Erratic heartbeat after surgery

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.

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You are doing a great job. I was also moody and irritable short-term in the hospital and this is coming from someone who is a healthcare provider and promised myself I would be nothing but cheerful post-surgery-- it happens. Combo of the drugs, surgery and just feeling crummy and having change to deal with. It will improve.

But I'll echo my above thoughts and say please make sure to destress and take time for yourself as well. Sometimes you do need to remove yourself from the situation for a while- to get your morale and energy back. You can only take care of him if you take care of yourself first.

pellicle said:

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

don't punish yourself

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I am leaving tonight right after lock down ends. I have a physical therapy appointment super early in the morning and then a mammogram after that. Fun fun.

3mm said:

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!

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So, they told me 12 years at the entry desk to ICU, but the nurse said they thought it was 18.

I didn't have this issue when my son was in the ICU at Children's. They allowed all his siblings to come see him because they knew how sick he was and they needed to be able to tell him they loved him in case he died, which they thought he was going to do. They allowed my little guy to spend entire days there with me. He even slept there with me some days. Some days we went to our room at Ronald McDonald House.

It sounds like tonight, or tomorrow he will be moving out of ICU, if all keeps going as it is.

SatoriFound said:

I am leaving tonight right after lock down ends. I have a physical therapy appointment super early in the morning and then a mammogram after that. Fun fun.

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fingers crossed for a good result from the mammogram ...

pellicle said:

fingers crossed for a good result from the mammogram ...

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Thank you! We have breast cancer in my family and my cousin is currently battling sepsis from her double mastectomy and reconstruction. So it can be scary. But on the upside I breastfed for a long time amongst my many children, and lowered my chances of getting it substantially. I did the math and it was like a 70% lower chance due to the amount of total time breastfeeding.

SatoriFound said:

We have breast cancer in my family and my cousin is currently battling sepsis from her double mastectomy and reconstruction.

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I can only say its horrible how our bodies betray us. A friend of mine's wife has just had a double mastectomy for similar familial reasons (she's had two kids now).

Best Wishes

@SatoriFound Glad that your husband's AFib resolved itself (without cardioversion) and things are looking up overall. These things are quite common in the days right after surgery as others have suggested. Hopefully it would be smooth sailing going forward.
You can also relax and rest now

Lots of details satori wife! Do take care of yourself. My hubs is lucky because I keep telling him to get outta here and let me rest. But it was good he was here to be an advocate for me and tell them and me I was underreporting my pain level and needed stronger medication. He was 100% correct and I feel much better, able to relax and sit up more and better spirometer results. I definitely don’t have the “no butt” problem with sitting. lol. But I spent a lot of time in the hospital with my FIL this past year who is a difficult patient. Def take time for yourself and your son now while you have the nurses to lean on!

None of my kids have visited yet but today I am up to texting so that is nice. I also have a son on the spectrum, he is 29 and wants to visit tomorrow. I think it will be reassuring but I’ll be looking for like a 20 minute visit.

I’m on Lasix too and metoprolol. Chest tubes are still draining. Heparin drip and started the warfarin.

Sorry to hear about the afib but glad it converted on its own. I had afib before the procedure but not now (fingers crossed, at least not severe). It was extremely apparent to me when I had episodes. First one I had a cardioversion (which lasted for 4 days) others resolved on their own. Hopefully in your hubs case it is just temporary.

Hope things keep progressing and he feels better soon and you get some rest. You gotta have boundaries for yourself. Nobody gives them to ya for free.

dornole said:

Lots of details satori wife! Do take care of yourself. My hubs is lucky because I keep telling him to get outta here and let me rest. But it was good he was here to be an advocate for me and tell them and me I was underreporting my pain level and needed stronger medication. He was 100% correct and I feel much better, able to relax and sit up more and better spirometer results. I definitely don’t have the “no butt” problem with sitting. lol. But I spent a lot of time in the hospital with my FIL this past year who is a difficult patient. Def take time for yourself and your son now while you have the nurses to lean on!

None of my kids have visited yet but today I am up to texting so that is nice. I also have a son on the spectrum, he is 29 and wants to visit tomorrow. I think it will be reassuring but I’ll be looking for like a 20 minute visit.

I’m on Lasix too and metoprolol. Chest tubes are still draining. Heparin drip and started the warfarin.

Sorry to hear about the afib but glad it converted on its own. I had afib before the procedure but not now (fingers crossed, at least not severe). It was extremely apparent to me when I had episodes. First one I had a cardioversion (which lasted for 4 days) others resolved on their own. Hopefully in your hubs case it is just temporary.

Hope things keep progressing and he feels better soon and you get some rest. You gotta have boundaries for yourself. Nobody gives them to ya for free.

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What day did you have your surgery? We are on day 8 in the hospital. They took him off the heparin drip, then put him back on, but he can't leave until he is on Warfarin, not Heparin. He is annoyed that he is back to carting around the IV stand. He got his pacer wires removed yesterday. It's funny I have heard people say the pacer wires bugged them a lot, but he couldn't feel them at all. After the chest tubes and the central line came out he was thrilled though. That central line was obnoxious, the way it stuck out of his neck bugged him to no end. LOL

He has told me I don't have to come everyday, but... I don't want him to be lonely and I want him to feel loved. The doctor thought he would get out of here on the early end of the 5-7 days they estimate, but instead he has gone over. *sigh* Oh well. At least I don't have to worry about him here. He is in good hands.

I had surgery on 10/16 - mitral replacement, tricuspid Repair, maze procedure for afib and left atrial appendage clip. Kind of on the INR crazy train myself. I developed heart block after the surgery so I still have the temporary pacer (doesn’t bother me at all) and will need a permanent one before I go home. That was supposed to happen today but my inr is too low. I will have to go back on heparin too and spend a couple days getting in range before the procedure which is currently rescheduled for Weds. they told me they can’t use heparin for a while after putting in the pacemaker. So the INR has to be high enough (2.5 in my case)

At least I am feeling a lot better so social visits are nice! Hubs brought 2 of the kids over yesterday and I had a zoom with my parents and sibs.

Hang in there! We will get outta this place!! I agree with your hubs the heparin pole Is a drag and the Swan Ganz line is creepy. But no chest tubes still feels great.

dornole said:

I had surgery on 10/16 - mitral replacement, tricuspid Repair, maze procedure for afib and left atrial appendage clip. Kind of on the INR crazy train myself. I developed heart block after the surgery so I still have the temporary pacer (doesn’t bother me at all) and will need a permanent one before I go home. That was supposed to happen today but my inr is too low. I will have to go back on heparin too and spend a couple days getting in range before the procedure which is currently rescheduled for Weds. they told me they can’t use heparin for a while after putting in the pacemaker. So the INR has to be high enough (2.5 in my case)

At least I am feeling a lot better so social visits are nice! Hubs brought 2 of the kids over yesterday and I had a zoom with my parents and sibs.

Hang in there! We will get outta this place!! I agree with your hubs the heparin pole Is a drag and the Swan Ganz line is creepy. But no chest tubes still feels great.

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Basically the doctor just said the only thing holding him back from going home is getting his inr in range, and they haven't even started Warfarin yet. They said definitely tonight. So it'll be at least a couple more days in the hospital. You and hubby are only two days apart for your surgery dates. Fun.

I brought our son in to see daddy, finally, and he only managed 5 minutes before asking how long we were staying. LOL I told him ahead of time we wouldn't stay past two hours. He did a pretty good job of behaving and not being a poop.

And yes! The removal of the chest tubes made all the difference in his attitude. I think he drained longer than some.

SatoriFound said:

The doctor thought he would get out of here on the early end of the 5-7 days they estimate, but instead he has gone over. *sigh*

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It does happen. Early on, I was doing so well that I was told they planned to release me on day 4. Then, afib hit and they ended up keeping me until day 8. Hang in there. He will be home soon and that will be another game changer- a huge one.

Chuck C said:

It does happen. Early on, I was doing so well that I was told they planned to release me on day 4. Then, afib hit and they ended up keeping me until day 8. Hang in there. He will be home soon and that will be another game changer- a huge one.

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Yeah, this is day 8 and they haven't even started Warfarin yet. They said they will start it tonight. Then there is a minimum of 2 days while we wait for him to get in range. And yes, it is the A-fib. It screwed up everything. They withheld his food daily saying he was going to get Cardio Version and they had to do a TEE, so no food allowed for 12 hours prior, then the A-fib would stop and they would cancel the procedure and let him eat, then it would start again.... He was BEGGING me to sneak him a sip of water. Every doctor that came in today hadn't read his chart and didn't even know he wasn't already on Warfarin. They kept giving us OLD information. *sigh* I mean, jeez, he's sitting there with a Heparin drip going. And every set of notes I read lists all these things, like his mucus membranes are wet. How the hell do they know? They don't even look. BLAH. Sorry, I am starting to get annoyed. I want his doctor. LOL His surgeon is in Taiwan giving a presentation or something. So, he has this huge team. He has the electro cardio people, the congenital heart people, the regular cardio and NO ONE seems to communicate with each other. I guess that's how it is when you just have a set of ward doctors walking around to 30 different patients.

On another note, the congenital cardiologist ordered genetic testing. She says if anything comes up that his first degree relatives will get a free genetic screen. I don't think it will since I have run his genetic profile through promethease and none of the genes I have found in studies that relate to aortic aneurysms or bicuspid valves has come up. But, the genetic profile I am using is an old one from ancestry, so maybe since this is a medical screen it will be a more complete profile that they scan for the genes. They decided to test him because he is very tall, has Pectus Excavatum, and the doctor says his palate is high. He also has multiple children with hyperflexibility and his sister was diagnosed with flexible Ehler's Danlos (supposedly there hasn't been a gene found yet for this one, and she couldn't afford to have the comprehensive genetic testing done for other forms). It isn't likely he has Marfans, even with the few markers as he doesn't pass the other tests for it, his arm span is normal according to his doctor who measured it. I don't know. There could be other genes that they haven't found yet that relate to his valve issue and aneurysm. He does carry a lot of genetic markers for abdominal aortic aneurysm, but his aneurysm was in his ascending aorta. So who knows. LOL Anyway, regardless of any testing I have to set up an echo for our 11 year old and he needs to tell his older daughters that it was advised they get tested.

SatoriFound said:

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.

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Wow - great news. I was reading through this string to just relate my experience ,where I had the *pleasure* of the TEE, then was being wheeled to get a cardioversion, and my Afib suddenly stopped. Interesting that he had the same experience. TEE as a treatment? LOL .... No thanks !

I was also on Amiodarone for 1 week or 2 after AVR , and have been on Beta Blocker on and off for 7 years. I felt at 75% after 2 weeks, and 90% after 2 months of walking /rehab. You guys are on the downhill side now.