Liidia's Profile

Aortic Valve replacement with a cow valve and Maze procedure Left Carotid Artery cleaned out. That was the task on 7/16/14. I did not know I had a defective valve, which they told me I had all my life. Unfortunately, I did not have the luxury of planning, researching, reading and or sharing about heart surgery with anyone except ER personnel. On June 29, I was rushed to the WakeMed ER with AFib - 170 beats per minute. They did get the heart back to a normal rate. The following week a battery of tests to determine what was going on discovered the valve and my left cartoid artery was 99% blocked. With other medications and Xaralto they sent me home on 7/4 to schedule outpatient the artery and watch the valve. The Xaralto caused internal bleeding and I was in the ER on 7/6, minus close to 4 units of blood. 2 days in the ICU while filling up with blood and trying to determine where the bleeding occurred resulted in the decision not to wait on anything. So...more tests, monitoring my condition and finally surgery on 7/16. The prognosis is good and the beginning of recovery has been ok - because at times, I'm still stunned this happened, even angry, but glad to be alive. I stumbled onto this sight about 4 weeks ago and was so grateful that there was a place to share and see that people do recovery - not just physically, but emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Thank you all for being here.