Erratic heartbeat after surgery

SatoriFound · Oct 16, 2024

My hubby's heartrate is all over the place and they are saying if they can't get it under control they might shock him to try to get it to go to normal. Is this something that could cause him to have to also get a pacemaker if it doesn't clear up on it's own, or is it common to have issues getting the heart into a normal rhythm? He has the pacer wires and they also did an atrial clip on the left atrial appendage, to prevent clot formation there from Afib.

He also still has the chest tubes. It stinks because yesterday they thought they would be removing them and he would be going to recovery. He also now has a sore throat and cough. He thinks he has a cold. Could it be residual from surgery and not an actual cold? Like sore throat from the intubation and cough/congestion from the fluid accumulation after surgery? He wants to walk, but with the chest tubes and all the stuff he has to haul with him they have only gotten him walking twice. He did great that first time, and I was under the impression from reading here walking is very important and he should be doing it as much as possible.

I went home last night because you are only allowed to stay one night in ICU and because we have an 11 year old at home. His older brother (28) is helping us out throughout this, but he needs his parents too. LOL I am so torn. Hubby needs me and feels better when I am there, but our son needs me too, although not in the same way. I can't bring our son to visit him because the cut off for visitors is 12 years old. He doesn't seem to be upset or need reassurance his dad is fine, but I don't know what's going on inside his head. He is on the spectrum and doesn't react to certain things like others. He seems to be taking it in stride, but... ARGH!!!

Going home also means that I am missing hearing about what is going on from the doctors and nurses mouths and getting it second-hand from hubby. He tends to forget things and is spotty about relaying information. LOL He also doesn't want to bug the nurses and will go a long time before asking for what he needs. When I was there I could run and get him more water, or tea or help him use the stupid pee bottle. He was having a heck of a time with that! It seems like it should be easy, but not so much for him to maneuver it. ROTF So I am about to get dressed and head over to the hospital for the day. I want to try to get some first hand information and keep him company and pamper him a little bit.

You guys are a wealth of information and I am SO glad we found this site. I even showed it to our surgeon.

I was telling him how you guys had helped to dispel the fear around Warfarin for us. The surgeon said something about it being rat poison and we laughed. I mean shoot, it even stopped killing the rats. HAHA Apparently it makes a better medical treatment than a rat poison since even the rats stopped dying from it. And hey, chemo is poison and people don't even question jumping on that to save their lives.

ncw3642 · Oct 16, 2024

SatoriFound said:
My hubby's heartrate is all over the place and they are saying if they can't get it under control they might shock him to try to get it to go to normal. Is this something that could cause him to have to also get a pacemaker if it doesn't clear up on it's own, or is it common to have issues getting the heart into a normal rhythm? He has the pacer wires and they also did an atrial clip on the left atrial appendage, to prevent clot formation there from Afib.

In my experience, it depends.. If it's just a normal sinus tachycardia (normal rhythm but elevated rate) they likely won't shock him and might adjust medication to lower the rate.

If it's an abnormal rhythm (SVT or A-Fib) for instance, they may do a procedure (cardioversion) either through medication or "shocking" to restore normal rate/rhytem.

Independent of either, this is fairly common after surgery. For me, my heart rate at rest was 100-110 immediately post-op and for 2-3 weeks. This has since subsided and now my resting rate is back to my normal of 60-70BPM 15-weeks post-op (still on my Beta Blocker- if I miss a dose of Metoprolol it does creep back up to 80-90BPM at rest). The heart has a lot of inflammation and irritation post-surgery (again, expected) so it takes a bit to restore normal rate/rhythem. Post-Operative A-Fib can also be common and might resolve with time on its own as well. Nothing to be too concerned about- although that's easier said by me than done by you

.

SatoriFound said:
He also still has the chest tubes. It stinks because yesterday they thought they would be removing them and he would be going to recovery. He also now has a sore throat and cough. He thinks he has a cold. Could it be residual from surgery and not an actual cold? Like sore throat from the intubation and cough/congestion from the fluid accumulation after surgery? He wants to walk, but with the chest tubes and all the stuff he has to haul with him they have only gotten him walking twice. He did great that first time, and I was under the impression from reading here walking is very important and he should be doing it as much as possible.

That is frustrating that there is a delay in removing the chest tubes! You do feel 100x better once they are removed however there is good reason they are still intact (it means they are still draining fluid or think there is a need that necessitates it being left in). You don't want it pulled prematurely and have to re-place them later on down the line.

Re: Sore Throat/Cough-- I am thinking more intubation related vs. Cold. From my speech therapist wife and from my experience, the breathing tube will cause some throat inflammation and irritation for a while- normal. I had a lot of fluid in my lungs. I also had atelectasis (worse in my L than R lung) which contributed to my difficulty breathing, coughing and fluid retention in the lungs. This will improve with time but make sure he is using his incentive spirometer- use it more often than you think you need to- it's the no 1 thing to assist with returning those lungs back to normal (aside from walking- of course). Is he being seen by PT yet? As a PT, we try to mobilize patients (yes even with chest tubes and lines) multiple times a day at my hospital. We aren't scared of managing all the lines-- assuming the chest tubes are not required to be on constant suction, he should be okay to mobilize as much as he feels fit to- advocate for that someone will be comfortable and able to handle it- I promise.

SatoriFound said:
Going home also means that I am missing hearing about what is going on from the doctors and nurses mouths and getting it second-hand from hubby. He tends to forget things and is spotty about relaying information. LOL He also doesn't want to bug the nurses and will go a long time before asking for what he needs. When I was there I could run and get him more water, or tea or help him use the stupid pee bottle. He was having a heck of a time with that! It seems like it should be easy, but not so much for him to maneuver it. ROTF So I am about to get dressed and head over to the hospital for the day. I want to try to get some first hand information and keep him company and pamper him a little bit.

Does your health system have a MyChart or other form of virtual EMR? If so, you can see in real-time doctors notes/PA notes/NP notes/Therapist notes etc. from his hospital stay. It's a good way to ensure you are staying up to date. Since these notes often have a lot of medical jargon in them, I personally am happy to help interpret anything you read to help you better understand/I know many others here can help you as well. See if you can get access to hospital notes through some type of EMR and if you cannot, usually if you ask the nurses when you are up visiting, they can look in the chart and provide some context/information.

Advocate for him to call for the nurses when he needs them

. They are happy to help (might take a few mins to get into the room if it's a non-emergency) that's what they are there for- especially if no family is there to otherwise help!
------

Hang in there! It sounds like normal, expected road bumps to a full recovery! I also always like add a little blurb that you, as a caregiver, also need to take time for yourself. It's so easy to want to be always up there helping/staying the night/assisting that you can forget about yourself and your needs. Take a break at times, make sure you are eating/drinking and ensuring you have time to take a "mental minute" for yourself.

You can only help him if you are also helping yourself stay well!

All the best! Let us know if you have more questions/concerns! We are here for you!

Lisa from LJ · Oct 16, 2024

My surgery was in 1998 so things have changed and I don't remember all the details. I had 4 chest tubes - two large and two small. The last large one wasn't removed until the day before I left the hospital - Day 5. None of them bothered me. They left my catheter in until I was moved to a regular room on Day 3. That has changed to avoid infection.

My heartbeat was erratic the first night, but steadied after that, although I still have PACs at times, more pronounced when I'm tired or stressed. I have heard of people getting pacemakers shortly after surgery, but they usually try to let it resolve on its own before going that route. I had tachycardia for a while after surgery and they eventually put me on a beta blocker about 3 months after the surgery to slow it down. Part of that depends on what shape the heart was in before surgery. Mine had been significantly enlarged for 22 years and is still enlarged, but not as much. I went off the beta blocker after about 2 years and my average resting heart rate was 84, the same as pre-surgery, until I went through menopause. Now it's about 64.

Sore throat is probably related to the tube. Other sinus issues may be related to the surgery as well, but it's hard to say because your body reacts to being stressed by focusing on the "damaged part" and ignoring other things. Something your husband won't have to be concerned about - my cycle started on Day 2, even though the surgery had been scheduled to avoid that happening and I had just finished one a week earlier!

All in all, his recovery sounds pretty normal, although frustrating.

Chuck C · Oct 16, 2024

SatoriFound said:
He wants to walk, but with the chest tubes and all the stuff he has to haul with him they have only gotten him walking twice.

It is important to walk, even in ICU, chest tubes or not. Keep bugging them about him walking and advocate for him. I had the chest drainage tubes, two sizable pumps with said drainage tubes, as well as two fully loaded IV trees and managed to go on several walks per day in ICU. The first time, they were the ones who took the initiative and had me walk. After that, I was the one bugging them about walking. They always let me walk, but I did have to keep asking.

Thanks for the update. It will get better day by day. Hang in there.

SatoriFound · Oct 16, 2024

ncw3642 said:
In my experience, it depends.. If it's just a normal sinus tachycardia (normal rhythm but elevated rate) they likely won't shock him and might adjust medication to lower the rate.

If it's an abnormal rhythm (SVT or A-Fib) for instance, they may do a procedure (cardioversion) either through medication or "shocking" to restore normal rate/rhytem.

Independent of either, this is fairly common after surgery. For me, my heart rate at rest was 100-110 immediately post-op and for 2-3 weeks. This has since subsided and now my resting rate is back to my normal of 60-70BPM 15-weeks post-op (still on my Beta Blocker- if I miss a dose of Metoprolol it does creep back up to 80-90BPM at rest). The heart has a lot of inflammation and irritation post-surgery (again, expected) so it takes a bit to restore normal rate/rhythem. Post-Operative A-Fib can also be common and might resolve with time on its own as well. Nothing to be too concerned about- although that's easier said by me than done by you .

Yes, it is A-fib, and not really calming down so they have decided to do a TEE and cardioversion tomorrow. So not getting out of ICU anytime soon. They put him on Lasik and now insulin because his sugar wasn't normalizing. Plus another medication to slow his heart rate, and some other one that I forget what it was doing. Adding medications in doesn't move us to our goal of leaving the ICU. LOL They said he has to be on no heart medications.

ncw3642 said:
That is frustrating that there is a delay in removing the chest tubes! You do feel 100x better once they are removed however there is good reason they are still intact (it means they are still draining fluid or think there is a need that necessitates it being left in). You don't want it pulled prematurely and have to re-place them later on down the line.

They removed 2 of the 3 chest tubes, so that is progress!

ncw3642 said:
Re: Sore Throat/Cough-- I am thinking more intubation related vs. Cold. From my speech therapist wife and from my experience, the breathing tube will cause some throat inflammation and irritation for a while- normal. I had a lot of fluid in my lungs. I also had atelectasis (worse in my L than R lung) which contributed to my difficulty breathing, coughing and fluid retention in the lungs. This will improve with time but make sure he is using his incentive spirometer- use it more often than you think you need to- it's the no 1 thing to assist with returning those lungs back to normal (aside from walking- of course). Is he being seen by PT yet? As a PT, we try to mobilize patients (yes even with chest tubes and lines) multiple times a day at my hospital. We aren't scared of managing all the lines-- assuming the chest tubes are not required to be on constant suction, he should be okay to mobilize as much as he feels fit to- advocate for that someone will be comfortable and able to handle it- I promise.

I actually started thinking of exactly that later. That he probably had a sore throat from the tube, and the cough from the fluid in the lungs.

ncw3642 said:
Does your health system have a MyChart or other form of virtual EMR? If so, you can see in real-time doctors notes/PA notes/NP notes/Therapist notes etc. from his hospital stay. It's a good way to ensure you are staying up to date. Since these notes often have a lot of medical jargon in them, I personally am happy to help interpret anything you read to help you better understand/I know many others here can help you as well. See if you can get access to hospital notes through some type of EMR and if you cannot, usually if you ask the nurses when you are up visiting, they can look in the chart and provide some context/information.

Yes! I am so scattered. I already accessed it too, after surgery to read the notes to see exactly what was done, etc. I just forgot I could go in there and check up on him. LOL

ncw3642 said:
Advocate for him to call for the nurses when he needs them . They are happy to help (might take a few mins to get into the room if it's a non-emergency) that's what they are there for- especially if no family is there to otherwise help!
------

Hang in there! It sounds like normal, expected road bumps to a full recovery! I also always like add a little blurb that you, as a caregiver, also need to take time for yourself. It's so easy to want to be always up there helping/staying the night/assisting that you can forget about yourself and your needs. Take a break at times, make sure you are eating/drinking and ensuring you have time to take a "mental minute" for yourself.

You can only help him if you are also helping yourself stay well!

All the best! Let us know if you have more questions/concerns! We are here for you!

I feel so bad I can't be here all the time.

I am leaving in about half an hour so I don't get locked in for another shift change and can actually have dinner with our son. Then tomorrow I have a mammogram I scheduled over a month ago before I knew his surgery date. It is not until 11 so half the day gone before I can come in, and then I will only have a few hours. I could always come in and then drive to the appointment and then come back, but that is an extra hour of driving. (re-scheduled to Friday) *sigh* I feel so guilty. This is when it would be nice to have family nearby so that someone else could come and hang out with him.

and no, not eating great. I am not allowed to eat in his room, so to eat I have to leave and eat in another area. I've had a giant coffee and a roll today. LOL I'll live.

SatoriFound · Oct 16, 2024

Lisa from LJ said:
My surgery was in 1998 so things have changed and I don't remember all the details. I had 4 chest tubes - two large and two small. The last large one wasn't removed until the day before I left the hospital - Day 5. None of them bothered me. They left my catheter in until I was moved to a regular room on Day 3. That has changed to avoid infection.

My heartbeat was erratic the first night, but steadied after that, although I still have PACs at times, more pronounced when I'm tired or stressed. I have heard of people getting pacemakers shortly after surgery, but they usually try to let it resolve on its own before going that route. I had tachycardia for a while after surgery and they eventually put me on a beta blocker about 3 months after the surgery to slow it down. Part of that depends on what shape the heart was in before surgery. Mine had been significantly enlarged for 22 years and is still enlarged, but not as much. I went off the beta blocker after about 2 years and my average resting heart rate was 84, the same as pre-surgery, until I went through menopause. Now it's about 64.

Sore throat is probably related to the tube. Other sinus issues may be related to the surgery as well, but it's hard to say because your body reacts to being stressed by focusing on the "damaged part" and ignoring other things. Something your husband won't have to be concerned about - my cycle started on Day 2, even though the surgery had been scheduled to avoid that happening and I had just finished one a week earlier!

All in all, his recovery sounds pretty normal, although frustrating.

Yes, he has tachycardia. Heartrate is pretty consistently over 120. It's been going between 85 and around 145, mostly between 120-140.

One side of his heart was mildy dilated and he had a little bit of septal hypertrophy, but there most of the parameters on his echo stated normal size.

I do think his congestion (in his chest) and his sore throat are surgery related.

SatoriFound · Oct 16, 2024

Chuck C said:
It is important to walk, even in ICU, chest tubes or not. Keep bugging them about him walking and advocate for him. I had the chest drainage tubes, two sizable pumps with said drainage tubes, as well as two fully loaded IV trees and managed to go on several walks per day in ICU. The first time, they were the ones who took the initiative and had me walk. After that, I was the one bugging them about walking. They always let me walk, but I did have to keep asking.

Thanks for the update. It will get better day by day. Hang in there.

Ugh. He only spent 3 hours in the chair before he complained about his butt being sore and he has only walked twice total. Once yesterday and once today.

Survived03 · Oct 16, 2024

I know walking and sitting can be be difficult and the patient feels like they will overexert themselves and cause recovery damage. Rarely is this the case. He needs to be up and moving even when he may be reluctant. I promise you it get better. Have a goal for each section of the day.

Regarding the Afib. This is not uncommon. If I remember it can occur ~20% of the valve cases and up to 40% if you had a prior history. However, the heart often will revert back to normal sinus via cardioversion (he will be sedated) and/or pharmaceutically. There is also a very strong drug that can control the rhythm called amiodarone. It does work. The goal for amioderone is to quiet down the "angry heart" while you heal. Typically they will wean you off after a few months and the heart may stay in normal rhythm. If not, they may try cardioversion again, or try other betablockers and other meds. Finally, I used to say that the worse best case will be a pacemeker which people live with every day. The surgeons and cardiologists have a lot of tools in the toolkit to manage this before they choose a pacemaker. Please try not to worry too much and take all of this one step at a time. Anxiety is also a big contributor to arrhythmias. SatoriFound must understand that these bumps in the road are very common and let each day play out and do his part working towards recovery. He (both of you) will get past this. I wish you luck and hang in there and be strong.

SatoriFound · Oct 16, 2024

Survived03 said:
I know walking and sitting can be be difficult and the patient feels like they will overexert themselves and cause recovery damage. Rarely is this the case. He needs to be up and moving even when he may be reluctant. I promise you it get better. Have a goal for each section of the day.

Regarding the Afib. This is not uncommon. If I remember it can occur ~20% of the valve cases and up to 40% if you had a prior history. However, the heart often will revert back to normal sinus via cardioversion (he will be sedated) and/or pharmaceutically. There is also a very strong drug that can control the rhythm called amiodarone. It does work. The goal for amioderone is to quiet down the "angry heart" while you heal. Typically they will wean you off after a few months and the heart may stay in normal rhythm. If not, they may try cardioversion again, or try other betablockers and other meds. Finally, I used to say that the worse best case will be a pacemeker which people live with every day. The surgeons and cardiologists have a lot of tools in the toolkit to manage this before they choose a pacemaker. Please try not to worry too much and take all of this one step at a time. Anxiety is also a big contributor to arrhythmias. SatoriFound must understand that these bumps in the road are very common and let each day play out and do his part working towards recovery. He (both of you) will get past this. I wish you luck and hang in there and be strong.

He is actually on the Amiodarone right now. It brought his heart rate down to around 120 instead of the 140 it was mostly staying at.
So the nurse just told me that while in ICU they aim for walking 1 time per day, not more. They have them sit in a chair to help with lung position, but he only did that for 3 hours due to his butt starting to hurt (or lack of butt

)

Timmay · Oct 17, 2024

Is he currently on. BetaBlocker like Metoprolol? My medical team completely forgot to put me on it and I had to ask/tell them.

Quite a few people here have had AFIB after surgery. IIRC, Chuck C did. Amiodorone is a popular med that helps get things in line. Sounds like the docs are doing that. Cool.

Honestly, I would spend as much time with your husband as possible. Your son is young and he’ll be fine without you for long stretches of the day. I have 2 kids and I DO understand this. But your husband needs an advocate in the hospital. There is no replacement to having you actually there in person. My wife stayed with me every day until closing hours. It truly was a Godsend. Your son will easily get over the small stretches of time without you. He doesn’t “need” you like your husband does right now. Just my humble opinion. Kids are super resilient. Surgery is difficult and needs support.

Chuck C · Oct 17, 2024

Timmay said:
Quite a few people here have had AFIB after surgery. IIRC, Chuck C did. Amiodorone is a popular med that helps get things in line.

Yes, I did have a couple of bouts of afib in the hospital and was put on amiodarone for a couple of months after surgery. Amiodarone and beta blockers work well together to get afib under control. But, you don't want to be on amiodarone longer than needed, as it has some really bad long term side effects and it also wreaks havoc on INR, generally shooting it up drastically.

Chuck C · Oct 17, 2024

SatoriFound said:
He is actually on the Amiodarone right now. It brought his heart rate down to around 120 instead of the 140 it was mostly staying at.
So the nurse just told me that while in ICU they aim for walking 1 time per day, not more. They have them sit in a chair to help with lung position, but he only did that for 3 hours due to his butt starting to hurt (or lack of butt )

afib is super common after valve surgery. On day 2 or day 3, I went into afib with HR of about 150. Not pleasant. I was put on amiodarone and beta blocker. Actually, I believe that I was already on beta blocker, but they upped my dosage, IIRC. A couple of days later in the step down unit, the afib returned but this time the amiodarone and beta blocker kept in controlled and my HR was only about 115 or 120. I would not have known if I was in afib unless they told me that second time.

On the second bout of afib, which was about day 5 after surgery, I was in and out of afib during the day. I used some deep breathing techniques and was usually able to get it to return to sinus rhythm after a few minutes of deep breathing exercises. I put a link for this below. After that second bout, it never came back again and I was able to taper down off of the amiodarone. I stayed on the beta blocker for about 3 months IIRC.

https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/atrial-fibrillation/how-stop-afib-episode

V__ · Oct 17, 2024

SatoriFound said:
Is this something that could cause him to have to also get a pacemaker if it doesn't clear up on it's own, or is it common to have issues getting the heart into a normal rhythm?

The pacemaker is for increasing the heart pace. A certain percentage of patients (from memory, 7%) have too low pace. Which means less blood supply to the body, and it's own problems. So they implant the temporary pacemaker wires just in case if they need to be used, to take care of such occasions. Not applicable to A-Fib that your husband is having.

SatoriFound said:
They put him on Lasik and now insulin because his sugar wasn't normalizing.

Some hospitals use Lasik to get rid of extra "water weight" quicker. It's a risk factor for pneumonia. AFAIK everybody's blood sugar spikes after the surgery - it's a response to trauma. Which suppresses the immune system. To avoid this issue, insulin is temporarily administered, it's totally normal.

Coughing is also normal, to get rid of the stuff that ends up in the lungs. That's what a patient is supposed to do.

Yes, the throat is sore after the tube removal. From memory, it took like a day to go away.

SatoriFound · Oct 17, 2024

V__ said:
The pacemaker is for increasing the heart pace. A certain percentage of patients (from memory, 7%) have too low pace. Which means less blood supply to the body, and it's own problems. So they implant the temporary pacemaker wires just in case if they need to be used, to take care of such occasions. Not applicable to A-Fib that your husband is having.

Thank you, this was definitely not his problem.

Things are looking up. He was scheduled for a TEE at 1400 today, with a Cardio Version to follow, but the A-fib suddenly cleared up!!!! His heartrate has been pretty steady at right around 80, rather than the 140 it had been at, he is maintaining over 90% O2 sats without the canula. All in about 15 hours. He got his third chest tube out, so is chest tube free and hopefully the neck line can be removed. They were going to remove it after the Cardio Version. He still has the pacing wires, but I assume since he has had no need for them those should come out today too.

Last we heard he still had some fluid in his lungs, but they just did another X-ray. Hopefully we get good news there too.

SatoriFound · Oct 17, 2024

Chuck C said:
afib is super common after valve surgery. On day 2 or day 3, I went into afib with HR of about 150. Not pleasant. I was put on amiodarone and beta blocker. Actually, I believe that I was already on beta blocker, but they upped my dosage, IIRC. A couple of days later in the step down unit, the afib returned but this time the amiodarone and beta blocker kept in controlled and my HR was only about 115 or 120. I would not have known if I was in afib unless they told me that second time.

On the second bout of afib, which was about day 5 after surgery, I was in and out of afib during the day. I used some deep breathing techniques and was usually able to get it to return to sinus rhythm after a few minutes of deep breathing exercises. I put a link for this below. After that second bout, it never came back again and I was able to taper down off of the amiodarone. I stayed on the beta blocker for about 3 months IIRC.

https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/atrial-fibrillation/how-stop-afib-episode

His A-fib is cleared up right now. It has held steady for a few hours and his Cardio Version that was supposed to be at 1400 was cancelled.

He couldn't even tell his heartrate was fast. The times he thought it was fast and asked what his heartrate was it was far less than it had been. LOL Possibly it was the fluttering he was detecting and not the actual speed. If that makes sense. They said he might get to leave the ICU tonight.

SatoriFound · Oct 17, 2024

Chuck C said:
Yes, I did have a couple of bouts of afib in the hospital and was put on amiodarone for a couple of months after surgery. Amiodarone and beta blockers work well together to get afib under control. But, you don't want to be on amiodarone longer than needed, as it has some really bad long term side effects and it also wreaks havoc on INR, generally shooting it up drastically.

He is on this still. Since the A-fib resolved a couple/few hours ago I am hoping when they ween him off it the A-fib doesn't return. Fingers crossed!

SatoriFound · Oct 17, 2024

Timmay said:
Is he currently on. BetaBlocker like Metoprolol? My medical team completely forgot to put me on it and I had to ask/tell them.

Quite a few people here have had AFIB after surgery. IIRC, Chuck C did. Amiodorone is a popular med that helps get things in line. Sounds like the docs are doing that. Cool.

Honestly, I would spend as much time with your husband as possible. Your son is young and he’ll be fine without you for long stretches of the day. I have 2 kids and I DO understand this. But your husband needs an advocate in the hospital. There is no replacement to having you actually there in person. My wife stayed with me every day until closing hours. It truly was a Godsend. Your son will easily get over the small stretches of time without you. He doesn’t “need” you like your husband does right now. Just my humble opinion. Kids are super resilient. Surgery is difficult and needs support.

Dang, I am SO sleep deprived and emotional I almost left today. He was giving me guilt trips about not sneaking him sips of water. He was no anything by mouth until after the TEE and Cardio Version. I packed up my stuff, but I just couldn't. I wanted to be there for him, I mean, he was about to get his heart shocked.

Nobody is perfect.

Current medications- furosemide, MIDAZolam, sod phos di, mono-K phos mono, aspirin, insulin lispro, lidocaine patch, noloxogel, atorvastatin, gabapentin, polyethylene glycol, senoosides-docusate sodium, tamsulosin, esmolol, HEParin, hydromorPHONE, amlODorone, dextrose, sodium chloride. I don't know if any of those are beta blockers, I know that atorvastatin is his statin- is that a beta blocker?

3mm · Oct 17, 2024

SatoriFound said:
11 year old at home. ... I can't bring our son to visit him because the cut off for visitors is 12 years old.

If you think it would help you, your husband, and your son, to bring your son in for a visit, then do it. They're not going to check his ID!

Just be sure your son is ready for the experience. Perhaps show him some pictures of his father in the room before you go in. Keep that visit short, bring the electronic games, and know where the family waiting room is for when your son gets bored or starts to fidget too much.

You are a GOOD person, doing GOOD things!

ncw3642 · Oct 17, 2024

SatoriFound said:
Dang, I am SO sleep deprived and emotional I almost left today. He was giving me guilt trips about not sneaking him sips of water. He was no anything by mouth until after the TEE and Cardio Version. I packed up my stuff, but I just couldn't. I wanted to be there for him, I mean, he was about to get his heart shocked. Nobody is perfect.

Current medications- furosemide, MIDAZolam, sod phos di, mono-K phos mono, aspirin, insulin lispro, lidocaine patch, noloxogel, atorvastatin, gabapentin, polyethylene glycol, senoosides-docusate sodium, tamsulosin, esmolol, HEParin, hydromorPHONE, amlODorone, dextrose, sodium chloride. I don't know if any of those are beta blockers, I know that atorvastatin is his statin- is that a beta blocker?

SatoriFound said:
esmolol

There is your (his) beta blocker. Not traditionally used but can be used if someone is in A-Fib to help control rate/rhythm.

It has a shorter window of action than say... Metoprolol meaning it doesn't have as long sustained effects. Hard to say why they used this vs. Metoprolol without seeing full vitals such as BP-- could be they started with this until the A-Fib was controlled and then they will switch to Metoprolol. Who knows.

A statin is not a beta blocker- but good question. Medication management is confusing for sure. Make sure you ask all the questions you need prior to you leaving and have them explain what he is going to take at home and why. It obviously won't be the long list he's taking in the hospital but you'll still want some context behind it for when you leave.

pellicle · Oct 17, 2024

SatoriFound said:
Dang, I am SO sleep deprived and emotional I almost left today.

you do need a break some times ... he's in capable hands.

don't punish yourself

Erratic heartbeat after surgery

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