1 year since open heart surgery

One year ago from the moment I posted this blog entry I was wheeled into an operating room.  My chest was cut open, and new artificial parts were installed in my heart.  My heart is now made up of my own tissue, bovine tissue, metal, and plastic. 

Living as we do in Leisure World I have met several guys who also have "zippers" in their chests (i.e., the metal piece that was used to stitch up our sternums).  We all agree--the surgery was brutal.  Having your heart stopped for several hours has to create unusual changes in other parts of your body that take a long time to restore.

Jules and Jessica were there with Vicky, and so were, spiritually, Emily, Sean, Kathy, Tonia, and Bill.  It mattered to me, and for her it was crucial.

A lot has happened in the year since this operation.  Besides the obvious (I LIVED THROUGH IT!!!), I also had two procedures to repair an abnormal heart beat that was a risk of the surgery.  The second one worked, so I no longer have to take blood thinners.

This was a big deal because we chose to have a heart valve made of bovine tissue installed, instead of a mechanical one.  A mechanical one will last forever, but requires life-long blood thinners.  The bovine-based one has a 20-year-life span, but no blood thinners are needed.  So if we couldn't get the abnormal heart beat fixed then we would have swung and missed on this one because, in hindsight, it would have been better to take the mechanical valve. 

We chose to take the risk of another (although smaller) operation so we could continue with our outdoor life and not worry about something happening where I would bleed to death because of blood thinners I was taking.

My cardiologist said I had recovered faster than any patient she had ever had.

Our belief is that this is due to three factors.

One factor is that I didn't really have heart disease.  Instead, I had two dysfunctional parts of my heart, perhaps congenital.  I didn't have high cholesterol or high blood pressure. 

The second factor is that we entered this surgery after taking three years preparing for it--by increasing our already very solid exercise level.  We reasoned that people work to get into shape for marathons, so why not work to get into shape for this type of marathon?

The third factor is that Vicky had been and continued feeding me well.  Everything made from scratch--high use of low-fat protein, vegetables, and fruits.  A heart healthy diet.

After surgery it is recommended that one participate in something called "heart rehab."  I called two places that offered this service, told them what I had been doing in the two weeks after surgery, and both of the people we talked to freaked out.  STOP!!!  Sit!!!! We said screw that.  Within a month I was walking 5 miles per day.  We don't need no steeeeenking heart rehab!

Since the surgery this is what we have accomplished together:

475+     miles walking
2450+   miles cycling
200+     miles hiking (meaning off trail, in the desert mountains, with a 20-pound backpack)
65 +      miles swimming (Vicky twice that because she's a swimmer and I'm a dog paddler)

Plus a lot of ballroom dancing and ping pong.  Plus moving from Whidbey Island to Nuestra Casa, (meaning hours and hours of working to fix up our Whidbey Island home, packing and carrying boxes, etc.).

It was an odd experience in many ways.  One way was that I had no symptoms.  I was the picture of health.  I had been doing, with Vicky and Jules, Seattle to Portland 200-mile bike rides, and cycling an average of 2000+ miles/year.  Vicky and I had been doing off-trail hiking to the tune of 500 miles/year.  I had no shortness of breath, no weakness, no nothing.

So I went into the hospital, had an operation, and it took me six months to feel as good as the day I went in.  That's odd.  Usually when you have a big operation it is because you feel bad, and the operation is to make you feel better.

Lesson:  GET PHYSICAL EXAMS.  My heart problem was caught by, of all people, a urology PA at a routine urology exam.

And even though I had no symptoms, it was seriously serious.  Before my surgery I had an angiogram.  This is a procedure where a small camera is inserted into the heart.  The doctor who performed this procedure was quite agitated afterwards, telling us we must do something.  When we told him we had surgery scheduled that week.  He gave an emphatic "Good!"

As one of the doctors said, my first symptom would have been to die. 

We are ready for whatever curve ball life throws at us now.  We all have a bunch of them.  We both just want to go down swinging.  This past year was exactly that.  This time, with my heart surgery, we feel like we connected.  We took a risk so that we could be together for several years, instead of just waiting in fear for the next 2-3 years for the aneurysm in my heart to explode and for me to die on the spot.

I'd say we are going to celebrate today, but, frankly, we celebrate every day.