Back in the hospital again

[danbrown]

I had my aortic valve replaced with a St. Jude's artifical valve on April 16th. I was released on April 20th with everything looking good. I starting having breathing issues and just not feeling good April 24th. The breathing issues came and went until even one step would make me pretty breathless. I scheduled a chest x-ray on April 28th, the heart area looked rather large. I had an Echo done on April 29th. That showed that I had pericardial effusion. I was immediately admintted to the hospital. For the next few hours they gave me a couple of units of plasma and Vit K to bring my INR levels down.

I had a pericardial window done today (April 30th)). 500 cc of fluid was taken from the pericardial sac. They said they could not do the needle because of where the fluid was. I am recooperating in my hospital bed and other than a new pain feel really good.

Hopefully there are no more bumps in the road. This one really surprised me because I am of pretty good health and my AVR went so well. Oh well....luck of the draw.

Word of advise: DO NOT IGNORE ANYTHING THAT COULD BE A SYMPTOM OF SOMETHING WRONG. I was told if I had delayed much longer I could have had a real problem.

Dan Brown, 56 yrs old
Aortic Valve Replacement and first day of my second chance: 04/16/2007

 

[WayneGM]

Sorry to hear you had this bump in the road. I echo your advice as I had a similar experience. If it doubt, get checked out is never bad advice. Best wishes for an uneventful recovery from here.

 

[CThrock]

Hope there's no more bumps in the road for you and you can continue a good recovery!!!Glad you had that Echo....

 

[Phyllis]

Glad you are your way to a complete recovery. Thanks for posting- it will be a big help.

 

[Superbob]

Sorry you had that bump in the road, Dan, but hopefully the course will be smooth now. You have posted some wise cautionary words for others. Thanks for doing that.

Best wishes,

 

[geebee]

Glad you found things early and were able to intervene quickly. This is not all that uncommon but still a bummer to deal with.

Hope things go very smoothly from here.

 

[Bina]

Dan, you hit a pot hole in the recovery road.....let's hope for a smooth ride from now on!
Best wishes.

 

[marie]

Thanks for posting and best wishes for a smooth recovery going forward
Earline

 

[ctyguy]

I had a bout of it as well but fortunately I didn't need to be admitted to the hospital, just an ER visit. Glad your feeling better and hopefully the rest of your recovery is smooth.

 

[Freddie]

Thanks for letting us know Dan.
Sending you best wishes and special prayers for no more speed bumps.

Take Care

 

[Cooker]

Sorry you had this problem...I hope you are now on the road to a bump free recovery....hang in there

 

[DebbyA]

Dan,
That was my story precisely two weeks ago. I second your advice about not ignoring symptoms. For me a main symptom was just a strong feeling "something is not right"--kind of hard to call in with, but I should have.

Two things from my experience that may apply to you:
1--if whatever they're giving you for pain is not working, ask for something that does. I stopped taking the percocet , darvocet because it wasn't touching the pain. On the last day I found there was another option, but never got it because at that point they were moving toward removing the tube.
2--getting the fluid out makes you feel better, getting the drain out even better, but it is still another surgery to recover from, as the PA at a followup visit reminded me when I worried about being so tired.

Good luck getting back to that bump-free lane!

 

[tcopel]

Just a note of encouragement from one Okie to another. Hang tough, big guy.
From personal experiences, I know that going back into the hospital after going through what we've been through is the pits (I'm trying to be nice since this is public). But this too shall pass.

From the things to be ignored department, I'm probably the king. However, not breathing is one thing that I've found that shouldn't be ignored, yes?
Please take care of yourself.

If you need something, e-mail me as I'm just right down the interstate from you and would be very happy to help in ANY way.

 

[bvdr]

Dan, I hope everything is smooth from here on out. In the first several weeks after surgery I think it is really appropriate to call your surgeon or cardiologist when issues or questions occur. It is part of the whole surgery/recovery process. It is an expected part of caring for a patient and you shouldn't agonize whether to call or not. It is much easier to treat a problem before it becomes severe. I'm really glad you got it taken care of when you did. Sorry you have been having a rough go of it and as I said, I hope everything will now be smooth.

 

[danbrown]

Back Home

Back Home

After a 3 night hospital stay, I successfully took care of a bump-in-the-road to recovery #1 (and hopefully the last"-- periocardial effusion. Not that big of deal except it was another visit to the OR and the unknown.

Anway, I talked myself out of a Harley Sportster after my AVR. However, I now more firmly believe you only live once after this last hurdle and told my wife that I am going to buy a new bike. Immediately after leaving the hospital today I had my wife drive me to the Harley store and straddled a couple of the bad boys and nothing in a long time ever felt so right. I have not owned a motorcycle since my senior year in high school and I guess it's now or never.

 

[Mary]

Way to go, Dan!
I am impressed with your outlook!
Who-Hoo!

 

[Phyllis]

Please send us a picture when you get the bike- glad you are home!

 

[Ross]

While I'm sorry to hear about the set back, I'm also glad you posting about it. There are far too many people here going into surgery and expecting to snap right back in no time.
We need to stay mindful that recovery is a very long process also.

 

[Curtsmum]

Hope you have no more bumps and have a good continude recovery, all the best.