My replacement Pulmonary Valve is one year old today!

One year ago on Friday 8th June 2012 I had my pulmonary valve replaced at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London.

Last year at this time I had been in surgery for about 2 hours, with another 2 and a half still to go, with about 90 minutes of that time being on heart bypass.

It has been a busy year since then -  mainly because my energy levels are so much higher now! And in addition, I want to be more active and to get out and about more often.

I am now spending less time in front of the laptop screen (hurray!) and more time seeing friends and enjoying life with my family. I have a new bike...actually, I have my first EVER bike - at least it is one that is neither borrowed temporarily from a friend nor a branded freebie (from the company that built our house) that never suited me in any case.

I have increased my working hours up to 25 hours per week since April and this is going very well, giving me more time to get things done at work, but without impacting much on life outside work - I certainly have time to run errands before the school run, or go for a walk if the weather is good, for example.

I had told my daughter that once she was six years old and once my heart surgery was over, and I was completely recovered, that she could have a pet. In February she reminded me of this promise and so we now have 2 cats, adopted from Cats Protection.

 

As a family, we finally have a holiday to look forward to - a sunny holiday involving a flight away from the UK for the first time in years. In 2011 heart surgery was likely, so we had a holiday in the UK. In 2012, the heart surgery was definite, so the summer holiday was taken up with my recuperation. In 2013 a holiday was one of the first items on my long "To Do" list.

 

We are off to the Mediterranean to the island of Majorca, which was my first "sunny" holiday as a child. I've also visited there on a cruise and had a city break to Palma with my girlfriends a few years back. So life is pretty good at the moment.

 

In fact this recent picture of me sums it up very well:

 

 

 

We will be celebrating today of course and raising a glass to the wonderful team at the Royal Brompton Hospital who looked after me so well last year, as well as to all my fabulous family, friends and colleagues who were so kind and supportive. My thanks to you all!