After months of feeling great and making good progress since my surgery, today we learned the reason why more recently I've been feeling rather winded doing things I've always done. For example, about 10 weeks after surgery I could run a mile before tiring out, but now 300 yards is my limit. Not the direction I was hoping for.
So it turns out my body has rejected the pulmonary valve I received during surgery. It's not that this is completely unexpected, it's just that it happened in less than 1 year where normally it's a gradual process that lasts over 20 years or so. The effect is not enough blood is getting to my lungs.
In every other way, my heart, and the rest of me, is doing great. This includes my aortic valve that was the original problem, and my left ventricle, which returned to a normal size just three weeks after surgery. That's very comforting. This new problem is statistically unlikely, but entirely possible.
My doctors are still analyzing the results of my echo cardiogram today, and will be talking about what comes next. We're turning our vacation into a "staycation", keeping close to home and taking it easy. We'll miss seeing my brothers and their families on that trip, but hope to make it up north another time.
That's it for now. Thanks for following my blog! And thanks to our good friend Lisa who offered to reschedule her chemo treatment, change vacation plans, and fill in for Ann Marie on a girl scout trip -- all so we could see my surgeon :)
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4 comments:
Chris, sorry to hear about the rejecton of the valve. When we spoke the other day, that thought cross my mind. As I said, we will keep you in our prayers to get this fixed, once and for all, so we can have you around for a long, long time. - Allen
Chrs, I'm really sorry to hear this, and bummed that it's messing up your vacation plans. Keep us posted, and please let us know if there's anything we can do to help out.
Steady as you go, Chris! and remember, we're all in 'this' 2gether
2
B
Chris,
We're with you all the way, from day one, your surgery last year, your recovery and whatever remedy is needed now. Any time Chris, Ann Marie, Ed, Nika and Allison.
Ray
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