5 Weeks post op today Dec 27

[bigsidster]

Today is 5 weeks post op and it has not been a fun ride.I left the hospital with terrible back pain that lasted about 2 weeks until I had 2 sessions with a massage therapist.Just before the back pain cleared up I had the mother of all HEMEROIDS rear its ugly head.Back is feeling better but the pressure on the bottom end is not allowing me to sleep.I see doctor and get medication and it starts to subside after about the middle of the 3rd week.I was good Sunday and Monday of the third week and then Tuesday morning woke and thought my kidneys were shutting down.It was like I had got kicked by a mule on the left kidney.Back to clinic and they say kidney is fine that I pulled a muscle????How????? Appying my hemeroid medication??Now we are in the fouth week and muscle pain is getting better after massage therapy again.Sunday morning I get up and have a runny nose and as the day progresses my temp goes to 100.2F and I bigin coughing the dry cough.So today is 5 weeks post op and I have coughrd all day Sunday and Monday until my chest is aching and I can barely think.I am typing this after a marathon sleep of about 10 hours.I am hot and cold and soaken wet from the sweats.Wonder what week 6 has in store ??????

 

[bdryer]

Enough you are killing me, I don't know if I should laugh or cry. LOL!

Ok brother bigsidster, you are not giving me a lot to look forward to, come my Late Jan surgery. I want to hear things like, oh that little coughing spell was like an angel fluttering her pastel wings across my chest; having a bowel movement, oh wait what bowel movement, did I simply break wind; I put my head on the pillow and 10 hrs later I wake refreshed and ready to seize the day. OMG it frightens me to think I will be shopping for an inflatable donut to go with my heart hugger pillow!

Wishing you a remarkable, uneventful pain free week 6.

 

[Greg a]

Sounds a LOT like my odessey with a "suprise in every handful" as they said in the Bits and Bites adds or in the vernacular of Forrst Gump "life is like a box of chocolates" heres to hoping that the suprises from now on are fun and pleasent

 

[MarkG87]

I was 5 weeks last Friday and am actually felling pretty well. Chest pain is actually a bit worse this week and I can really feel the heartbeat every once in a while. 1st day of rehab is Thursday, we'll see how it goes.

 

[jake]

body work

body work

Hey BIG

So what kind of body work is your massage therapist doing with you? How’d you surgeon feel about the massage stuff? Are you on your back or belly for the massage or both? I used to do trigger point massage before OHS and they helped me a lot. Now that I feel like a semi backed over me, I can’t wait to get back in there and get worked on again.

Last Friday was my week 3 post op and let me tell you, my back is not happy! My front is not happy either!

I have been using the mmmmmm some steroid suppositories as I too am experiencing a little aaaaaaa well lets just call it a speed bump problem in the rearward compartment so I’m right there with ya! It’s like adding insult to injury! Its not enough that I got gutted like a trout, now I have to fiddle around in the exhause port too! ARGGGGG!

 

[ALCapshaw2]

AH, your Surgeons would all probably he glad to hear these complaints.

I suspect they take irritable patients as a Good Sign that they are healing and getting stronger,
otherwise they wouldn't have the energy to complain

That Said, Muscle Pains, especially in the back, shoulders, and upper arms are Very Common after the way they have you skewered on the barbie.... er, ah, Operating Table.

MANY of us believe in the benefit of MASSAGE. It seems to work Better and Faster than any Pain Pills.
Stretches are good for helping to recondition the muscles but don't begin to touch Muscle Pain that comes on like Gangbusters. My S.O. uses a vibrating disk massager run along the mal-content muscle. That usually relaxes the muscle and relieves the pain in a minute or two.

See if your Doc's don't get a little SMILE when you tell them of your body aches and pains

'AL Capshaw'

 

[normofthenorth]

Sid, I'm a week or two behind you, and so far I've escaped most of your ills (though I'm prone to most of 'em), except I did spend a week with a hacking dry cough, from ~2.5 weeks to ~3.5 weeks. My temperature went a bit higher than yours, over the course of maybe 2 days. And after it recovered a bit below normal, while I was still starved from a few days of eating not much besides Ensure, I got into crazy tachycardia (~150) and A-Fib, including a quick ambulance ride to the hospital ER.

They didn't keep me overnight, but sent me home with just about the same prescription for metoprolol (B-blocker) that I was originally supposed to take home from the hospital, until the last second. With its help, my pulse rate is much more reasonable, though my BP is now often on the low side, like 98 over 75 and similar. Feeling OK, though not much energy to spare. Between a little lingering cough, lack of energy, and bitter cold out there, I haven't been doing my walking. May walk to the barber tomorrow, for exercise AND a haircut.

The good news for me is that coughing my guts out no longer bothers my sternum AT ALL, and even SNEEZING has gone from a nightmare back to a routine and semi-pleasant part of normal life, all at around 3 weeks -- YAY!

Good luck with the back and the . . . lower back, and everything else, too.

 

[malibu82]

lol you guys are funny!

for me the worst part after surgery was the terrible back and neck pain. i wish the doctors would have told me that was going to happen, just so i knew what to expect! then at 5 weeks out just like you, i got the WORST cold of my life. fever, sweating, coughing, sneezing, it was terrible. it hurt so bad. i thought for sure i wacked my sternum out of place, but everything was fine...

i will send u good luck vibes that week 6 is totally NORMAL and uneventful!!!!

take care!

 

[bigsidster]

Well I am back.Went to ER last night at 9pm and returned home at 1pm.Now on LEVAQUIN an antibiotic for Pneumonia of the left lung.

Hey Jake,the massage is done sitting in a chairbackwards so that the back of the chair is at the side of the massage table.She then puts a pillow on the table and one on the chair back and then covers it with a blanket.Works well getting at the shoulders and back.

I see some more people finally confessing that their ride was not the smoothest.

Here I thought when I went in for OHS that I was going into a spa situation.?????Go figure.

 

[bigsidster]

Hey bdryer you never once heard me say I had any heart problems.That part of the ride was smooth sailing as I hope yours is.If you can protect all the other body parts you will be in like flint.

 

[bdryer]

brother bigsidster

So for the massage you sat backwards in a chair with your back exposed? Gives me an idea. I'm going to stash my backless hospital gown in my overnight bag when I check out. OMG, I have pre-planned a theft! I can envision it now, departing the hospital I can hear, "you in the wheel chair hands up"! Later to find the secret service has been monitoring our correspondence.

"Hey bdryer you never once heard me say I had any heart problems.That part of the ride was smooth sailing as I hope yours is.If you can protect all the other body parts you will be in like flint."

We check in for heart surgery, which is successful and depart as car accident casualties. Pass the kleenex I'm having a cry!

 

[jake]

Reguarding this caughing thing

Reguarding this caughing thing

I have to tell you all, the issue of coughing is most perplexing to me. I feel like I am in a chronic state of just about to cough or sneeze. The at home nurse keeps checking my lungs and sound wise, are all clear, but the sensation that I need to cough or sneeze every few minutes is really making me crazy!

Before surgery, I had a chronic unproductive coughing issue in the AM because of some chronic sinus issues I have had for years so it’s nothing new. As a matter of fact, I am convinced I have thrown my back out a few times from violent coughing. Now, I won’t allow my body to do that violent coughing in the AM and the result is a most precarious feeling of impending doom when I feel that cough or sneeze creeping up on me. My body has responded by simply not giving me any warning. I am fine one moment, and the next AAAAAAAAACHEWWWWWW! This morning I was eating some spaghetti and as I was putting the fork in my mouth, a giant sneeze sent my spaghetti flying all over the table and wall! Thank God my son got up to go get more cerial or he would have gotten the brunt of the spagetti storm. My poor wife was horrified; my dog must have known it was coming because he was right there to help with the cleaning duties. I used to be able to stifle a sneeze if I had to but that produces so much pressure on the chest that I have to just let it fly. It’s just not cool! When the spaghetti thing happened, she threatened to make me carry a bucket with me ;0(

I am sure you all know the feeling that you get when you know that a cough or sneeze is coming out no matter what, you brace yourself, press the pillow to your chest, set yourself up and when that cough or sneeze comes flying out that evil popping and snapping that comes from the sternum. My chest hurts a lot less now during a cough than it did a couple weeks ago, but the popping and snapping just freaks me out. Unless one has had to experience this, they could never understand the unique feeling of horror an impending cough or sneeze brings on. Its like seeing a car sliding out of control and is going to hit you and you see it coming every step of the way and your just waiting for the impact. I can’t imagine having to deal with Pneumonia, cold or flu while recovering from OHS. You folks who are going through this with pneumonia or a cold, I can only offer my most deep and sincere condolences for having to deal with that.

 

[drivetopless]

Bidsid-
Sounds like you feel like your avatar looks. Hope you feel better soon! Hang in there!

 

[Bina]

Well I am back.Went to ER last night at 9pm and returned home at 1pm.Now on LEVAQUIN an antibiotic for Pneumonia of the left lung.

Hey Jake,the massage is done sitting in a chairbackwards so that the back of the chair is at the side of the massage table.She then puts a pillow on the table and one on the chair back and then covers it with a blanket.Works well getting at the shoulders and back.

I see some more people finally confessing that their ride was not the smoothest.

Here I thought when I went in for OHS that I was going into a spa situation.?????Go figure.

Now behave and take your antibs like a good boy. Get better soon !!