Vik-Thor's Journal

I sorta wish I had been able to go to London for the Relay.FM 10th anniversary show. (but at least it looks like the recording has been posted, so I will get to listen to it.)

Missouri's Primary election is 06 August 12024. I am working as Poll Manager again. I am actually working as the republican manager. (no, I am NOT registered as R with the state, nor the state R party. It is just that to work in the polls in MO, you have to declare a party affiliation. I've never registered as / with either major party (even though I am much more of a Democrat than the modern RETHUGLICAN / MAGAT party. The County of Saint Louis is fairly Democrat, so I work as Republican to keep the trumpists / MAGATs from trying to keep people from voting. I don't know if I will continue working as a Poll Manager gong forward... It has been a bit stressful. Regular poll worker, I don't mind, but being in charge of the polling place... no thanks... But on the other hand, I do NOT want the RETHUGLICANs to be the poll managers. (If anyone ever says anything, I will say I am more of an Eisenhower Republican, rather than the modern Trumpist cult member...) Basically, if someone is registered to vote, I want them to be able to vote...

Thursday, 25 July, I stopped at LabCorp to get blood drawn for my Dr. appointment on 1 August. Got the results through MyChart, and about as expected, the cholesterol/lipid #s are a bit high...  not outrageously so.
I am currently on a blood thinner, and 2 blood pressure medications, so I can no longer donate blood. These medications were started after I had an atrial fibrilation earlier this year. I am actually feeling better than before I started taking them (which is pretty much the point, isn't it? :)   )
I've got a home blood pressure machine (actually have had it for well over a year at this point) but only started taking my BP regularly this year. (The times I took it before, I actually thought it wasn't working right, because it was reading 175/101 type readings, and "I don't have high blood pressure, so the machine must not be working right." When I would get my blood pressure at the doctors office, or when I was giving blood, they were not getting readings that high. They would get readings that were a bit elevated, on the high side of normal. Some people have higher blood pressure at Doctor's office, because they are nervous. I think I tend to have lower when official people take it...

I got my https://www.mephitfurmeet.org/ MFM 2024 registration paid, so I will be going down there over Labor Day weekend. Driving my Bolt EUV, so won't be part of the caravan.

Well, there's no real change in status. Still healing as expected. My exercise walks are up to 20-30 minutes. (No, I don't play PokémonGo, yet. I'm thinking about it. I do play Ingress, PG's predecessor on them. I have 5 portals I can get to on my walks.)

A chunk of the surgical glue has come off, so most of the sternal incision is now visible. My first followup visit with doctor was yesterday, with my primary care physician. She took one of my prescriptions down to half. (I have a total of 7 daily prescriptions right now, and a couple of pain scripts as needed.) I actually haven't been needing the pain pills much this past week.

I've been working on reorganizing my comics, breaking the long boxes down into short boxes. Seth has to get the boxes set up for me, as they are well over the 10 pound limit.

Well, last Tuesday (21 June) I went into the hospital to have my bicuspid Aortic valve replaced with a tissue tricuspid valve. I don't remember much of the day (which is a good thing!) The surgery went perfectly by the book., I think I was told it took about 2 hours out of an expected 2-4 hour time frame. The surgeon did not replace any of the aorta itself, just the valve. That was the one thing he was unsure of until the actual surgery.

Chest tubes HURT!!!!

Once the chest/drainage tubes were removed, I was in much less pain, and could move around easier.
I was downgraded from ICU to (I don't remember the actual term) CCU during the day Saturday, but they left me in the ICU room, because there wasn't a room available in the CCU. Then they transferred me at 5AM Sunday morning. after finally getting asleep about 3:30AM. (I did not sleep well during the entire time I was in the hospital.)

Walking in the ICU was more regulated, I had to be accompanied by a nurse at all times, which is understandable. Once I woke up Sunday, I did a round with the physical therapist, using the walker that had been transferred with me from ICU, and was told no longer needed to have a nurse with me, could walk around the floor whenever I wanted. That felt so freeing! I still couldn't leave the unit, so I was walking around a lot, going back in to room to watch some TV, then walking some more. at some point in the early morning, after being cleared to walk by myself, with a walker, the floor cleaning crew came through. The first time I went out after that, the walker was no loud. it was no longer sliding smoothly. And the nurses said I was steady enough, don't even bother with the walker any more, just take is easy.. Endless to say, I went walking quite a bit. And was smiling a lot, because of the freedom, (one of the nurses even took to calling me Smiley, because I was smiling most of the time as I "made my rounds". And in fact did let the nurses know a couple times when someone was verbally calling for a nurse rather than using the call buttons, so I was useful. :)

There was a death in the unit sometime late Sunday. It was the first time my nurse had ever lost anyone under his care. There was one gentleman at the opposite end of the floor from me, who was in for basically comfort care, to keep his passing as tpainfree as possible. He also died at some time while I was in this unit. Another gentleman was in for cancer, and I talked with his wife on one of my rounds (she didn't want to stay in the room when they were doing something to him.) She wondered why I was still in the hospital, since I seemed to be doing so good. (Basically, they don't release heart surgery patients on the weekend.) every other day I was in there, my surgeon or someone from his practice had come around to my room by 9AM at the latest. Monday, they didn't get there until 12:30.

Paperwork for checkout started @~1:30PM Monday. We finally rolled out of the hospital door about 5:30 PM.

and time to take the last of my scheduled medicines an head to bed. as it is getting hard to keep my eyes open.

Well, after sorta, not quite, ignoring my aortic regurgitation, I am now moving forward on getting information regarding the heart surgery / valve replacement.

Not quite ignored, in that I put pretty much the maximum into the FSA through work, whereas most previous years, I've only put in $300 or so. So some planning ahead, which doesn't tend to be my strong suit, especially lately.

I have a CT Scan scheduled for Friday, 06 May, to see if it has gotten worse over the past year. (When I went in to talk to Dr. Chandra last Wodensday, he said the followup scans are normally done every 6 months until surgery…)

He recommended two surgeons, both are covered under my insurance. So I'm going to make appointment with both, see if I feel more comfortable with one or the other. First appointment is 11 May. Haven't heard back from the other one yet.

I know at least one person on my f-list has had heart surgery (though different type), and I think several have had it, so I am going to crowdsource questions for the surgeons. :)
Here is what I have so far:

Recovery time? Good, average, poor. How long before return to work?

Time in Hospital.

Restrictions during recovery / post recovery.

How long will the new valve last?

Gym membership? (I am currently member at a gym. I mentioned the pending heart surgery when I joined. They asked about any heart issues/restrictions and so far I do not have any restrictions. I pay fortnightly, and they said I would be able to suspend membership during the time I will not be able to come in.) Will I be able to continue? What limitations if yes.

How is the surgery done?

Well, last night was … interesting.

Gaming night was a bit off, mostly shopping, which my character didn't do much (any) of. So we broke up early.
Home and in bed ~ 11:30 PM.
Woke up @ ~ 12:30 for bathroom and hiccups, so down to kitchen for some cold almond milk. (my hiccups usually are accompanied by heartburn, and the milk normally stops both. Did last night.)
Back up to bed, and can't seem to catch breath fully, and my heart beat feels weird. Sorta like it's skipping a beat occasionally, is the best way I can describe it. Tried relaxing, but after about 30 minutes of still breathing almost like I'd been running and the odd heartbeats, got dressed and had Seph take me to ER. Not much waiting in the first part, but once I got seen… of course, my heartbeat had regularized by that time (if it actually was beating oddly). So, released @ 5AM with recommendation to see regular doctor and a cardiologist.

How was your night, Internet?