Steve's Posts

To Family, Friends and Well Wishers, Last Thursday I visited my surgeon for a 6 week meeting. I hadn't seen him since the day he let me out of the hospital. I was looking to get a good report and to be able to drive and to increase my heart rate during exercise. The doctor said I looked good. He took a look at the statistics log I had kept since I left the hospital (daily heart rate, blood pressure, weight, lung capacity and O2) and said that I was doing very well. OK, I am a hopeless accounting and engineering type. I kept the logs to look for progress and determine problems. They gave me some peace of mind when there were no doctors around. I have put them in the file cabinet now. I have been back at work for most of January and been getting daily exercise. I am up to about 2 miles per day walking (about 5 days per week). Last Saturday after being released by the doctor I tried jogging for about 1/2 mile. The capacity was good. My heart rate stayed around 133 and it was my legs that said, "What are you doing here". I have been looking forward to these days when I could sense that I was considerably better off than before. I really think I am. I will know more in a few months as I steadily increase my activity. To my wife I owe a big thank you for driving me everywhere for the last 5 weeks. Thank you to family and friends for the phone calls and well wishes. I feel like a new man. On Feb 11, I will walk my youngest daughter down the aisle and dance at her wedding reception, not to mention singing in the wedding ceremony. I feel very fortunate and grateful. A Happy Heart Valve Patient, Steve

Here it is 8 days from surgery and I am at home healing. Coming home was good in that it is a quiet and controlled atmosphere. Then again, the monitors are gone and it's just me and my wife and daughter. The first night I had a hard time sleeping. I was so tired and keyed up. My heart was beating so hard that we could actually see my body pulsing with the new blood flow. It was hard to not focus on all the new feelings. Now, a couple of days later I am sleeping about 6 hours at night and a couple of hours during the day. I am doing exercise walking laps in our one level home. I am trying to increase my distance about 20% per time of exercise ( twice per day). I am still feeling some pain but have managed to cut back to a tylenol about every six hours. I have been spending about 4 hours per day at my desk (2 hours morning and 2 afternoon) just keeping touch with my business life. I am so grateful to have had this surgery in the 21st century. The high quality porcine valve, the very intellegent and highly respected surgeon, Dr. James Spann, the high quality nurses and technology at my Heart Center all helped me to get an excellent result. Technology allowed me to see well wishes through e-mail and this journal even while I was still in ICU. Even though technology allowed me to see encouragement quickly I still had old fashioned extra love from family who turned up at 5:30 in the morning to wish me well and then sat through all the drama to again greet me in ICU. What a great family I have. What great friends that showed love and support. That really helped my confidence level. My difficult times come from a loss of confidence and trust. Night time is the worst, as I listen to this body sync to it's new flow and work hard to heal. It has interupted my sleep as I wake up suddenly in panic. As sleep comes easier, then everything looks better. I have to sleep in the recliner. I just can't lay down flat on my back yet, the pain is too much and I tend to panic a little. I can't explain it, but I am trying relaxation techniques to get to a place where I can fall asleep fairly quickly. It worked well last night, so I am hopeful. I hope to get out to a local park this weekend and do a little walking outside. Thanks for listening, Steve Regouby