F
Fast Eddie
Hi all
I just got home from the hospital today, so I thought I would post a quick update for any others who will follow me down this path.
I was awaiting an ascending aortic aneyrysm repair and probable AVR. Surgery was scheduled for May 15 at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical with Dr Ralph de la Torre.
I didn't really know enough to be worried or nervous, so I got a good night's sleep before surgery. I had read all I felt I should read, and knew that pain and some 'pumphead' would appear, but since everyon'es story is a bit different, I chose to just 'go with the flow'. It was still barely possible that the valve would not be replaced, but I was prepared for the On-X vavle insertion.
They must have drugged me up very well in the pre-op location, because I don't even remember being wheeled into the OR. My only memory of the first waking moments were of having the chest tube in place and trying to ask my wife if the valve had been replaced. I learned then that it was replaced with the On-X.
So Tuesday I was in the CICU. They removed the chest tube and that was far less traumatic than I had thought it might be. I don't think I struggled much against the tube. I just accepted it and did what they told me to do. And my throat was not even particularly sore after removing the tube.
Wednesday they moved me to the step-down unit where I did some more chair sitting and I believe did my first walk. By Thursday things were moving along well enough that I actually did a flight of stairs.
Incisional pain was minimal. Even using the sprometer was not particularly bad. I was pleasantly surprised about that, as I had really expected some more significant pain in that area.
But then Thursday I started having arrythmias. It was not always a 'simple' afib pattern. On surgical fellow called it a 'junctional rhythm with retrograde p conduction.' But another surgical NP was not sure about that. I'll check with the surgeon. One of the wonderful nurses I had printed out some EKG traces of when I was having these episodes.
I had been hoping for a Sunday discharge, but the arrythmia and the fact that I had not yet reached the proper INR value caused me to have to wait until today, Tuesday May 22 for discharge. Possibly the worst part of the waiting was that I was ona Heparin IV at that point, so they were drawing lots of blood from the other arm. Some of the veins over there were getting pretty beat up and they had to have their good phlebotomist do the draws. But he never had a problem.
So bottom line is that I think I have (so far!) had a really easy time of it. I beleve that being 'young' at 60 and in good physical shape have helped me greatly. And having friends and acquaintances in this forum and elsewhere thinking of me are all helping me to recover.
There is still a long road to follow dealing with life on ACT, but I'm sure it will work out well. And still down the trail will be the results of the On-X no Coumadin trials which may allow me to stop using it a few years down the road.
So now I plan on concentrating on recuperating fully and getting back into a good state of physical conditioining.
For those still waiting surgery, my experience was that nothing I encountered in the last week was difficult either physically or emotionally. Do whatever level of reading you feel comfortable doing, but don't try to learn everything. Too much detailed information could make things more difficult for you.
I had marvelous nursing care while at Beth Israel. And while spending a week in hospital is not necessarily pleasant, the way you are treated by the staff can affect your mental state significantly.
When I chat with the surgeon in a few weeks I may have more details to add about the specific procedure he did. But mostly I just wanted to say hello to all my VR.com friends and relate some overall experiences
Fast Eddie
PS
As far as 'pumphead' is cocerned...I see that my typing is right now much less accurrate than it was pre-surgery. And I feel a bit 'foggy' overall. So it'll be interesting to see how this facet of the operation goes.
I just got home from the hospital today, so I thought I would post a quick update for any others who will follow me down this path.
I was awaiting an ascending aortic aneyrysm repair and probable AVR. Surgery was scheduled for May 15 at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical with Dr Ralph de la Torre.
I didn't really know enough to be worried or nervous, so I got a good night's sleep before surgery. I had read all I felt I should read, and knew that pain and some 'pumphead' would appear, but since everyon'es story is a bit different, I chose to just 'go with the flow'. It was still barely possible that the valve would not be replaced, but I was prepared for the On-X vavle insertion.
They must have drugged me up very well in the pre-op location, because I don't even remember being wheeled into the OR. My only memory of the first waking moments were of having the chest tube in place and trying to ask my wife if the valve had been replaced. I learned then that it was replaced with the On-X.
So Tuesday I was in the CICU. They removed the chest tube and that was far less traumatic than I had thought it might be. I don't think I struggled much against the tube. I just accepted it and did what they told me to do. And my throat was not even particularly sore after removing the tube.
Wednesday they moved me to the step-down unit where I did some more chair sitting and I believe did my first walk. By Thursday things were moving along well enough that I actually did a flight of stairs.
Incisional pain was minimal. Even using the sprometer was not particularly bad. I was pleasantly surprised about that, as I had really expected some more significant pain in that area.
But then Thursday I started having arrythmias. It was not always a 'simple' afib pattern. On surgical fellow called it a 'junctional rhythm with retrograde p conduction.' But another surgical NP was not sure about that. I'll check with the surgeon. One of the wonderful nurses I had printed out some EKG traces of when I was having these episodes.
I had been hoping for a Sunday discharge, but the arrythmia and the fact that I had not yet reached the proper INR value caused me to have to wait until today, Tuesday May 22 for discharge. Possibly the worst part of the waiting was that I was ona Heparin IV at that point, so they were drawing lots of blood from the other arm. Some of the veins over there were getting pretty beat up and they had to have their good phlebotomist do the draws. But he never had a problem.
So bottom line is that I think I have (so far!) had a really easy time of it. I beleve that being 'young' at 60 and in good physical shape have helped me greatly. And having friends and acquaintances in this forum and elsewhere thinking of me are all helping me to recover.
There is still a long road to follow dealing with life on ACT, but I'm sure it will work out well. And still down the trail will be the results of the On-X no Coumadin trials which may allow me to stop using it a few years down the road.
So now I plan on concentrating on recuperating fully and getting back into a good state of physical conditioining.
For those still waiting surgery, my experience was that nothing I encountered in the last week was difficult either physically or emotionally. Do whatever level of reading you feel comfortable doing, but don't try to learn everything. Too much detailed information could make things more difficult for you.
I had marvelous nursing care while at Beth Israel. And while spending a week in hospital is not necessarily pleasant, the way you are treated by the staff can affect your mental state significantly.
When I chat with the surgeon in a few weeks I may have more details to add about the specific procedure he did. But mostly I just wanted to say hello to all my VR.com friends and relate some overall experiences
Fast Eddie
PS
As far as 'pumphead' is cocerned...I see that my typing is right now much less accurrate than it was pre-surgery. And I feel a bit 'foggy' overall. So it'll be interesting to see how this facet of the operation goes.
.
