Breathing Question

[Jimmyjames]

How Long after AVR surgery did it take your breathing to get back to normal or better, my surgery was on Nov 21st, still doing the breathing exercises, and walking, just wondering. Thanks

 

[Fundy]

My breathing was almost great before surgery on Nov 16th, my heart was still doing well under little stress;very stressed it was quite a problem.

I'd say I'm almost close to normal now two weeks later. Yesterday, went for a two mile walk to Mum's house; half it up hill. I went a bit out of way to pick up a Tim Horton's coffee and surprise her with it; as it was her birthday. She was quite surprised to see me show up walking with two cups of Tim Horton's coffee.

My breathing was probably still a bit under normal. I'd say if no hills were involved it may have seemed as good as normal though. And I did bum a drive back home from Mum too.

 

[bradvo]

Not quite sure I understand what you mean JJ. I was not able to take a really deep breath without some pain involved in the early days but I just cannot recall anything
that made me feel abnormal. Then again my valve was in such bad shape that I felt I was breathing better and getting more oxygen then I ever had before.


Maybe you could elaborate a bit more, or someone else can relate ?? Ya might let the Doc know what your experiencing, see what they say, just takes a phone call and I notice there pretty quick to get back with me when I have questions.
Brad

 

[Lily]

I kept up with the spirometer exercises for quite a long time but what you wrote made me wonder...

Because I did develop some new troubles with my breathing when I suddenly developed post-op A-fib/A-flutter, about a week after surgery, which kind of knocked the wind out of me. It came and went for several days and I finally needed to be readmitted to be put on a medication temporarily which took care of the problem for me.

Hoping you will be feeling much better very soon

 

[BillyG]

It was weird for me because I had so much trouble breathing BEFORE the surgery that I didn't recognize a problem afterwards. I ended up having two liters of fluid on my heart AND another two liters on my right lung. I waited waaaay too long before I got help. I thought almost passing out was just part of the recovery process..lol.

If you can walk without that far without passing out, I'd say you are doing well. If it starts getting much harder to do the same amount of walking then call your doctor.

 

[Mentu]

Jimmy, I kept using my spirometer until I could reach my normal presurgery level routinely which took a little less than 4 weeks. Like so many other things, do not worry about measuring yourself against other peoples' performance but look at your own progress. Are you keeping notes of your progress? Keeping a record lets you see your progress more clearly. Not only that but it validates your experience if you should start noticing a decline in your lung function; that should be reported to your doctor at once.

Larry
Tulsa, OK