26th I was discharged. The whole thing started when I went in for a wellness exam and the doctor said I had a noisy valve, then the local testing = bicuspid aortic valve, then the scheduled rip you open type repair job in Fargo, then a referral to the U of M with a schedule in February, but the chief surgeon decided it couldn't wait. The most pain I had was from laying flat on my back for about 8 hours The scariest part would have been finding lodging and driving to the hospital but that was taken care of by my son, then on the Saturday after thanksgiving my daughter drove our car with my wife and myself and her family following back to our home in the north woods. The advice I got from my daughter in law (NP) is that there are 3 locations in MN and the 4 surrounding states to have the valve replacement done and none of them included Fargo. So it sounds like I really avoided some major nasties by having the TAVR.

 

[William Rogers]

My cardiologist is the doctor that does the TAVR procedures. For my situation he recommended the open heart at this time. It was my choice and decided to follow his recommendation. There are two surgeons at this hospital that do open heart. Both well respected. My latest problem are not due to the surgery that I know. They did the echogram and said the new valve looks great and the heart is pumping very good.

 

[John Torchick]

My cardiologist is the doctor that does the TAVR procedures. For my situation he recommended the open heart at this time. It was my choice and decided to follow his recommendation. There are two surgeons at this hospital that do open heart. Both well respected. My latest problem are not due to the surgery that I know. They did the echogram and said the new valve looks great and the heart is pumping very good.

Always exciting to have good news from the doctor.

 

[William Rogers]

Here I go again. Thursday was my first day back at cardiac rehab doing just light exercise. The put a heart monitor on me and said they would do so for the remainder of my visits. After two light exercisers they didn’t like my heart rhythm. Back to the ER where the put on a more sensitive heart monitor and another night in the hospital. Didn’t see any abnormalities after 24 hours. Cardiologist said nothing showing up where I would need a pacemaker. He did put me on a light beta blocker. This is getting old.

So going back to cardiac rehab tomorrow. Wish me luck. I have never felt anything at all for any of this.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Luck!

 

[Bill Boehme]

I hope that all goes well. I finished my Phase II cardiac rehab about ten months ago ... just a couple weeks before life as we knew it got turned on it's head. I had just started the Phase III program when the hospital bean-counters decided it was an unnecessary expense. I joined the local chapter of Mended Hearts, a wonderful support group, but only got to attend a couple meetings before the pandemic shut that down.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

My cardiologist is the doctor that does the TAVR procedures. For my situation he recommended the open heart at this time. It was my choice and decided to follow his recommendation. There are two surgeons at this hospital that do open heart. Both well respected. My latest problem are not due to the surgery that I know. They did the echogram and said the new valve looks great and the heart is pumping very good.

My wife had her aortic valve replaced, I had to find 3 Doctors to say she was at risk and open heart surgery was not an option for her. It's all about the money, open heart is cheaper. She also had a code blue, the nurse looked at me and yelled: go get a Dr! I'm like, wait, we are in the ER, dont they have Dr's here? I open the curtain and nobody was there, hit a button on the wall that the nurse told me, and started yelling for help. After one minute she was back with us...

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

Here I go again. Thursday was my first day back at cardiac rehab doing just light exercise. The put a heart monitor on me and said they would do so for the remainder of my visits. After two light exercisers they didn’t like my heart rhythm. Back to the ER where the put on a more sensitive heart monitor and another night in the hospital. Didn’t see any abnormalities after 24 hours. Cardiologist said nothing showing up where I would need a pacemaker. He did put me on a light beta blocker. This is getting old.

So going back to cardiac rehab tomorrow. Wish me luck. I have never felt anything at all for any of this.

Best of luck!

 

[William Rogers]

My wife had her aortic valve replaced, I had to find 3 Doctors to say she was at risk and open heart surgery was not an option for her. It's all about the money, open heart is cheaper. She also had a code blue, the nurse looked at me and yelled: go get a Dr! I'm like, wait, we are in the ER, dont they have Dr's here? I open the curtain and nobody was there, hit a button on the wall that the nurse told me, and started yelling for help. After one minute she was back with us...

Thanks, I really, really don’t want to spend another night at the Hospital.

Glad your wife is also a code blue survivor. When I came to there was a cardiologist there right above me. They did two rounds of CPR, so not sure how long I was out. There may have been other doctors as I did draw a crowd.

Emiliano, not sure about the open heart surgery being “cheap”, as I saw the bill. It came down to my choice open heart vs TAVR. My cardiologist who does the TAVR recommended the open heart based on my age/health as TAVR is a newer procedure and if a second replacement was necessary it would be easy to do the TAVR.

 

[GRJensen]

I had a quadruple by-pass a little over 4 years ago ... started rehab a few days after they cut me loose from the hospital.

Went through phase I and II, and decided to go into phase III which is a perpetual workout program. Had my 546th session yesterday!

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

Thanks, I really, really don’t want to spend another night at the Hospital.

Glad your wife is also a code blue survivor. When I came to there was a cardiologist there right above me. They did two rounds of CPR, so not sure how long I was out. There may have been other doctors as I did draw a crowd.

Emiliano, not sure about the open heart surgery being “cheap”, as I saw the bill. It came down to my choice open heart vs TAVR. My cardiologist who does the TAVR recommended the open heart based on my age/health as TAVR is a newer procedure and if a second replacement was necessary it would be easy to do the TAVR.

When my wife woke up and they allowed me back in, she asked me why are you crying?! You were dead! I told her. I gave the nurse that saved her a huge Milo end grain tall Pu'ahala calabash. Somehow it seemed like it was not enough.

 

[William Rogers]

Emiliano, I know what you mean about not enough. I had 8 people that I gave smaller turnings to, but each was thankful. I kept telling them I was the one thankful.

Good day yesterday as I came home. I didn’t want to push anything. Taking a week off from cardiac rehab for personal reasons, will then get back to a more vigorous workout.

Gene, if I can just complete the 36 rehab sessions I’ll be more than happy.

Thanks all

 

[hockenbery]

William
Glad you are coming back strong.

 

[Dave Fritz]

Wishing you continued recovery. I'm really glad Medicare has that yearly wellness check. Prevention doesn't get enough credit, crisis always gets the headlines. Mundane is good.