7 Days pst op... tired but HOME

[RvUsa]

Ok here it is.... day 7... I am still tired, but doing ok.

A quick rundown of my week, with some gory details...

Tuesday 1/11:
Woke up about 4, got there about 5am, took me right in.... from there on, my xanax has thankfully erased my recollection... LOL Erica my wife says they took me back about 7.... all a blur to me. Surgeon came out and talked to her around 2.
I went straight to CCU, she saw me around 2:30 (it is the unit that she works in, so may have had an in..... I was intubated, sedated and my chest was left open all night. The doc closed me around 10am Wednesday, took about a half hour. They started to wean me from the vent about 11, extabated at about 1, I don't remember anything besides the PANIC till about 4 pm.... then it was O U C H!!!! LOL I was up and sitting in the chair at about 6 and a few of my family stopped by. I even got to see my 8 yr old Matt for a little while (Erica covered all the nasty stuff up, and said I looked great so she let him do it.) I had lots of nausea from the anesthetic, couldn't work it out of my system.
Thursday, up in chair again... etc etc etc, but dang did my back HURT!!!! They took out my art line, my introducer (a garden hose size pipe in my neck) and finally the chest tubes, yikes, not fun... LOL Around 5 they took me to the step down unit, lots of transferring, hugging my heart pillow etc...
Friday, after a night of N O sleep, I had 3 stroke patients around me who were yellers whiners and screamers, just more standing and sitting etc.... then out with the folley and the pacer wires, again OUCH!!! Took my first tiny walk
Saturday after a better night sleep, thank you mr xanax again, I got up and had first shower... WOOO HOOO and got a couple more IV's taken out, not much else to talk bout except they wanted me to go home, but my wife and son were at the hockey tournament, so said I could wait till sunday.
Sunday, got the last IV out, packed up and headed home. This by the way was the FIRST time I was in the back seat of the wife's car, it sucked lol.
Been chilling out here ever since, lots of walking showering dressing and repeat!

My incision is about 22.5 cm
They did a cutdown in my left groin for the bypass, about 5cm
I still have a huge hole in my neck that is killing me from the intrajugular introducer...

Right now, just some incision pain, and I can hear the clicking, and sometimes it is not regular, but my wife says it's fine...

My back and neck are really sore too, but I can live with it....

Home health was here yesterday, INR is 2.9 on 5mg coumadin... will recheck on Thursday....I am sure I will have a few questions about that as I go along... lol

 

[Sarah_Louise]

Welcome back
Glad to hear everything went so well for you!
I hope the pain subsides soon,
Luv Sarah xx

 

[malibu82]

welcome home! have a speedy recovery! you will be feeling great before you know it

 

[Lynlw]

I'm so glad to hear you had your surgery. We hadn't heard from you for a while so I've wonderred how you were doing. Did you have your WLS you were talking about last year?

 

[neil]

welcome home, and no marathons for the first 2 days ok

 

[Kathy McCain]

Good to hear you're home, and on the mend!

 

[Greg a]

Glad you are home and on the road

 

[ALCapshaw2]

I'm so glad to hear you had your surgery. We hadn't heard from you for a while so I've wonderred how you were doing. Did you have your WLS you were talking about last year?

Ditto.

Last I remember, your Doc's had recommended that you have the Weight Loss Surgery First.
Did that happen?

Glad to hear that you were able to have a successful Heart Valve Replacement Surgery in your home town at your wife's hospital.

You know the drill: Breathe (with the Spirometer / Lung Exerciser), Walk, and NAP. Repeat often

MASSAGE works BETTER and FASTER than Pain Meds for Back and Shoulder Pain.

Best Wishes!

'AL'

 

[Duffey]

I'm glad to read that you're at home. Congrats!

 

[RvUsa]

Hi guys, thanks for thinking about me and remembering me! Yes, I had my weight loss surgery, back on April 12th, I had a pretty bad gastric bleed a week later and spent an extra week in the ICU. While I was in the ICU they found out aneurysm had grown to 5.8cm, so they were just waiting for me to reach a target weight. I lost about 210 lbs before I did have the open heart!

I am feeling pretty good, I have an intermittent low grade fever, but doing A LOT better than I was this stage post op WLS!!! The first 3 days were worse than the wls, but it is getting a lot easier. I had visions of this being totally unbearable, but it really isn't that bad!

I will keep everyone up to date!

Thanks John

 

[normofthenorth]

My discomfort from the Jugular tube was one of the last of the "attachments" to be forgotten. It's a good-sized pipe!

 

[nngbwh]

Great to hear you made it.

 

[TXWildflower]

So happy to hear you are home! Here is wishing you a speedy recovery - don't overdo though! Godspeed!

 

[buncle]

You will start feeling better alot faster now.I remember my back and shoulders hurt more than anything.

 

[Michelle D]

I hope you have a smooth recovery and I'm sure all of this hospital stuff will be fuzzy like a dream very soon.

 

[Philip B]

Tired?

Tired?

Welcome back... keep working through things. Things will get better.

-Philip

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Glad to hear you are doing well John.

Push your Breathing and Walking exercises when you feel up to it and REST when your Body tells you it needs to rest. Recovery almost always takes longer than we would like. As long as you can see progress on a weekly basis, you are heading in the right diretion.

You know where to find us when you need help or support.