Two Hearts Beating Together

On Tuesday my husband had a surgical procedure called an aortic valvuloplasty.  Essentially it was like plumbing - using a tiny surgical device to widen the aortic valve.  The valve is supposed to be the size of a quarter but his has been more the size of a popcorn kernal with only 17% of normal blood flow.  Afterwards the cardiologist told us he thought they got a "good result."  They weren't able to improve it as much as they had hoped, but in my opinion, any improvement at all would be better than what it was.  I brought Neal home the next day and we've mostly just hibernated as we've recovered from the physical (Neal) and emotional (me) stress. The other event this week was my trek to the clinic to pick up a heart monitor.  For me. 
Last week I had various heart tests - a couple of EKG's, a treadmill test and two ultrasounds.  That didn't go well.  I realize that I'm terribly out of shape.  Neal and I used to walk two miles along the Cedar River trail in the mornings before he went to work, and even after he was in a wheelchair I did physical activity enough that I wasn't out of breath with exertion.  But since Neal had pneumonia last November, I just haven't done much except stay close by him, so the treadmill test was a challenge for me. I was pleased that I could meet the target for "people my age" while enduring the uphill portion but felt like the top of my head had too much pressure.  After it was over the cardiologist told me that my heart had gone into atrial fibrilation and did I know what that was?  Yes.  Oh dear.  I told her about the complications of Neal's upcoming schedule and she said to come back for a holter monitor when he was home again.
Today I picked up the monitor and get to wear it for two weeks to record every episode that I notice.  Since I'm not really sure what A fib feels like, I guess I'll just record the times that I feel short of breath during physical and emotional stress, and hope those two conditions occur together.  I already take the recommended meds, so it's just a matter of seeing if this happens very often, does it stops by itself or will I need more intervention.
Bringing Neal home with good news is a brand new experience.  Nearly everything that has happened in the past 5 years has been bad news or "that's as good as we can hope for."  This time we came home with good news and I honestly don't know how to process that.  I feel like we've been given a huge blessing.  It bought us some time so Neal's improved blood flow can help his wound heal, so he can get stronger and so he'll qualify for a real valve replacement - maybe next year. 
I am grateful.