Biggest Suprises

[wes]

I'm not sure if this should go in pre op or post op, but just wanted to start a thread asking people about their biggest surprises post op. What I mean is, what were you most surprised about during the entire process? I guess for me, it was the day before the op, when the nurses said I needed to be shaved from my neck to my knees! Of course it was an entire painless process (at least physically), but it did feel a little strange to revert back to my pre-pubescent self. I guess the shaving is a standard part of any major surgery?

 

[hensylee]

that first sneeze. I just knew I was going to pass out (or die); it was unimaginable pain. It's a memory that won't fade.

 

[WayneGM]

My biggest surprise was how good a felt post-op....thanks to the pain meds. I expected to feel a lot worse.

While not a complete surprise, as I was informed ahead of time, the dreaded sneeze was definitely an eye-opener. Now that was worse than I thought!

 

[terryj]

My husbands biggest surprise was how emotional he was. He is the he-man type and I had never seen him cry except when his Mom died. He did good at the hospital but when he came home he got emotional over small things and would just start crying. That only lasted about a week.

 

[geebee]

Believe it or not - a very tiny thing. After my first OHS, when the breathing tube was removed, they gave me ginger ale to sip. To this day, I remember how surprised I was at how great it tasted and how happy I was to be alive and experiencing it.

I was also surprised at how LONG the chest tubes were. I didn't know there was that much room inside me.

 

[Mary]

My biggest surprise was the unexpected menstrual period post-surgery that was precipitated, most likely, by the heparin shots.
From reading other posts by female members of this site, apparently it is common. I asked the nurse taking care of me the first day out of SIC and she said it happened frequently.
So I think, with all other issues being equal, female valve replacees have a harder time with recovery than male valve replacees.
And in the event anyone reading this thinks I've supplied Too Much Information, I say, "Too Bad!"

 

[MikeHeim]

I had a few surprises:

1. I had a lot of pain the first night post-op - but it was all in my neck!
2. I'm glad they didn't tell me where any of the tubes in me were going until after they pulled them out. The one in my neck going into my heart was the scariest. I'm sure if I knew that is was going down that far, I wouldn't have turned my head one time until it was out.
3. Morphine makes me nautious - wish they could have checked that some time pre-op.
4. I wasn't really tired post-op. Other than dozing for 10-15 minutes occasionally, I basically stayed awake for 48 hours straight in the ICU.

Anyways, I could probably think of a few more, but those were the things that popped into my head immediately. Good to hear about your recovery.

 

[kbheart]

I was surprised by how little pain I felt and how easy it was to get up and walk around. I was also surprised that they had shaved me.

 

[jds]

Surprises

Surprises

Hello -

I had several - some already mentioned:

1. How little pain there was post op. There was some of course but a lot more nausea and tiredness than pain.

2. How fast I got back on my feet after I went home. Again, tired, but all the shortness of breath was just gone. Except when I tried to walk up hills and even that was gone after a week or two.

3. Back pain. I did not know about this before the surgery but it was the only thing for which I needed pain pills after leaving the hospital.

4. How skinny I was after I got shaved down. I have a hairy chest and that was part of it. But also, I had lost 25 pounds during my illness before surgery and the weight loss after returning home.

5. Just how much help was forthcoming from friends after returning home. visits, meals, cards, calls, etc. This shouldn't have been a surprise but it was.

John

 

[karen04]

Asked John and he said

1. Hiccups
2. Back pain (no one had ever mentioned this to him)
3. Thirst,,,,,,he was thirstier then he ever dreamed possible,and only allowed to wet his mouth after surgery)
4. The dreaded sneeze!

This is a great post! Wish we had have seen it before the op

x

 

[Granbonny]

Wes..my sons name.. ..I was surprised how awful food tasted. yucky..Loss 14 lbs...gained that plus 30 more back in last 5 1/2 years.. but..now on the VR.Com diet that cooker started.. Loss..7 lbs so far.. ..No pain..was up and walking the halls the 2nd day.. ..Did feel guilty after I was home and couldn.t go and watch Grandson play ball..took 3 weeks for me to feel up to it...and 3 more weeks to take a 6 hour car trip to visit my Daddy.. all uphill from there.. Bonnie

 

[maggiemay]

post-op

post-op

I too was very very thirsty and the thirst continued for months to follow, food tasted flat and I had no sweet tooth at all. The pain was more emotional before the surgery,the soar throat I had following the surgery was the worst, I felt like my tonsils had been removed again, and the pain lasted about 6 days. Sleeping on my back was the pitts, but the morning I went to hosp. it was dark and they released me in the evening,I can remember looking at the sky and trees at such great amasement at how beautiful they were on my way home. Maggiemay

 

[Cooker]

Some of these have been mentioned......

> how little pain
> how I was racing up and down the halls the day after surgery
> how I was not racing up and down the halls when the drugs wore off
> the length of tubes and wires the pulled out
> how easy it is to fall in love on morphine

 

[Jkm7]

For me:

How much pain when they pulled the chest tubes.
How hard it was to walk stairs. I couldn't leave hospital until I went up a flight.

How weak I was.
How long post op before I slept through the night.
How emotional I was.

 

[MaryC]

My surprises were, first of all that I actually had open heart surgery!! I kept feeling like I needed to pinch myself....I had OHS and made it!! I also had no pain. The other one showed up on day two and it's the same surprise Mary had... The very sad part about this is I scheduled my surgery so I would not have this (ugg!) surprise!

 

[TammyM]

For me, it was the THIRST. I have never been so desperate for anything as I was when I woke up and felt like I would die if I didn't get something to drink. I begged and begged for water. At first, all they would do was a wet wash cloth and then later an occasional ice chip.
The other thing that was surprising was just how loud the dang "ticking" was! I kept asking where the clock was because it was driving me crazy!!
(2 years later it is still loud. Last night, I held a church lock-in and we played a game called "underground church". All the lights in the building were off and one person would choose a place to hide. Everyone else had to find the hiding spot and join them. I kept giving away the hiding spot because the kids could hear my valve! lol)

 

[KAJ]

For me it was definitely back pain and nightmares . Fortunately the nightmares were short lived but the back pain was horrendous and seemed to last for weeks.

Karl

 

[JAJ99]

My biggest surprises were:
1. The short time I spent in ICU, only 16 hours and no recollection of the breathing tube

2. How quickly they had me walking and eating.

3. The low amount of pain I'm experiencing. I only had a few hours of horrible pain but once the chest tube was pulled, less than 24 hours post surgery, the pain was gone.

Hopefully I won't have any surprises during my recovery to add to the list....

 

[CThrock]

My Surprises were:
* How little pain
* How the double valves ticking was together
* How thirsty I was
* Surprised that I needed no oxygen anymore
* How great I felt that it was over!!!

 

[ruth]

It is surprising what surprises us!

For me it was:
- how long it was that I was in the twilight zone before I really woke up, kinda aware but not really and how I couldn't use my sheer determination to wake up to get out of that zone
- how desperate I was for ice chips (they wouldn't give me a beverage) and how much my throat bothered me.
- how I could chew ice (my teeth are very sensitive) - somehow I must have expected the morphine to only work on the surgical area (?!) and not also take away pain in my teeth - LOL
- getting a repair instead of a replacement when they said it was 99% that they would have to replace the valve