16 Days Out And Getting Scared...

[pellicle]

In a modern hospital with electricity and everything.

woosh ... well I wish I'd had that

Imagine ... electrixity ... and everything ... ;-)

 

[Foxtail118]

If my my surgery is scheduled for 8:00 am on Tuesday the 7th, and all goes well without any major new discoveries and/or complications, when do you think will be the earliest time I am able to get out of the bed and try to walk?

MAJ

 

[bizinsider]

They will try to get you out of bed ASAP. For me, if I recall correctly - and I was sufficiently drugged so some of this remains foggy – it was the morning of Day 2. Day 1 was surgery, recovery. The goal was to get me to the chair. I thought I would flex my core and bounce up; fat chance! With two people holding me I flexed my core and fell back into the bed. Core strength wasn't quite firing the way I had hoped. A few seconds later we got to the chair. I think it was the next day, in step-down, that I started walking and never looked back. My core started firing. (Remember, your incision is in your chest, not abdomen.) My advice is to spend as little time in the bed as possible. Just b/c you are in the hospital doesn't mean you need to stay in bed. I hated the hospital bed. It was uncomfortable. They even brought in a different bed to try. Yikes! It was worse! My back hurt. So no matter when I got up in the morning (even 1-3 a.m. a few days) I got out of bed and into the chair. Turned on the mindless TV. (Hint - nothing good at 3 a.m.) If I needed to rest I went back to the bed. But once you are in step-down your goal should be to follow their instructions on walking. Listen to your body. Don't overdo it. The rest, my friend, will be history! I'm 4+ months out and if it wasn't for the 9" scar I wouldn't know I had anything done.

 

[Foxtail118]

Great - good for you! Excellent detail. I am 6'6" and weigh 212 pounds. I have never had a comfortable hospital bed yet! Thanks for responding.

 

[Superman]

woosh ... well I wish I'd had that

Imagine ... electrixity ... and everything ... ;-)

No indoor plumbing, but with the catheter and being backed up post surgery, I didn’t miss it.

 

[pellicle]

We don’t know what we don’t know with this one, unfortunately.

Although we do know quite a bit

 

[pellicle]

I have never had a comfortable hospital bed yet!

Me neither

 

[Protimenow]

No. Novel Corona Virus wasn't even imagined when I had my valve. HIV was, and I don't think they were able to screen my blood for it.

I mentioned COVID-19 as a possible concern for people now, who may need a transfusion. I'm not sure it is carried in the blood, but it may be a concern for people receiving blood. That's why I mentioned it.

We have screening here (supposedly), but our 'leader' doesn't support it, and we're suffering as a result. Support of effective preventive, therapeutic, preventive, and diagnostic efforts, and protection of caregivers and any others who come into frequent contact with the public - from the top - would probably have reduced or prevented the spike in cases that the United States is now suffering through. (How's THAT for a long sentence?)

 

[Protimenow]

Comfortable Hospital Bed - an oxymoron. It's even worse if you're longer than the bed - you have to lay or sleep in a curved position (or something) and wind up with a curved, sore back. I wonder what taller people (I'm 6'2) have to do in these short beds.

Gurneys in E.R.s are even worse.

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi Foxtail - I went for my first walk on day 2 after surgery. After that it was laps of the hospital corridor several times a day. I did not stay in bed much - one instruction pre hospital admission was to bring day clothes - it was specifically mentioned that patients should change from PJs into day clothes during the day - no hanging around in bed, apart from a 'nap' every afternoon. (Baggy day clothes to accomodate the weight gain from fluid). On about day 4 or 5 a nurse accompanied me from the ward to the entrance of the hospital and back, taking in a flight of stairs - they don't let you go home in UK hospitals unless you can do a flight of stairs, so after that it was practice doing a flight of stairs along with the ward corridor !

I think the hospital bed was comfy, the first one in ICU and HDU was one of those beds which 'ripple' constantly (to prevent bed sores ?), except in HDU mine went wrong, stopped rippling and stayed in a wave and rock hard. But next day it was a nice bed except pain made comfort impossible, but at least it was the kind of bed that I could adjust to a sitting angle.

 

[John K]

If my my surgery is scheduled for 8:00 am on Tuesday the 7th, and all goes well without any major new discoveries and/or complications, when do you think will be the earliest time I am able to get out of the bed and try to walk?

MAJ

My surgery was scheduled for 10, don't remember much of anything after entering the OR, woke up in recovery the next morning and they had me up walking before lunch.

John K

 

[George in Denver]

Great - good for you! Excellent detail. I am 6'6" and weigh 212 pounds. I have never had a comfortable hospital bed yet! Thanks for responding.

After my first AVR I was stuck in bed since there was no recliner in the room. Constant back pain/spasms. The second time, there was a recliner next to the bed. I had them put me in that rather than the bed as soon as they brought me to the room, and I lived in that for my entire stay. It was adjustable, and I could change position easily. No sliding down like I did in the bed. It was heaven. If you have any discomfort in the bed, urge them to bring in a recliner. BTW: we then rented a medical recliner for the first couple of weeks back at home. That, too, made my life MUCH easier. Easier to get into and out of, and much more comfortable for sleeping.

 

[stephenismycopilot]

They had me up and walking early on day two. I actually asked them for extra walks. Once I was up it was easy going, but sitting in the chair all day was awful. I'd slide down slowly over the course of an hour or two and lack the core strength to scoot myself back up, not to mention the pain caused when I tried. So every couple hours I'd pester them for a walk, and maybe once an hour I'd pester them to hoist me a few inches back in the chair. It was a little embarrassing at first, but it's their job, after all, and they were always happy to oblige.

 

[Elmo]

I was up on the second day too, despite having a nasty chest infection. I had the same experience as Paleowoman - the clinical staff were very keen to get you up and doing "normal" things, although concentrating was difficult. At the Royal Brompton where I had my surgery, you had to walk round the corridors between the wards that formed a square - the aim was to do three circuits before they would consider letting you home. All the staff would ask how far post-op you were and how many laps you'd done. It certainly made me feel better that all these people cared about my recovery.
I got away without doing the stair climb as we live in a bungalow, but I was allowed to go outside for a short walk with my other half which was a very strange experience. I felt very unsafe as i walked out the door of the hospital but the fresh air was wonderful.

One thing you do need to remember is that your legs are OK - I was walking very gingerly at first and then it suddenly dawned on my that my legs weren't part of the surgery and they weren't going to hurt!

 

[Foxtail118]

My surgery was scheduled for 10, don't remember much of anything after entering the OR, woke up in recovery the next morning and they had me up walking before lunch.

John K

Thanks!

 

[Foxtail118]

They had me up and walking early on day two. I actually asked them for extra walks. Once I was up it was easy going, but sitting in the chair all day was awful. I'd slide down slowly over the course of an hour or two and lack the core strength to scoot myself back up, not to mention the pain caused when I tried. So every couple hours I'd pester them for a walk, and maybe once an hour I'd pester them to hoist me a few inches back in the chair. It was a little embarrassing at first, but it's their job, after all, and they were always happy to oblige.

Thank you!

 

[Foxtail118]

I was up on the second day too, despite having a nasty chest infection. I had the same experience as Paleowoman - the clinical staff were very keen to get you up and doing "normal" things, although concentrating was difficult. At the Royal Brompton where I had my surgery, you had to walk round the corridors between the wards that formed a square - the aim was to do three circuits before they would consider letting you home. All the staff would ask how far post-op you were and how many laps you'd done. It certainly made me feel better that all these people cared about my recovery.
I got away without doing the stair climb as we live in a bungalow, but I was allowed to go outside for a short walk with my other half which was a very strange experience. I felt very unsafe as i walked out the door of the hospital but the fresh air was wonderful.

One thing you do need to remember is that your legs are OK - I was walking very gingerly at first and then it suddenly dawned on my that my legs weren't part of the surgery and they weren't going to hurt!

Great - thank you!

 

[Foxtail118]

Hi All,

My first post was titled "16 Days Out And Getting Scared". Now it is 3 days out and I am scared...haha, just kidding. All of you have made me feel a lot better about the surgery.

 

[bizinsider]

Foxtail - You'll be fine. Sense of humor really helps. And remember, given your size - the beds have extenders (not sure that extend THAT much) but the footboards do extend!

Superman:

No indoor plumbing, but with the catheter and being backed up post surgery, I didn’t miss it.

Even with the softeners, etc, I think "being backed up" is a thing. And not just b/c of the pain meds, but something called ileus, which occurs when the bowels have trouble waking up after surgery. Let's just say my night 3 was a night I will not soon forget. I was out of bed every 5 minutes, on my own, and I really thanked the nurse who didn't pass judgement at 2 a.m. when, let's just say, the floor of the room, or my bed, was really not a pretty sight. To make sure my bowels weren't blocked they added my abdomen to the post-op CT scan. Turns out my bowels were not blocked and a special diet for a day or two cured what was ailing them. But they found an infection in my prostate - possibly the result of the catheter. They (in Cleveland) had not seen this type of complication before. It led to some hand-wringing, a bunch of consulting with a bunch of different doctors, and a near-brush with prostate surgery. But my incredible surgeon's cooler (and smarter) head prevailed and I went on six weeks of Cirpo and an intravenous antibiotic (via a Pic line) as a precaution to spare any infection getting to the new valve. The infection went away. In the end, it was all really just an annoying distraction.

Paleo woman - that's great on the street clothes. Makes Total sense. I wonder if that's a UK thing. And this tip on the bed: Remember, they are (or in Cleveland were) filled with air. My biggest complaint, with the post-surgical back pain, was that the bed sagged. Finally, one nurse added air to the part of the mattress that sagged. Solved the problem. Foxtail - don't hesitate being a squeaky wheel on that if you're in a hospital with a saggy air-filled bed. Also, for the ICU - bring some noise-cancelling earphones or earplugs and an eye mask to drown out the light.

 

[Protimenow]

One more tip:
If you want to keep your phone powered, you'll probably find an open USB port on the computer in your room. Bring a cable (probably more than 6') that they can plug into the computer, and that will reach near your bed. Ditto for charging a headphone (if you bring one).

The first two times I was in the hospital, they had to scrounge a 'charging station) to occasionally charge my phone. It took a (no kidding) charge nurse to point out the port on the computer.