After your surgery, what are some of the things that you found out that surprised you

[BionicBuddy]

The two of you could learn Morris Code and use blinking to communicate.

Kidding. That would be a little over the top.

That sounds sooooooo romantic

 

[sleepy]

Before his surgery my brother made flash cards for things like “thirsty” and “pain” and whatnot and they were somewhat useful but the tube was out relatively quickly so he didn’t need them for long.

 

[HokieHaden]

For me, two surprises..
1. I was STILL alive, and
2. My Emotions. Since my surgery, despite being a somewhat bullish and boorish 60 year old, I tear-up at the slightest twinkle. Apparently this is a known side-effect, and in truth its not an issue, but it can get a bit frustrating at times

Oh goodness...I'm already this way with the emotions.....I may not be able to function after this surgery (SAVR and aorta repair in less than a week, Oct 25)

 

[CindyBain]

I was surprised that an atrial clip was added during my mitral valve replacement. It is placed to prevent to blood clots going in or out of the heart. Glad to know a stroke will not stem from a clot in my heart!! I was also surprised at how badly my upper back hurt between my shoulders.

 

[HokieHaden]

Just wanted to quickly add my sincere THANK YOU to all who have contributed to this particular thread. I've read the entire thing as I prepare mentally for my Oct 25 (5 days as I type this!) AVR and Aortic Root Replacement surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. This thread has brought back to my memory a few things I had long forgotten from my initial OHS in 1990 (age 16), as well as prepared me for things I could encounter next week. While some of it can fuel anxiety, I've found this to be more helpful than anything. Thank you, all!

 

[DMS]

Just wanted to quickly add my sincere THANK YOU to all who have contributed to this particular thread. I've read the entire thing as I prepare mentally for my Oct 25 (5 days as I type this!) AVR and Aortic Root Replacement surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. This thread has brought back to my memory a few things I had long forgotten from my initial OHS in 1990 (age 16), as well as prepared me for things I could encounter next week. While some of it can fuel anxiety, I've found this to be more helpful than anything. Thank you, all!

I wish you all the best. I had my AVR in 2012 with a SJM mechanical valve. I'm now 70 and still motoring along. I remember the trepidation and apprehension beforehand and empathize with your feelings. This forum was a lifeline and answered all my silly (and not so silly) questions and allayed a lot of fears. Good luck!

 

[Chuck C]

Just wanted to quickly add my sincere THANK YOU to all who have contributed to this particular thread. I've read the entire thing as I prepare mentally for my Oct 25 (5 days as I type this!) AVR and Aortic Root Replacement surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. This thread has brought back to my memory a few things I had long forgotten from my initial OHS in 1990 (age 16), as well as prepared me for things I could encounter next week. While some of it can fuel anxiety, I've found this to be more helpful than anything. Thank you, all!

Looking forward to seeing you on the other side brother!

From all appearances, you have gone into this with the right attitude and taken on the due diligence to really prepare for the choices before you. You have had a challenge in determining which valve is the right choice, and have not had an easy time deciding. This tells me that you are critically evaluating both sides, because it is not an easy choice, with pros and cons for each option.

Wishing you the best for your procedure and please keep us posted.

 

[Gail in Ca]

I have a concert today. I’ll think of you while playing and hearing beautiful sounds!
I remember for my 3rd surgery, I wasn’t nervous until they woke me up at 5am the morning of and I needed to take another shower with the plastic scrubber and special soap. When done, and I was getting a fresh gown on, my hands were really shaking and I knew it finally had sunk in that I was having another surgery!
All the best for you!!

 

[Survived03]

HokieHade (I am curious if you have VT in your veins?), first off I wish you all the best before, during and after surgery. I want to leave you with a few thoughts that may help.

I want to share a statement that was made to me right before my surgery and really put me at ease and relived my anxiety. In the prep room the lead of the anesthesiology team said "you are in great hands here and there is not a single thing we cant deal with at this hospital, not a single surprise". I too had surgery at a teaching and learning University Hospital with lots of cardiac thoracic experience.

Secondly, for as crazy as these surgeries sound on paper, they are much more common today than many years ago and they have mastered these procedures. Especially when it is a planned elective surgery like yours.

Thirdly, besides a variety of normal sternum pain, you are going to feel like you have a belt tied tight around you chest accompanied by difficulty in breathing deeply. Ironically they will ask you "any chest pain?". There is chest pain and there is cardiac chest pain. This tightness is normal so don't become overly anxious with this tight feeling. There is a lot of internal inflammation that takes place after surgery and your body is just angry while healing. This tightness may limit your confidence to take a few laps around the hospital floor. Don't let it.

Fourthly, be part of your recovery team in ICU and step-down. Ask questions, be vocal, provide feedback so they can guide the proper treatments for you. You will feel more enabled.

Lastly, use the cough pillow and use the spirometer to keep you lungs clear.

Good luck, be a warrior, and see you on the other side.

 

[HokieHaden]

HokieHade (I am curious if you have VT in your veins?), first off I wish you all the best before, during and after surgery. I want to leave you with a few thoughts that may help.

I want to share a statement that was made to me right before my surgery and really put me at ease and relived my anxiety. In the prep room the lead of the anesthesiology team said "you are in great hands here and there is not a single thing we cant deal with at this hospital, not a single surprise". I too had surgery at a teaching and learning University Hospital with lots of cardiac thoracic experience.

Secondly, for as crazy as these surgeries sound on paper, they are much more common today than many years ago and they have mastered these procedures. Especially when it is a planned elective surgery like yours.

Thirdly, besides a variety of normal sternum pain, you are going to feel like you have a belt tied tight around you chest accompanied by difficulty in breathing deeply. Ironically they will ask you "any chest pain?". There is chest pain and there is cardiac chest pain. This tightness is normal so don't become overly anxious with this tight feeling. There is a lot of internal inflammation that takes place after surgery and your body is just angry while healing. This tightness may limit your confidence to take a few laps around the hospital floor. Don't let it.

Fourthly, be part of your recovery team in ICU and step-down. Ask questions, be vocal, provide feedback so they can guide the proper treatments for you. You will feel more enabled.

Lastly, use the cough pillow and use the spirometer to keep you lungs clear.

Good luck, be a warrior, and see you on the other side.

What a super thoughtful note!

First, the lightHEARTed….so, I messed up my username when registering. It should be HokieHaden. And yes, I grew up 5 min from the Virginia Tech campus in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Despite not actually earning a degree from VT, my blood is absolutely orange and maroon! And despite living the last 30 years in Nashville, TN, the VT area will always be “home”.

Your words of encouragement are incredibly timely and thoughtful. Thank you for taking the time to share with and encourage me!!

 

[pellicle]

While some of it can fuel anxiety, I've found this to be more helpful than anything.

That's the Spirit!!

Here's wishing you an event free recovery.

See you on the other side.

 

[HokieHaden]

That's the Spirit!!

Here's wishing you an event free recovery.

See you on the other side.

I just went out this beautiful afternoon and knocked out a 25 mile bike ride (road cycling is my favorite hobby these days). I figure….get a good one in, as it’s going to be a while….

 

[HokieHaden]

That's the Spirit!!

Here's wishing you an event free recovery.

See you on the other side.

You've been very helpful, Pellicle. Very knowledgeable, obviously, but also dedicated in your education of others. That's a great service and much appreciated!

 

[pellicle]

You've been very helpful, Pellicle. Very knowledgeable, obviously, but also dedicated in your education of others. That's a great service and much appreciated!

thanks, I do try, but not always in the most amenable way to some people. I recognise that I can really only be me, and leave it to others (like Chuck C, Superman or Dick) to cover similar topics from different angles.

Best Wishes

 

[pellicle]

I figure….get a good one in, as it’s going to be a while….

probably less time than you think (and you may not be in the mood anyway).

Have you looked at (properly done) Nordic Pole Walking? Works great in Jogging too (eventually). You may like to add that in (the walking) at about week 4 or so ... if you have a minimally invasive sternotomy it'll probably speed up that recovery a bit.

 

[AZATADINE]

I just went out this beautiful afternoon and knocked out a 25 mile bike ride (road cycling is my favorite hobby these days). I figure….get a good one in, as it’s going to be a while….

Mightn't be as long as you think to be honest. I was allowed back cycling after 3 months but could probably have started back earlier from a heart point of view. My surgeon said the risk is more to do with the vibrations coming through the handlebars to the still healing bone in the sternum and the risk of a fall.

 

[HokieHaden]

I'm officially 1 week past my 10/25 Bentall procedure (aortic root replacement + bovine tissue AVR) at Vanderbilt Univ Medical Center. I read this full thread heading into my procedure, so I figure it's time I contribute with the things I was surprised by:

• That it was called a Bentall procedure - I went into this calling it a Aortic root replacement and AVR surgery. I woke up and almost immediately heard the nurses talking about a Bentall procedure. I almost wondered if they were mistaken. Haha!
• I considered myself a healthy/fit AVR candidate, yet I suffered complications I was not mentally prepared for: (1) very likely had a TIA (mini stroke) on the table, as I awoke with extreme weakness in my left side. Fortunately, this passed in 8-10 hours and I regained full strength, (2) Double-vision that has gotten much better but still persists. I am going to an Ophthalmologist tomorrow 11/2 to begin to troubleshoot a path forward. While it's only "minor" double vision now, I've never dealt with any real vision impairment, and I must say this is quite scary (to think of what life may look like if it doesn't eventually fully resolve).
• How scared I was of being awake and having the intubation tube in place. Turns out I don't remember them removing it (according to my wife, I was alert, but heavily sedated still). She had to show me pictures of the intubation tube in place. No memory of it!
• How sick I'd get from general anesthesia. I used probably 8-10 of those puke bags in the ICU, before they decided to insert a NG tube down my nose and into my stomach to remove the bile, etc. Ironically, my step-dad was just that morning, pre-surgery, telling me about how bad his experience was with a NG tube. When I heard them say I needed one, I was horrified. Turns out, for me, it wasn't that bad going in or coming out. And, it did it's job of quelling my sick stomach/nausea.
• How relatively "easy" it was when they removed my 2 chest tubes on day 4. I had OHS in 1990 and vividly remember how painful that was. So, it was my biggest source of pain anxiety going into this surgery. The head nurse of my surgeon took this duty on directly and she made it almost nothing. Well, she AND some good pain meds timed about 30 min prior.
• That I’d have this fancy black sternum incision wound-tape, that had “magic” suction to keep the incision tight and healing. And, that that tape would hurt like heck coming off at discharge! (Was brief though)
• That I’d receive LSS plating (titanium maybe) to help fortify the sternum. And because of it, I’d have much more strength in my sternum and much more use of my arms!
• That I’d receive 2 formal implant cards - one for the LSS Plating and one for the tissue valve. I’m not entirely sure what to do with these, but I will treat them as valuable docs.
• How strange memory can be - I vividly remember conversations with the medical team in the ICU, but I later saw pictures of the amazing view I had out the window, and it was as though I'd never looked out the window. I had no idea my ICU bed had such a nice view! Now I suspect this had to do with my really bad double vision in ICU as my left eye wouldn’t track to the right side where that window was.
• How badly my temperature would fluctuate in the step-down unit. I am usually a guy who "runs hot" in any room. Not here - every nurse who came in commented on what an ice-box that room was. To me, it felt like it was 75 deg F. On a related note, I slept at night at least 2 nights surrounded by ice bags. I'd be able to finally fall asleep and wake up 2-3 hours later with a lower body temp, freezing and wondering why in the world I was surrounded by ICE! I've been home for 3 days now and the body temp swings continue (just not as drastic). And, no "official" fever.
• How much I would come to appreciate my nursing team at Vanderbilt. My wife was amazing and with me a LOT, but she needed to be with our 3 kids and continue life to some normalcy for them. So, I was heavily dependent on these nurses/clinicians.
• How much I'd grow to have my "favorite" nurses in just 4 days or so in that step-down. They were all good, but it's funny how the little things that some of them do will endear you.
• That I'd be discharged home on day 5 of the process (day 4 following surgery). I was mentally prepared to stay until 10/31, yet I came home on 10/29! Woohoo!
• That I'd get "wedged" between what felt like a power struggle between my surgeon and his head nurse, about whether to discharge me on 10/29 WITHOUT having a BM. This was his idea completely, early that 10/29 morning, saying to me, "well, you can do that at home, no?". Of course, I agreed. Meanwhile, I have a team of nurses all coming to me asking if I've had a BM and saying I can't go home until I have one. Ultimately, he won that battle and I went home to have a BM following a really "intimate" moment where my wife gave me a suppository. Lovely....
• NOT a surprise, but still had no idea just how many prayers and positive support I'd receive from family and friends. As others have shared here, I became even more emotional than my baseline normal (hard to believe is possible), so I've probably cried with 20 friends in some way in the past week. And, I'd have it no other way....

 

[Juli]

I'm officially 1 week past my 10/25 Bentall procedure (aortic root replacement + bovine tissue AVR) at Vanderbilt Univ Medical Center. I read this full thread heading into my procedure, so I figure it's time I contribute with the things I was surprised by:

• That it was called a Bentall procedure - I went into this calling it a Aortic root replacement and AVR surgery. I woke up and almost immediately heard the nurses talking about a Bentall procedure. I almost wondered if they were mistaken. Haha!
• I considered myself a healthy/fit AVR candidate, yet I suffered complications I was not mentally prepared for: (1) very likely had a TIA (mini stroke) on the table, as I awoke with extreme weakness in my left side. Fortunately, this passed in 8-10 hours and I regained full strength, (2) Double-vision that has gotten much better but still persists. I am going to an Ophthalmologist tomorrow 11/2 to begin to troubleshoot a path forward. While it's only "minor" double vision now, I've never dealt with any real vision impairment, and I must say this is quite scary (to think of what life may look like if it doesn't eventually fully resolve).
• How scared I was of being awake and having the intubation tube in place. Turns out I don't remember them removing it (according to my wife, I was alert, but heavily sedated still). She had to show me pictures of the intubation tube in place. No memory of it!
• How sick I'd get from general anesthesia. I used probably 8-10 of those puke bags in the ICU, before they decided to insert a NG tube down my nose and into my stomach to remove the bile, etc. Ironically, my step-dad was just that morning, pre-surgery, telling me about how bad his experience was with a NG tube. When I heard them say I needed one, I was horrified. Turns out, for me, it wasn't that bad going in or coming out. And, it did it's job of quelling my sick stomach/nausea.
• How relatively "easy" it was when they removed my 2 chest tubes on day 4. I had OHS in 1990 and vividly remember how painful that was. So, it was my biggest source of pain anxiety going into this surgery. The head nurse of my surgeon took this duty on directly and she made it almost nothing. Well, she AND some good pain meds timed about 30 min prior.
• How strange memory can be - I vividly remember conversations with the medical team in the ICU, but I later saw pictures of the amazing view I had out the window, and it was as though I'd never looked out the window. I had no idea my ICU bed had such a nice view!
• How badly my temperature would fluctuate in the step-down unit. I am usually a guy who "runs hot" in any room. Not here - every nurse who came in commented on what an ice-box that room was. To me, it felt like it was 75 deg F. On a related note, I slept at night at least 2 nights surrounded by ice bags. I'd be able to finally fall asleep and wake up 2-3 hours later with a lower body temp, freezing and wondering why in the world I was surrounded by ICE! I've been home for 3 days now and the body temp swings continue (just not as drastic). And, no "official" fever.
• How much I would come to appreciate my nursing team at Vanderbilt. My wife was amazing and with me a LOT, but she needed to be with our 3 kids and continue life to some normalcy for them. So, I was heavily dependent on these nurses/clinicians.
• How much I'd grow to have my "favorite" nurses in just 4 days or so in that step-down. They were all good, but it's funny how the little things that some of them do will endear you.
• That I'd be discharged home on day 5 of the process (day 4 following surgery). I was mentally prepared to stay until 10/31, yet I came home on 10/29! Woohoo!
• That I'd get "wedged" between what felt like a power struggle between my surgeon and his head nurse, about whether to discharge me on 10/29 WITHOUT having a BM. This was his idea completely, early that 10/29 morning, saying to me, "well, you can do that at home, no?". Of course, I agreed. Meanwhile, I have a team of nurses all coming to me asking if I've had a BM and saying I can't go home until I have one. Ultimately, he won that battle and I went home to have a BM following a really "intimate" moment where my wife gave me a suppository. Lovely....
• NOT a surprise, but still had no idea just how many prayers and positive support I'd receive from family and friends. As others have shared here, I became even more emotional than my baseline normal (hard to believe is possible), so I've probably cried with 20 friends in some way in the past week. And, I'd have it no other way....

Mark,

I really appreciate your summary - wish I would have done the same - even just for me - after my procedure back in 2016. There is so much that I can‘t remember. All in all I do not have any bad memories and any of the procedures pulling out tubes and wires - from what I remember - did not hurt at all. I do remember that the nurse before pulling out the wires of the external pacemaker cranked up the frequency since I asked for it out of curiosity. Felt kind of strange.

I hope you can be back on your bike soon - sounds you are on the right path. I was lucky to do that 6 weeks post OP - probably because my surgeon used titanium plates to fixate my sternum instead of wires.

 

[perrybucsdad]

The one thing I wish someone would have warned me about before my surgery (back in 1997) was DO NOT watch anything funny on TV after your surgery. Laughing will hurt like crazy! Seriously.... I love funny movies and TV shows, and I wish someone had warned me.

 

[slipkid]

The one thing I wish someone would have warned me about before my surgery (back in 1997) was DO NOT watch anything funny on TV after your surgery. Laughing will hurt like crazy! Seriously.... I love funny movies and TV shows, and I wish someone had warned me.

When I was still in the hospital recovering from my operation one of the days about 4 of my friends came to visit me at the same time.

So they were sitting around me in kind of a semi-circle as I was "lying up" in the hospital bed very much enjoying their company and the break from the hospital routine. A nurse then walked in and one of my wise-cracking friends said to her something like "We were wondering where you've been, he's overdue for his enema". This of course broke everybody up laughing including myself which HURT LIKE HELL!! I had to warn my friends to under no circumstances make me laugh. Which of course to them meant
"let's try to make him laugh some more to see what happens"...