TheGymGuy
Well-known member
Hi all,
Wanted to post up and let you know that the recovery continues quite well. (knocking on the wood). We did walk around shopping outlets for close to 75 minutes yesterday until I had to sit down and take a break. It was not much of distance but I was standing or slowly walking all of the time. Anyways, the purpose of this post is to share the bad and the ugly, and to say that every time I have a symptom, it is a symptom that you have written before and most of the time that keeps me very calm and I feel in control. As some you will get to know me better, the "control" thing is very important to me, and if something is happening I would rather feel that I can do something about it or at least understand it than not.
Ok, so the good:
Slept for almost 6 hours last night and most of it was on my back or left side propped up with pillows behind me, around me, under my arm, etc. Either way, sleeping almost straight and getting some decent shut-eye is making me feel more human again, and this is a huge deal.
I can do lots of little chores around the house. Today, I opened a box with bunch of books and magazines and sorted them across shelves in my bookcase. I did not lift anything heavy, but moving my arms around to inserts books, and sitting up and down multiple times seemed like a pretty good workout.
My spirometer is only used once a day to see if I can set a new record on reps 8-10 (I call my inhales reps, like repetitions in exercising), so I use first 7 reps to warm up and hit my goal of 2000 or better, and then I try to break 3000 for last few reps. I try to keep the ball in the "BEST" zone (this is the lowest setting when you breath slowly(, and try to not let it out to "BETTER" or "GOOD". I use this spirometer, which I bought before the surgery and learned how to use it so that I knew my baseline numbers and had something to work towards after the surgery. http://www.amazon.com/Respiratory-C...S3RC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333473478&sr=8-1 And it is a lot harder to hit high numbers than the crap that hospital gave me to play with.
I take stairs several times a day and last night I forgot my "heart pillow" downstairs so I sort of ran down to get it and when I made it down I was surprised that I could make it down so quick. Actually, I need to start slowing down and pacing myself. I need to walk before I run.
My body weight is somewhat stable, so is the apetite. I know how to gain and loose weight pretty well, and this might come and bite me in the butt later, but I was really worried about loosing lots of weight post surgery. If I loose or gain weight I want it to be because I want to and not because it's a side-effect. Even if my appetite is slightly iffy at times, I still pile on lots of delicious, non-junky food every chance I get. So far, I am only 3 lbs lighter than I was before surgery and to me this means alot.
And, now that the good is out of the way, here is the bad (most of it does not bother me, as you have all prepared me for it, and I know in time it will all go back to normal):
My resting heart rate is 79-81 most of the time. If I try to meditate and get my mind to a "happy place" I can barely get my heart rate to 76. I know that as my heart remodels this will get better. My pre-surgery resting heart rate was 59-61 and 50-52 if I meditate.
My heart beats pretty strongly. This is annoying when trying to fall asleep. Well, this and the soft clicking that emulates from my throat. This will too get better with time. This strong beating at rest is very similar to strong beating I would experience when my heart would go into over-drive when I used to workout. Just providing notes for comparison.
Pain Levels and things that hurt. Some things hurt, though, today is day 7 and I skipped my tylenol 3 earlier and will probably start taking them once in 6 hours now along with my antibiotics.
My right shoulder hurts on and off, there is huge 3" incision across my right clavicle which was used as an access port. I believe the procedure is called deep circulatory arrest and antegrade cerebral perfusion via the right subclavian artery (something about it here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18442549 and here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12698148 ) and for this the incision was needed across my right clavicle. I have a good amount of muscle mass there and this is what my body is currently protecting, and instead overusing using my right posterior deltoid and right traps so much so that the whole right shoulder is really hurting at times. Mostly, when I am walking I find a need to put my right hand in my pocket to alleviate shoulder pains. Basically, I cannot quite use my right upper Pectoralis major and cannot wait to start rehabing/massaging it in 1 more weeks time.
Numb skin parts. This one drives me nuts but I understand that my nerves in those areas will rebuild, re-wire and start working again soon. The clavicle incision is completely dead to me. It weirds me out to even wash it, as when I touch it, my hands feel it, but it does not feel my hands. The whole incision and almost 1 inch around it is numb. Also, my sternal incision is ok, but there are several small parts of my pecs which are numb just like my clavicle. Again, this weirds me out when showering, which I have to do twice a day, but I know it will get better.
Very very slight numbness in my right thumb, index finger and middle finger. This is most probably resonating from the right shoulder, and I truly truly believe this gets .001% better every day. Still, it is annoying. Though, in 1,000 days assuming .001% change this should get back to 100%.
Cold hands and Feet. That and most of my body. This is most likely a metoprolol side effect. Could be amiodarone too. I really hope to be off those meds in 3 weeks. When I was checked out from the hospital I already had these symptoms and my blood counts were pretty good in regards to iron, magnesium, etc.
Bump right above my sternal incision. It a bit of a bump, not too much, but I do see it and it weirds me out. Seeing my surgeon next monday for 1st post-op appointment so he will check this out.
I have tightness in the sternum (the bone), and muscular tightness in the middle. This mostly happens when I get up and night to use the bathroom or when first get up in the morning. I sit on the bed for at least 5 minutes and try to straighten out my posture and get some deep breaths in, which is not easy at all. THough, once I straighten out I can walk and sit straight and in proper position for hours at a time. Something I am very thankful for.
Vitamin K. Greens and Vitamins. Since my INR is still not in the zone, I am avoiding lots of things to get the INR in range and then will slowly start adding things back in. This annoys me too. I know this will take some time, and I am just hoping to get that INR in range first and address diet and INR as we start dosing the diet
Lastly, the ugly:
Ok, I will be honest, I was holding this back, and to me it's the worst thing that I am going through now. You may point and laugh at me if you wish, I got thick skin and should be able to handle it. Though, this probably gets me down more than anything else, but when I feel down I go for a walk and feel better about the world in general. So, I have a very very nasty allergic reaction all over my chest area - around sternal incision, clavicle incision and worst of all around 3 chest tubes areas. It turns out that I have one allergy (so far) and it is an allergy to Triple Antibiotic Cream which is used on your incisions after the dressing is taken off. This cream was applied twice a day and this sort of allergic reaction can take 24-48 hours to pop up, which for me popped up on my last day in the hospital and I think is the reason they gave me this high 10 day dose of antibiotics. I figured this out after googling for hours about allergies to surgical tape etc. http://www.livestrong.com/article/534542-allergies-to-triple-antibiotic-cream/ So, I called my surgeon last sunday and he told me to stop by the hospital and NP (nurse practitioner) looked at everything, mind you this is day 5 post OP, and she said not to worry, this is an allergic reaction, and the only thing I can do is wash this with water and SOAP. She said, let shower hit your chest take soap and "Scrub, scrub, scrub!!!". She also let me take 1-2 benadril a day if the itching is killing me, and it does whenever I move and my shirt rubs against my chest. So, why is this ugly? My scars do not look that bad, I mean, they are scars there is not much to them and they seem to be healing as I would expect, but this allergy is a nasty looking rash which comes with intense itching. Also, crusting of the lesions (if we can call them that) leaves the affected areas raw, scaly, and thick and yucky. Read more on this here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/534542-allergies-to-triple-antibiotic-cream/#ixzz1r0jwtQjI
My wife says that this gets better every day, but the change is so marginal that to I cannot quite see it. All I see are huge, red, blotchiness all over my chest, right clavicle and abs. NP did not seem concerned about this at all, and I am just hoping that twice a day showers with my "irish spring" soap kick this sucker in the pants in 2-3 more days (which honestly, it does not seem like it would at the moment). I fear my sternum will fully heal before this goes away. THough, on the positive front this is probably the sort of problem most would pick after the type of surgery that we all go through.
Sorry for a super long post. I thought you guys might like to know about the little things which cannot get us down and we just work around while recovering and getting back to normal or new normal.
Wanted to post up and let you know that the recovery continues quite well. (knocking on the wood). We did walk around shopping outlets for close to 75 minutes yesterday until I had to sit down and take a break. It was not much of distance but I was standing or slowly walking all of the time. Anyways, the purpose of this post is to share the bad and the ugly, and to say that every time I have a symptom, it is a symptom that you have written before and most of the time that keeps me very calm and I feel in control. As some you will get to know me better, the "control" thing is very important to me, and if something is happening I would rather feel that I can do something about it or at least understand it than not.
Ok, so the good:
Slept for almost 6 hours last night and most of it was on my back or left side propped up with pillows behind me, around me, under my arm, etc. Either way, sleeping almost straight and getting some decent shut-eye is making me feel more human again, and this is a huge deal.
I can do lots of little chores around the house. Today, I opened a box with bunch of books and magazines and sorted them across shelves in my bookcase. I did not lift anything heavy, but moving my arms around to inserts books, and sitting up and down multiple times seemed like a pretty good workout.
My spirometer is only used once a day to see if I can set a new record on reps 8-10 (I call my inhales reps, like repetitions in exercising), so I use first 7 reps to warm up and hit my goal of 2000 or better, and then I try to break 3000 for last few reps. I try to keep the ball in the "BEST" zone (this is the lowest setting when you breath slowly(, and try to not let it out to "BETTER" or "GOOD". I use this spirometer, which I bought before the surgery and learned how to use it so that I knew my baseline numbers and had something to work towards after the surgery. http://www.amazon.com/Respiratory-C...S3RC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333473478&sr=8-1 And it is a lot harder to hit high numbers than the crap that hospital gave me to play with.
I take stairs several times a day and last night I forgot my "heart pillow" downstairs so I sort of ran down to get it and when I made it down I was surprised that I could make it down so quick. Actually, I need to start slowing down and pacing myself. I need to walk before I run.
My body weight is somewhat stable, so is the apetite. I know how to gain and loose weight pretty well, and this might come and bite me in the butt later, but I was really worried about loosing lots of weight post surgery. If I loose or gain weight I want it to be because I want to and not because it's a side-effect. Even if my appetite is slightly iffy at times, I still pile on lots of delicious, non-junky food every chance I get. So far, I am only 3 lbs lighter than I was before surgery and to me this means alot.
And, now that the good is out of the way, here is the bad (most of it does not bother me, as you have all prepared me for it, and I know in time it will all go back to normal):
My resting heart rate is 79-81 most of the time. If I try to meditate and get my mind to a "happy place" I can barely get my heart rate to 76. I know that as my heart remodels this will get better. My pre-surgery resting heart rate was 59-61 and 50-52 if I meditate.
My heart beats pretty strongly. This is annoying when trying to fall asleep. Well, this and the soft clicking that emulates from my throat. This will too get better with time. This strong beating at rest is very similar to strong beating I would experience when my heart would go into over-drive when I used to workout. Just providing notes for comparison.
Pain Levels and things that hurt. Some things hurt, though, today is day 7 and I skipped my tylenol 3 earlier and will probably start taking them once in 6 hours now along with my antibiotics.
My right shoulder hurts on and off, there is huge 3" incision across my right clavicle which was used as an access port. I believe the procedure is called deep circulatory arrest and antegrade cerebral perfusion via the right subclavian artery (something about it here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18442549 and here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12698148 ) and for this the incision was needed across my right clavicle. I have a good amount of muscle mass there and this is what my body is currently protecting, and instead overusing using my right posterior deltoid and right traps so much so that the whole right shoulder is really hurting at times. Mostly, when I am walking I find a need to put my right hand in my pocket to alleviate shoulder pains. Basically, I cannot quite use my right upper Pectoralis major and cannot wait to start rehabing/massaging it in 1 more weeks time.
Numb skin parts. This one drives me nuts but I understand that my nerves in those areas will rebuild, re-wire and start working again soon. The clavicle incision is completely dead to me. It weirds me out to even wash it, as when I touch it, my hands feel it, but it does not feel my hands. The whole incision and almost 1 inch around it is numb. Also, my sternal incision is ok, but there are several small parts of my pecs which are numb just like my clavicle. Again, this weirds me out when showering, which I have to do twice a day, but I know it will get better.
Very very slight numbness in my right thumb, index finger and middle finger. This is most probably resonating from the right shoulder, and I truly truly believe this gets .001% better every day. Still, it is annoying. Though, in 1,000 days assuming .001% change this should get back to 100%.
Cold hands and Feet. That and most of my body. This is most likely a metoprolol side effect. Could be amiodarone too. I really hope to be off those meds in 3 weeks. When I was checked out from the hospital I already had these symptoms and my blood counts were pretty good in regards to iron, magnesium, etc.
Bump right above my sternal incision. It a bit of a bump, not too much, but I do see it and it weirds me out. Seeing my surgeon next monday for 1st post-op appointment so he will check this out.
I have tightness in the sternum (the bone), and muscular tightness in the middle. This mostly happens when I get up and night to use the bathroom or when first get up in the morning. I sit on the bed for at least 5 minutes and try to straighten out my posture and get some deep breaths in, which is not easy at all. THough, once I straighten out I can walk and sit straight and in proper position for hours at a time. Something I am very thankful for.
Vitamin K. Greens and Vitamins. Since my INR is still not in the zone, I am avoiding lots of things to get the INR in range and then will slowly start adding things back in. This annoys me too. I know this will take some time, and I am just hoping to get that INR in range first and address diet and INR as we start dosing the diet
Lastly, the ugly:
Ok, I will be honest, I was holding this back, and to me it's the worst thing that I am going through now. You may point and laugh at me if you wish, I got thick skin and should be able to handle it. Though, this probably gets me down more than anything else, but when I feel down I go for a walk and feel better about the world in general. So, I have a very very nasty allergic reaction all over my chest area - around sternal incision, clavicle incision and worst of all around 3 chest tubes areas. It turns out that I have one allergy (so far) and it is an allergy to Triple Antibiotic Cream which is used on your incisions after the dressing is taken off. This cream was applied twice a day and this sort of allergic reaction can take 24-48 hours to pop up, which for me popped up on my last day in the hospital and I think is the reason they gave me this high 10 day dose of antibiotics. I figured this out after googling for hours about allergies to surgical tape etc. http://www.livestrong.com/article/534542-allergies-to-triple-antibiotic-cream/ So, I called my surgeon last sunday and he told me to stop by the hospital and NP (nurse practitioner) looked at everything, mind you this is day 5 post OP, and she said not to worry, this is an allergic reaction, and the only thing I can do is wash this with water and SOAP. She said, let shower hit your chest take soap and "Scrub, scrub, scrub!!!". She also let me take 1-2 benadril a day if the itching is killing me, and it does whenever I move and my shirt rubs against my chest. So, why is this ugly? My scars do not look that bad, I mean, they are scars there is not much to them and they seem to be healing as I would expect, but this allergy is a nasty looking rash which comes with intense itching. Also, crusting of the lesions (if we can call them that) leaves the affected areas raw, scaly, and thick and yucky. Read more on this here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/534542-allergies-to-triple-antibiotic-cream/#ixzz1r0jwtQjI
My wife says that this gets better every day, but the change is so marginal that to I cannot quite see it. All I see are huge, red, blotchiness all over my chest, right clavicle and abs. NP did not seem concerned about this at all, and I am just hoping that twice a day showers with my "irish spring" soap kick this sucker in the pants in 2-3 more days (which honestly, it does not seem like it would at the moment). I fear my sternum will fully heal before this goes away. THough, on the positive front this is probably the sort of problem most would pick after the type of surgery that we all go through.
Sorry for a super long post. I thought you guys might like to know about the little things which cannot get us down and we just work around while recovering and getting back to normal or new normal.
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