Hi,

It's been kind of quiet here online and that's pretty much because healing is a pretty quiet process. I did want to give a little update though with regards to a couple of issues that we had requested some prayer on:

1) My Creaking Chest. As you may remember, I was concerned because even simple body movements seemed to create some "disconcerting movements" in my chest/sternum area. It seemed that this movement would just breakup any healing that may have occured, kind of like constantly picking a scab (sorry). This has diminished quite a bit and I have also developed quite a library of "movements to avoid". Another interesting thing that I have noticed is that in given body positions (slouching vs standing straight etc..) I can definately feel my heart beating like there is a little guy with a hammer pounding on something. I think I may have gotten this phenomenon confused with bone movement in my chest. One day I was washing my hands and it seemed that every time I just rubbed them together I got this wierd chest sensation like bones were rubbing together. The funny thing was that when I stood perfectly still, I still felt the bone movement. Ohhh, I guess that's just my heart beating. Oh well, I must be a sensitive paranoid.

2) Afib. I have had a couple of bouts with afib where my heart would start racing (110 beats/min) and beat irregularly for several hours. This isn't exactly desirable. It seemed related to changes in medication that was meant to control this and that needed to be reduced due to possible long term problems. The doctors solution was to return the dosage back to it's higher level. This past week I met with the surgeon and he suggested we needed to back way off on the med and so I reduced from 4 to 1 pill a day. I have had only minor occurances of the afib since then and it seems my heart is reacting favorably to the reduction and of course your prayers. My dad had lived with this afib stuff for months on end with heart rates in the 160 to 200 range and I know I'd like to avoid this, so it's really welcome news to see my heart responding this way.

I have also been doing some cardiac rehab at the hospital in Buffalo MN three times a week and have been able to do pretty darn well. It includes about 30 minutes of very brisk treadmill walking and about 10 minutes of higher effort recumbant bike work. Being young really helps with this as well as having a healthy heart apart from the birth defected aortic valve.

I started driving this week and a little earlier than the doctor had told me. I'd have to say that I was kinda sneeky in getting this past Gayle. We went to church Sunday when it was very cold and afterwards she asked me if I would go warm up the car. Immediately seeing the possible benefits of this request I grabbed the keys and headed right out. Once in the drivers seat the probability was rather high that I would remain there. And so it was.

That's about it for now. We want to again express our thanks for your continued support and prayers and how this has sustained us and, we believe, facilitated a nice recovery.

JeffM