Lora Lee's Posts

Hello everyone! It's almost been 2 months since I had my AVR surgery in Billings, MT. The first couple of weeks were a little miserable , but nothing compared to what happened in my life 10 days after I came home from Billings. At 4:30 am, I received a call that my 23 year old son passed away tragically. My heart is broken. For those of you going through this surgery, you will make it through. If I could survive the surgery and bury my son , without coming completely apart, God will give you strength too. There were at least 500 people at the funeral, and I was hugged by so many of them. I didn't break, but I was exhausted and sore. The only reason I can come up with for not collapsing is God's grace in the form of family and friend support. I've always had faith, but I have seen first hand that God is with us. One might ask where he was for my son, but I believe his healing for Erik came in God's way, not my way. I have to hold on to the fact that a God knows best. So for those of you recovering, you can do it!!! For those of you facing it, I'll pray for you to have as easy of a time with it as I did. I'll also pray for all of you that all of you won't have to add any extra turmoil onto your recovery. God bless you all!

I am the recipient of a bovine valve. Yesterday, the valve or whatever was thumping quieted down, and I could sleep better. Like I said, the first three and a half days I was on oxycodone, so when I got home, my plumbing started working really well. I think I gained about 30 pounds of water weight in the hospital ,but it's gone now, so I am running to the bathroom less for that. Actually, I'm quite sure I wasn't running. There's no running in my future for awhile. I found out that the health care providers all want you to get well (usually), but the all have different ways of conveying it, so sometimes I thought they were being a little hard on me, considering that I just had heart surgery. One of the cockiest surgeons, not mine, actually helped me get moving the most, or I probably would still be In the hospital. He told me to walk every hour and do my spirometer every hour, and when I started that, combined with getting off oxycodone, I started doing much better. I can't say that I was really loving him at that moment. Mine was just a valve replacement, thankfully no blockages. The reason I had to be on the ventilator so long after was because my ph was high. Then my blood pressure cratered after they took me off, and that was another issue, so I spent 3 days in ICU. I could've tried to go home Monday, but I knew I wasn't ready, so Tuesday morning, we hit the interstate down the middle of Montana, stopping every hour, so I could walk around (mostly use the bathroom). I was really wore out the next day, but I also had come down with some frequent loose bowels. I think my body was flushing out a bunch of stuff. I'm good now. My husband tells me I seem less tired that I did prior to the surgery, even thought I get tired out from healing. I actually have been able to stay up past 9 pm without falling asleep. Good Luck to all of you future valves! God will take care of you!