Paperless greetings

Today is my one-year anniversary since having open-heart surgery to repair a mitral valve that didn’t fully close when my heart pumped blood.

I am all fixed now. No more blood regurgitating backward from the left ventricle through the floppy valve into the left atrium, as the left ventricle contracted. At times my heart was so exhausted it pumped 140 beats per minute at rest. That sends you into something scary called atrial fibrillation, a.k.a., “A-fib.”

Yet I didn’t feel a thing. As a friend says, “You never know what you’re walking around with.” Until you do.

Now I’ve got two heart scars, and not one but two memorable cardiac surgery dates as lucky numbers for Keno.

Life is good. I’m always a winner.

On this 31st day of May, I wanted to do something special to commemorate my heart valve anniversary and the fact that I’m still alive.

According to my Hallmark holidays cheat sheet, traditional first wedding anniversary gifts are made of paper. For heart milestones I’m not sure, particularly in this paperless universe. Suppose I could have just sent myself an ecard.

Too easy. Instead, I built a blog. Brick by brick. Click by click. Using the incomparable WordPress software. Block by every friggin’ Gutenberg block. 

What a long strange trip it’s been. I swear, having heart surgery twice was less painful.

My blog construction project took me awhile. About five months, but not nearly as long as most Michigan road work. Seems I had all of the right tools but not nearly enough knowledge. Thank goodness for YouTube.

At one point I was so frustrated with my lack of progress that I plunked down a whole $20 to attend a daylong WordPress “Camp” at a Detroit high school hosted by dozens of tech-savvy millennials and their children. It was invigorating, maddening and definitely out of my comfort zone. Worth every penny.

Enough about my diminishing brain power.

First anniversaries also call for flowers. For this, our friends at Hallmark recommend a … pansy. Not exactly my first choice. But I think I know why pansies are front and center to mark a momentous 12 months of marriage and anything else worthy of note. Pansies symbolize:

• Heart — Literally and figuratively. Their colorful, heart-shaped faces and overlapping petals produce smiles all around. Who wouldn’t get an emotional lift from a bunch of these beauties?
• Strength — Pansies prefer cool breezes to the stifling heat of summer. They’ll survive a frost, bouncing back from even single-digit temps.If their blooms wither in the cold, the rest of the plant will often stay alive to bloom again.
• Flexibility — Interestingly, pansies can be annuals or perennials, depending on the climate. They’re born this way. Trust it or adjust it. Who knew? Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

After the year I’ve had, I like to think of myself as a pansy. That’s pretty darn good company to be in, I’d say.

With that, I’d like to introduce something near and dear to my heart-healthy self: HeartMattersBlog.com.

All of the following blog posts first appeared in my Journal on a wonderful website called heart-valve-surgery.com started by founder Adam Pick, a heart valve patient from California. The free site offers resources for heart valve surgery patients and caregivers. More than 10 million people worldwide have used it. Did I mention it’s free?

Honestly, my fellow heart valve Warriors on that website guided me like a shining light through the past year. I laughed, cried and soaked up their support like the sun but without the harmful UV rays.

I’m hoping just one of my Journal pieces did that for them – and maybe will for you, too. For the full experience, read them from oldest to newest. Or not. Doesn’t matter. Thanks for reading.

Stay well. Be grateful. Heart matters.