Girl Valves

I'm a Little Teapot

Okay, since it is just us girls in here, I feel a bit free to talk about this.  My period.  Before coumadin, my period would arrive with a simple little drop.  However now, it makes it's entrance with a gush. 

This morning, I woke up to pains that alerted me that today was the day to break out the tampons, but it wasn't until I got out of bed that I felt the flood. And as I walked to the bathroom, I started to sing, "I'm a little teapot short and stout..." Yes, the start of my period is much messier and much more intense than the old days (pre-coumadin).   

So to get a conversation going, how about the rest of you coumadin users?  How is your period different now vs before coumadin?

Eating My Greens

2.5 hours until my next PT/INR appointment and I've got a pot of collard greens cooking on the stove.  It is my lame attempt to even out the two bottles of cider I consumed over the last week. 

Anyone want to take any bets whether I'll be too high, too low, or just right?

Cross your fingers for me! 

Update:  After eating nearly 3 cups of collard greens, my stomach is horrifically bloated.  Blah. 

2nd Update:  I tested at 2.5 .  They are keeping me at my current dosage, but I don't know I think they should have raised it.  Any other mitral mech valvers remember what we're supposed to test at?  I thought it was in the 3's.  I'm thinking about raising it on my own....or else having a couple of drinks to even everything out.  ;)

I'm a Mom

I am over the moon to tell you that I have a daughter!  Her name is Guo Yi Hui and she is gorgeous!  She was born on July 30, 2004 and she is in the Guanjxi Province in China. 

Now if only we could get on the plane to China today!

OUR Blog

Wow, we have twelve GVs that have posted so far!  And we have more to come.  All of your entries have been fascinating.  I can't get enough!  Every time I see that someone else has posted, it is like Christmas, don't you think?

I want to say one thing.  This is not MY blog.  This is OUR blog.  So if you have any suggestions, ideas, whatever, let me know and I'll see what we can do. 

Also, in case you didn't know, you can insert photographs in your posts.  So if you want to post any pics, you can. 

One Year Later and I Wouldn't Change a Thing

It has been one year and a little over a month since my valve replacement and I'm happy to say that I've never regretted the mechanical valve.  It has been a battle to get my PT/INR levels just right, but I'm getting there.  For the past several months, I've been going once every two weeks, but it isn't bothersome.  The coumadin clinic is five minutes from my house and it is like going to visit a friend, only my friend sticks my finger with a needle to make me bleed. 

I still feel as though I will never do pregnancy.  Which is pretty funny that I now have the option to have bio children, but I'm choosing not to.  Who would have thought? 

A couple months after my valve replacement, we started the process to adopt a child from China.  It took five months of paperchasing, and then six months of waiting, but in the next few days, we will find out who our daughter is.  Come Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday we will get a call that we've been waiting for for a long time.  We will find out our child's name and we will have a picture of her.  I will be able to see what my baby looks like! And then in June we will travel to China to bring her home. 

When I think back to the last three years, how painful it was to learn that my heart was too leaky to give birth, coming to terms with the grief, then the surgery...I feel like all of it has been worth it.  If I had to go through all of that to be lucky enough to given the opportunity to parent my daughter then it was so worth it.  I might not have known it back when I sitting on my couch crying, but I know it now.  I wouldn't change a thing and I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness for my f'd up mitral valve! 

I'll keep y'all updated.  I can't wait to introduce my daughter to you! 

xx,

Michele

Michele Continued/ The Valve Choice

The valve choice was without a doubt the most difficult decision I've ever had to make.  It sucks because there is not a right or wrong answer to the valve choice.  For me, the valve choice revolved around children.  Did I want to do pregnancy?

To make a long story short, I chose the mechanical valve.  My plan was to adopt first, and to do pregnancy later on.  However, I woke up from my surgery and the first thing I thought was, "Nope, pregnancy is not for me."  Valve replacement is a tough surgery, and all I knew was that I never wanted to risk having to do it again.  Plus, I'm a baby and knowing that I would have to give myself shots twice a day during the pregnancy scares the hell out of me.  Pitiful, I know.

Anyway, the best way for me to explain what how I came to my valve choice is to share my journal entries from the time that I was agonizing over what to do.  It is long, so I won't blame you if you skip it.  The entry titled "The Bionic Choice" is where I finally made up my mind, if you want to skip to the end.

Also, I apologize that the entries are not easier to read.  I gave up on trying to make the titles and dates of the entries show up in bold, so it looks like it all runs together.  When I'm feeling more patient, I'll try to fix this. 

One, Two, Three, Four

1. I want to say hello to everyone at Valve Replacement.com as a bunch of you are coming over here to check this out.  Without Valve Replacement.com I would never have thought about starting Girl Valves. 
2. I'm happy to say that I won't be the only one posting on here, and that I'm working on setting my fellow Girl Valves up to start blogging.  You'll be hearing from some of them very soon.
3. I think the best way for me to talk about my valve choice and what it meant to me is to share my journal entries from that period of my life.  So that is what I'm going to do.  Over the next couple of days, I'm going to post the entries that I made during the time when I was agonizing over a tissue or mechanical valve. 
4. Niki, Wendy, Shelly, and Carista I'm glad you're here. 

Michele

Three years ago at the end of this coming May, I went to see my cardiologist to find out about switching my heart medication so that we could start trying to conceive.  ( I had severe mitral valve regurgitation.)

I guess I should have known it was bad news when his physicians assistant gave me a funny look and said that he wanted my doctor to talk to me about it.  Then the doctor came in the room, looked me right in the eye and told me that I should avoid pregnancy at all costs.  He said that my heart would not support a pregnancy.  That it would not end well. 

I didn't say much.  It was all I could do to keep myself together.  I didn't want to cry in front of them.  So, my doctor and I hugged goodbye and we left.  I made a beeline for the nearest restroom, where I went in to a stall, sat on the floor and started to bawl.   

Walking out of the hospital, my husband said, "It will be okay, we'll adopt."  I shook my head in agreement, but I was devastated.  I didn't stop crying for a good year. 

For the next year, I pretty much sat on my couch, cut myself off from my friends, watched a lot of those "birth stories" shows, a lot of "adoption stories", and started to read lots of books on adoption, and mourned the fact that I would never feel a baby inside of me.  It was grueling.  I couldn't talk about it without crying. 

Once I sat in a doctor's office and started to sob as I explained my heart condition and what it meant.  She didn't know what to do other than to hand me a tissue, give me some anti-depressant samples and suggest that I see a therapist.   

Then one day, I was okay.  Of course, this was a year and a half or so later.  I was able to talk about it without crying.  I was okay.  I had worked my way through the grief.  I had embraced adoption, and was excited about becoming a parent though adoption.  It was wonderful!  I was able to breathe again! 

In December of 2003, I went to see my cardiologist for a check up.  We were planning on starting the adoption process in January of 2004, and I wanted to make sure that I was healthy enough to proceed.  As luck would have it, I wasn't.  I needed valve replacement. 

Before I could have my valve replaced, I had to choose the type of valve I wanted.  Tissue or mechanical   The tissue valve would allow me to endure a pregnancy, but I was told that the mechanical meant no pregnancy. 

I couldn't believe it, after all of that time believing that I would never have the opportunity, here it was....and I had to make a huge decision.  Tissue or mechanical.   Another valve replacement in 10 years and the chance at pregnancy or one valve for life and no pregnancy. 

To be continued.....