8 years today

Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

3GUN

Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2014
Messages
14
Location
Oregon, USA
not quite cliff notes of that day, but fun to look back on.

at the hospital at 0530, get a complete shave from chin to toes, only in the front. they do leave the back and the arms. i'm as hairy as a bear so it looks crazy right now. anyway, put on the gown, have a good 15 mins with the anesthesiologist who tells me what to expect. i say goodbye to my wife and sister, very emotional morning for me. will i ever see my daughter again?

downstairs to the OR i go. next thing i know i'm awake, in ICU, looking at a clock and realizing i'm alive. what happens next really, sucked. i'm expecting to get rid of the breathing tube soon. two hours go by and it's still there. hugely uncomfortable. so little air comes thru you swear you are choking. then i start to hear and see nurses and PA's scurrying around concerned. i'm bleeding way too fast way too soon. post op 5 hrs now, and they give me blood. i am clotting and the drain tubes are as well. they use some weird suction devices to try to clear the tubes. this goes on for hours. the clock i swear is broke. i'm now awake some 6 hrs with the breathing tube. they suction around it and thru it. makes me shudder. i pray for water-not happening. my arms flail and nurses ask things like "you want the tube out, right"? hell yes i do and hell yes i know you can't...so don't ask. wish i had pre-made cue cards telling them what i really wanted to say.

the day continues, pain is huge. i ask for pain relief only to find out they have given me everything under the sun. doctor's tell me there is nothing left to try for pain meds. the clock still is broke. post op 10 hrs-still bleeding. get more blood and frozen platelets, which tend to clot. hear doc's talking about going back to OR to determine what's causing the bleeding/clotting. begin to worry, wondering if this is it. it's now post op 14 hours and they tell me the breathing tube is coming out. i'm so happy. loved the ice chip or two i got.


docs start to explain a procedure i'm about to go thru. never read it on this board, and i hope no one ever has to go thru it. post op 15 hrs, wide awake and in lots of pain. docs decide i need another drain tube as my collapsed lung might be taking on blood. they explain what it will entail. basically, insertion of drain tubes are usually done when one is out cold. i was not. they find the spot they are going in from, under my right arm about 5" down from the armpit.

i get some local shot to numb. then the fun begins. as they start cutting the hole, i can feel the knife and it is so hot. they stop and gimme more numbing sauce and continue cutting. now it's deeper. i'm screaming at the doctors at the top of my voice. being a marine, i use every swear word i've ever heard, many, many times. i threaten to find out who the doctor is after i get out, track him down and kill him and his family dog. pain is unreal. they keep cutting and plunge something that felt like a 2" round piece of PVC into my side, working it between the ribs. doc's said i passed out around then.

i wake up some time later and seem to be better. pain is manageable and i'm still alive. bleeding, clotting, draining is now as expected. i happy to be alive. the ER doc came in a couple days later to introduce himself and apologize. i apologized as well, and told him i would spare his dog. more later as i'm tired from typing."
 
I am laughing so hard, that I'm crying!! Not because of the pain and the crap you went through, but by the way you recounted your emotions and anger as you were going through it.
My 8 year anniversary was yesterday. I did not go through the tube issues and bleeding as you did. But, describing the coming to after surgery, the feeling of drowning with the breathing tube, and wishing I could have made que cards, described what I was feeling as well. It's been at least 6 years since I've been on this site. Glad to hear you are still hear to tell your story. Take care man!
 
Congratulations on the eight years and thanks for sharing your experience. That sounds like one of the all time worst experiences. Glad that you came through it and are with us now. Here's to many many more years!
 
That sounds like a nightmare! Glad you’re here eight years on to share! Seriously couldn’t knock you out through your IV? I’ve had a small skin biopsy where the local didn’t take. I know that burning feeling you’re talking about. But no where close to the level you must have felt. It’s a nausea inducing pain.
 
What a story! I hope you look back on “that fateful day” as a “blessing day” or a “miraculous day” and remember it with fondness as It was truly a miracle that you came through this despite all that went wrong after your surgery. Remember also not so many are so fortunate!

Here you are alive ten years later hoping you’ll celebrate many more years to come and enjoy with you family and all around you. hoping you continue to share your story that I find very encouraging especially to those facing difficult health issues that seem insurmountable.

Enjoy your new lease on life and the loved ones around you.

By the way, you have a wonderful writing style. You should consider writing books about your survival and the happy moments that followed in your life!
Your post was beautifully narrated—I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or feel sorry while reading it!
 
I became fully lucid while still intubated after my first surgery. I wanted to say so many things but could not. I used my hands like a crazy person thinking the nurse would get what I was thinking, that they were letting me choke to death after surviving open heart surgery! Finally, she gave me power over my fear by giving me the suction device. I calmed down immediately. Your surgery complications sounded awful. I’m glad you survived to curse again!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top