My Aortic Adventure

A ny surgery can cause distress.     We often worry about how our bodies will be altered and how comparably they will function after an operation. Recovery times may also cause us to worry about what we will do with our downtime and how we will stay sane during a time when we might not be able to do the activities that make us happy. For the past decade, I have been an avid rock climber with such a strong passion for my sport that it drives every life decision I make. During that decade, I have also had 3 major surgeries including a heart surgery and one ACL replacement (I had 2 other ACLs replaced in the previous decade). The thing that both of these procedures had in common was that they took me away from my passion and forced me to see who I am when I can’t be who I have been.     My heart surgery required 5 weeks of heavy restriction followed by another year of building back to my pre-surgery abilities. My ACL had a very similar timeline, which I am just finishing up as I write thi

A neighborhood high above Medellin, Colombia  After receiving a mechanical heart valve, I am now dependent on Warfarin for the rest of my life.  I wrote about this decision, and what life has been like, in a previous post. When taking Warfarin, it is essential for me to get blood checks to see my INR level and whether or not I need to adjust my medicine. (Yes that’s right; I adjust my medicine to meet my lifestyle and not the other way around) These blood checks are usually 1-2 months apart, and with my health insurance, I have to get these INR checks done at a hospital.  There are at-home devices that check INR, but I am not covered for one, and they are very expensive out of pocket. So, how would I be able to manage my medicine without access to my hospital? The view from my apt. Medellin Until now, my trips out of the country have all been for less than a month, so it has been sufficient for me to get my INR checked before travel and feel good about not getting it again until after

Getting psyched for knee surgery! I recently had to have my ACL replaced. This has been a nagging injury for many years, and in May 2021, I finally pushed it over the edge.  With one little slip on ice, I way laying on the ground screaming in pain, unable to get my meniscus out of the way to allow my knee to bend again.  After a minute or so, it finally clicked back into place.  I hiked the mile back to my car, and knew that it was time to get this knee looked at by a doctor. After it was determined that I would need ACL surgery, and the prospect of a looming 9 month recovery settled in, I started to think of my heart and my anticoagulant dependency.  In 2016, I received a mechanical aortic valve and ascending aorta and have since then taken anticoagulants every single day.  Through this process, the need to consistently take my medicine was always stressed to me.  I was told that Warfarin stays in my system for roughly three days, and in order to keep the correct level, I would need t

Before open-heart surgery, I did some planning for the space that I would use for recovery.    I had to figure out what I wanted my living situation to look like when I returned home from the hospital.  I wanted to make sure that when I got home, everything I needed would be accessible, functional, and set-up to promote healing.  In the few days before my operation, I made some of these changes, but it wasn’t until I lived through this process that I understood what was truly important.  Here are some of the considerations to make before heading into a major procedure like this. Ready to head home from my open heart surgery The key here is to think ahead and take on as many of the necessary tasks before surgery so that when you come home, they are not a concern.  Where is your bedroom? During the time of my surgery (and still today), I was living in a basement apartment.  This proposed two issues.  First, this meant that I would need to walk up and down stairs for simple things

Sunset in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Travel is an important part of my life. I remember as a kid thinking of what it would be like to see different parts of the world. This may have started during a 6th grade trip to New York City and Ellis Island, but at some point, I knew I wanted to explore as many places as I could.  I was excited to get out and see different countries and cultures, and this desire to travel has fueled most of my decisions since.   When I was young, I had a misconception of travel. I believed it was something reserved for the "rich people," since I did not personally know anyone who had widely traveled. I thought that seeing foreign countries was an experience that a person had to work a lifetime to save up for. Thinking back on this now, it seems silly.  A photo of me holding the rope for a climbing partner in British Columbia. With my desire to travel, I was unsure of how this would interact with my life on anticoagulants and after receiving a heart s

This question loomed over me for months before surgery.  Here is what I have learned in the years since. A photo of me in Washington Pass about two years after surgery Heart surgery undoubtedly changes a person's life. In 2016, when being rolled into the operating room to replace a faulty Aortic Valve, I did not know the extent of this change.  A few people told me stories of what it was like to live with a mechanical valve.  The main focus of my interest in these stories was to learn what it would be like to live life on "blood thinners" (anticoagulants), since this was one of my biggest concerns about choosing a mechanical heart valve. The issue, though, was that the people I talked to did not live their life similar to the way I want to live mine, so their antidotes were not fully helpful.  Sometime bruises 'appear' after a long day of climbing. They had "normal" lives, where risk is not part of the day-to-day experience.   Sure, some of the people I