Wanted to wish you all a very Happy New Year. With the hope it brings with it appointments/ operations not cancelled. Better health if your suffering, and the strength that we all need from time to time.
This forum as given me that strength when I have needed it over the years. It’s given me so many smiles, some really laugh out loud moments, some of you could write for stand up comedians!😂
So hope each and everyone of you has a good year ahead.
Very best wishes Pauline. Xx
Dear 080311 / Pauline
Thank you for your kind words and the same to you and your loved ones.
I agree with you that this forum has been a fantastic source of both information and support.
Sure it has its problems but stick more than two humans in an area and you will be surprised at the differing of opinions.
And long may that be, our operations/ illness may be similar but our individual take on them is what makes us unique.
Take care.
Happy New Year 🎉🥳 to you too Pauline.
You are an inspiration on here and give such amazing help and support. I would like to thank you for digging me out of a bad place when I needed it most. Your kind words have helped me so many others. Thank you 😊
❤️Maisie❤️
Morning Maisie,Thank you for your kind words. You have given such good advice and support through the this last year,
Have a great year.
Best wishes Pauline xx
Happy New Year to you and yours and thank you for listening and all the lovely advice you have through 2021 here's to better health in 2022 take care char xx
Morning char,You are such an inspiration here on the forum, going through your transplant, I can’t remember one post that was down even when you were in the Golden Jubilee ( have a very soft spot for that place) just waiting to see if a heart would become available.
Have the best year possible. Hope you can get away for some sun! We haven’t any at the moment here in Scotland have we😂
Best wishes Pauline xxx
Thank you Pauline for all the good advice and sharing experience with so many people.Knowing just some of what you and your husband John has been through and you’re still there giving support to others in need. You’re a true inspiration to us all.
So a very Happy New Year to you and John and your family too.
May you be blessed with all the good you’ve wish for others.
-007-
Hello 
A very Happy New Year To You
Since joining the site Thank you for your support , kind and comforting words you have always given me
You deserve the best ! x
Love seeing you post, hope this year brings you good health and an easier mind. You are doing so well. You must be so proud of yourself.
Best wishes Pauline
Pauline
I really do not feel I am doing well , I am very much struggling and I am so annoyed with myself if I am honest and sick of myself to I wish I could be like everyone else
Thank you though as you always give me this lovely feeling and a glimmer of confidence x
Can I ask why you think your struggling? Not feeling strong after your surgery? We all have periods of feeling down, and not coping.
Back in November I had a few weeks of things happening blood test kidneys numbers a bit low. Developed an abscess under a tooth and after a course of antibiotics had to have the tooth out. Our youngest son ( in his 40s) his asthma started playing up, he was having real breathing difficulties but they have sorted him out with new inhalers new nose spray and a short course of steroids. He is now back to normal but for a few months I was very worried.
So what I am trying to say is all of us have periods where sometimes it all gets a bit much you are no different than the rest of us. Just look what you have come through, to start with you didn’t think you would be able to go through with your surgery. The scariest thing most of us will ever go through.
You need to pat yourself on the back not be down on yourself.
Keep plugging away, you are stronger than you think.
Best wishes and hugs
Pauline xxx
Hello
Sorry to hear about all the things you have been through
I know for me my fitness levels were very poor before I had the op and they always told me recovery would come but be slower for me , but then I read what other people can do at my stage and panic because I am not there yet and then I end up crying to my Rehab Nurse who keeps trying to tell me how you recover all depends how fit you are before and that it is not a race and I will get there
Then of course the meds I am on have messed my stomach up and to be honest I do not know if I am coming or going and start getting in a flap over that
I have had 2 teeth that have chipped one twice and one once and last night one chipped yet again !
So that is my worst fear well one of them going to the dentist yet again as I am acrophobic so it is so traumatic getting me out the house
I also have been having nose bleeds and had my nose cauterised twice within 2 weeks which still bleeds but I will not have it done again it is so painful having that done so I suppose all these things make me feel I am doing really bad
I am the worst in finding anything positive my brain seems to be programmed negative only and I so envy people that have a confident positive outlook and wish I could be the same
I bet you wished you had never asked now
But Thank you for asking it helps to get it all out x
Of course I don’t wish I hadn’t asked. You are going through one of those periods that we all get when things go pear shaped. I have a brother who lives in the USA I was talking to him about it and he said it’s like you’re waiting for the next shoe to drop! I have decided that I need to do more walking so one of my Christmas presents was a new pair of joggers and a hoodie! Haven’t had a new set since the one bought after my surgery so this is my incentive 😂 the hoodie is the brightest green you can imagine so people will see me coming 😂😂😂
Yes wise words as always , I shall try and have to remember them and I suppose it is ok for things ti go pear shaped even if we don't like it :-)O bright green , that will certainly have you noticed even in the dark 
You see that is another thing it sounds lovely yet I so want to blend in the background I would wear something that no one noticed and just admire people with colours on that I would like to wear
Bet you get some compliments in it x
Husband said it’s in case I fall down 😂 cheek! They will see me! Xx
Well I know Husbands are not normally right but I suppose he may have a point x
Just had another thought , how about offering to get him a late Christmas presents and have matching ones , I am sure he will love that and you can go jogging together with the thoughts that if either of you fall over you will both be seen x
That made us both laugh, since his stroke he as trouble walking! ( John had a stroke 5 weeks after my surgery and I became his carer I think maybe all the stress of worrying about me) As for falling over he can do that in the house 😂 xxx
A very Happy new year To you both, you are indeed an inspiration to us all, you’ve been so kind, even when I’ve only really needed a kick up the behind 😂, bless you, lovely Pauline … Val xxx
Hi Val,
We all need a bit of encouragement sometimes, me included. Sometimes can hear my Mum’s voice in my ear saying straighten your shoulders head up face the world sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t 😂
Best wishes Pauline xxx
Wow!, my Mum was just the same lol, I used to get very tired as a child, but wasn’t allowed to be, used to get told… you need a bomb behind you 😂, 63 yes later found I had a large hole in my heart, wished she was still here so I could say… I told you I was tired 🤣😂, very grateful to that lady xxx
Think we were very lucky to have Mums like we both had. My Mum lost both her parents within 6 months of each other when she was just 7 she was brought up by an elder sister and when I turned 16 she burst into tears when I asked why she said that now I was old enough to take care of myself if something happened to her. Each generation have their own burdens to carry.If you’re Mum had known about your hole in your heart she would have wrapped you in cotton wool and maybe you wouldn’t have thrived.
Best wishes Pauline xx
Exactly I feel very lucky xxx
That rings a bell!! My Mum always said that. Dad was a little more pragmatic saying things like, "Worse things happen at sea" and "The sun will come up again tomorrow".Going back to your original post, you really are an inspiration, making us giggle. You and John have faced so much and yet you still raise a smile.
Happy New Year to you and your family. Love and hugs. Jan xxx
Morning Jan, the same to you hoping 2022 is very kind to you and yours . Think the generation that our parents came from were cut from the same cloth? My Dad as been gone over 40 years and my Mum over 25 but oh how I would love to be able to talk to them again. Doesn’t matter how old You get you still need your parents and a cuddle from my Mum! The night before my surgery oh how I needed them!!
It’s our 52nd wedding anniversary tomorrow. There was a point when we didn’t think we would make our Golden but here we are still going. John still struggles with how his stroke as left him, but his sense of humour is still intact, and that sees us through. As I have said before sometime the situation is so ludicrous you end up laughing 😂
Thank you Jan for being there.
Love and hugs to you,
Pauline xxx
I still talk to Mum and Dad and popped over to the crematorium on 23rd December (which was a year to the day since I was able to hug Dad - he'd been in a care home for some years with dementia and Altzheimers). Sadly, he was admitted into hospital in February with a leg infection, caught Covid there and passed away in March. I couldn't see him because of the pandemic restrictions.I miss him and his wise words so much but the dementia took that from him and towards the end, he had no clue who I was. We were not only father and daughter but best mates.
He would have liked to have reached 100 but b****%=* Covid took that away from him! However, he was a pandemic statistic and he would have liked that!Mum passed away 38 years ago from a cardiac arrest. She was only 60. I can still hear her wise words too and she was my best friend. When I was diagnosed diabetic 40 years ago she told me everything would be fine. When I was diagnosed with incurable cancer 15 years ago, I still heard those words!
Well, that was all glum!
Happy anniversary to you both! You'll get to your diamond and beyond!! Our Golden will be in 2023!
Love and hugs back to you and John.
Jan xxxx
Happy new year Pauline
Happy new year to you Pauline hope it’s happy and healthy for you and to everybody who joins us on this forum - I think the greatest gift is just when your worrying about one thing or another you jump on here and you either smile or somebody has answered a question for you it’s a comfort blanket is the best way I can describe it stay well everyone xx😊
Happy New Year to you too. Thank you for all your positivity and support on this site and words of wisdom which really helped when I faced my AVR in May ‘21. All best wishes
Sarah
Happy New Year to you and yours, and may 2022 see all of us Hearties enjoying as best we can heart health!
Happy New Year Sunnie I second your hope for the best heart health we can. Hope your family in the States are keeping well, and soon we will be able to give our loved ones a real hug instead of via a screen.
Pauline xx
Thank-you. Won't it be wonderful to finally see our far-flung loved ones in person? I'm hoping for summer 2022. It could happen, it could happen for all of us!
We can all hope that day will be soon. I was watching a video of my middle granddaughter in Australia she was just walking but that walk was so grown up! So confident. The time is passing so quickly!
Hello Pauline. Wishing you and your family all happiness in 2022. You've been such a tower of strength during the year to me and to others, we have a lot to thank you for. Lets hope that 2022 sees an improvement in the wider situation but above all else that each and every one of us enjoys a relatively symptom free year. Frances x
Thank you Frances for such kind words. Hope you’re doing well, and this New Year brings you health and happiness.
Best wishes Pauline xx
Wishing the same to you and yours Pauline. Take care xx
Lovely sentiments Pauline. I agree, this forum has been so helpful, reassuring and comforting to me whilst firstly coming to terms with and then living with this "trying" condition. It's nice to know that you're not the only one muddling through and in fact, when I hear some of the problems that others are experiencing on here, it makes me realise that things could be so much worse. Wishing you and everyone on here, a very happy and peaceful 2022.
Sue
And a Happy New Year to you too. Thank you, Pauline, for all your words of wisdom and comfort here. I hope you realise how helpful and comforting your little nuggets are.
All the best.🤪
We are all travelling this mended heart road together and helping each other where we can. Sometimes it can seem such a lonely place to be but when you can talk to others here on the forum you realise your not on your own there are many many others who are going through this heart journey.By the way love love the user name big fan of the Beatles, my first job was in Liverpool and spent many a lunch time in the ‘Cavern ‘ never told my parents they would have been horrified 😂
Best wishes Pauline
Extremely jealous! I once saw Paul, at Ashford international station, but have to suffice with vinyl (lots of it), and the Bootlegs.
Our eldest granddaughter is nearly 19 lives in Australia and a couple of years ago started to collect vinyl. She is very much into 60s 70s music and fashion! Steadily collecting the Beatles vinyl very handy for Christmas and birthday presents. She thinks I was so lucky to have seen them in the Cavern also her Papa saw them in New Brighton on the Wirral and a few times in a place called the Memorial Hall in Northwich .
Pauline xx
Happy New Year to all. Operations? Well not heart but I did get an appointment to have cataracts done within 4 weeks of referral ( NO, not privately). Local hospital is a 40 week wait but if I can travel an hour away , it's 6 weeks max.
How do you feel about that? Travel for an hour there’s a big difference between 40 weeks and 6 weeks. Remember my Mum having her cataracts done and wow what a difference. Xx
The 6 weeks is simply at a private hospital but on NHS to try to cut eh waiting list.. I got a phone call inviting me for a pre op after just 2 weeks. As mine are not immediately urgent I've delayed until April to avoid the risk of bad weather as i'm in a wheelchair
That makes a lot of sense, John either uses his wheel chair or his Delta so try and avoid appointments in the winter months up here in Scotland. His blood test last winter the district nurse came to the house, that made such a difference.
Yes, getting out on snow or ice is near impossible even with a mobility scooter. I can no longer self propel my wheelchair so going into hospital is a nightmare when ambulances refuse my scooter. One time ( heart attack) I was left 5 hours on an empty corridor without any means of getting to the toilet; on the ward was unable to walk to reach toilet and no one ever came quickly enough.
Happy New Year Pauline and to every one of you, wishing you good health and thanks for all the support, advice and encouragement.
Happy New Year Pauline. May it be a peaceful and healthy one for you.
The Bionic Man - 2nd time lucky!
Dilated Cardiomyopathy is very traumatic...just need all the help I can get. 
Aorta Valve Replacement within 2-3 weeks
Aortic valve replacement 
