Finaly its going to happen friday the 23st

[Raoul]

Fingers Cr

Here a little update, operation was about 8 hours. I woke up around 1700 oclock in the ic. That was a freightend moment cause i hade to vomit while all the hoses where comming out of my mouth and i couldnt breath. Thank god the staf did a perfect job and made me recover in minutes. I stayed 2 days on the ic untill sunday afternoon. No i am.feeling tealy tired and having some problems woth breathing. The docters sayd that is caused by the water that is in my body (i am 5 kilo heaver then bedor my operation). My hands and legs are swollen but the docters tell me it is also behing the lungs. My body will remove it by itself aslong as i keep on moving. Have to say that the pain is so mutch less as expected. But the leg of energy and the heavy breathing are a big problem at the moment....
Thank you all for the best wishes!!

 

[Croooser]

It all sounds normal. It should only get better from here on.

 

[tommyboy14]

It does all sound normal. Sorry about the vomiting. I had a similar issue. It turns out that when they administer either Codeine, Fentanyl or Morphine, I either start to vomit the food I am given or begin hallucinating. If you arent in much pain, then you can do what I did: At the first possible opportunity I asked to switch all of the pain medications to paracetamol (tylenol) and stuck with it.

As for the lack of energy, I think that is completely normal. But I am also confident that after 6 months you will feel like someone installed a turbo inside energy wise.

 

[tommyboy14]

And welcome to the other side. I hope that your recovery goes smoothly from here onwards.

 

[Raoul]

Here is a little update again.
The time in the hosptal was a hell. I stayed on a room with 4 persons and because of my problem with breathing i wasnt able to stay in bed. So all the nights i was sitting in a chair next to the bed watching the clock go bye.
The hospital made an echo because of my breathing problem and they found that there was to much fluid around the heart.
They did another echo 2 days later and found out that it was less then before so its probably caused by the operation and nothing serious.
They will make another one on the 4th of january
I also have a constant fever (between 38.0/39.0 degrees), they think its because i have a homograft (doner) and my body is still fighting it causing the fever.
Only problem is that if i get an (dangerous) invection you normal see that first by getting a fever. So i realy need to be carefull looking at other symptoms.
The Hospital discharge me on friday the 30th, the days after where very stressfull and freighting.
You have periods where you realy feel sick and having a hight fever and not knoing for sure if i had to call the hospital again.
From this morning i started to feel a bit better already, heaving more energie and feeling hungry for the first time....
Thank you all for the best wishes and tips, they realy helping getting trough this.....

 

[tommyboy14]

Hi Raoul,

So sorry to hear you had a rough time in the hospital. The reality is that we are given very powerful drugs for both the anaesthetic and pain. We all react differently to them. I am sorry to hear about all of the fluids around your heart. Unfortunately there are clinical complications other than mortality involved with OHS which no one really tells you about. After my first surgery, my heart was throwing PVCs when I left the hospital and the cardiologist told me 50% chance to pacemaker right after surgery. I consider myself very lucky that over time the PVCs went and I didnt need a pacemaker in the end. This was a pretty scary time for me. I was shocked as most surgeons only talked about mortality (not the other risks). With the second surgery, I had some bleeding around the heart, but that stopped by itself (note had it not stopped, the surgeon would have had to go in a second time 2 days post surgery).

Unfortunately, living through these early complications is part of the process of the early recovery. I also read somewhere that some fever after Ross is common as you say (that is also what a Ross surgeon once told me). But you are right that you need to watch out for the other signs of endocarditis. Appetite returning is normally a good sign however.

I wish you all the best in your recovery and hope that there will be less complications going forward.

 

[ValveAdmin]

Hi Raoul, thanks for the update. So sorry to hear about your predicament, especially in the first few days post-surgery. I wish your recovery will go very smoothly. Good luck!

​

 

[preciosa1974]

Wishing you continued progress in your recovery. If you feel you need to call the doctor, please do. I’d rather them say it’s nothing than it be something. Recovery is tough. I had my surgery 12/22, replacement with mechanical valve. Sometimes I get anxious and I just take my BP, check my oxygen, etc and everything is good. My biggest issue is pain. It can still be intense. But other than that I’m starting to feel better.

 

[Beach77]

So sorry about your hospital stay! Sounds rough but hang in there Raoul! I also had fluid around my lungs and it was hard to breath. (12/2020) After a week in the hospital and a couple of days at home, I had an outpatient procedure to remove the liquid. (Thoracentesis) It was instant relief! But a few days later days later and after another ex-ray, it still showed liquid, not as much. The doctor said to wait, he thought my body would get rid of it. He was right. Follow the doctors orders with your breathing exercise! Hope you keep feeling better each day!

 

[sarashreen]

My surgeon advised me to get admitted two or three days before surgery.

This is what he told.

I might have lot of fluids overloaded.He told they will remove the extra fluids to optimize my state going into operation. I have fluids overload due to my prolonged aortic regurgitation. Everything is stretched. So he will put me on bit of diuretics which will Reduce the liver congestion, kidney congestion which facilitates my state after surgery.

 

[Raoul]

Thank you for your replys.
The docter stoped my medication (metroprolol) and the breathing gets easyer.
This morning i woke up with my heart pounding out my chest. Bought a heartrate devise and saw that my HR is whay to high.
Now i am back in the hosptal and they will give me some eletroshock soon....
Pffff this adventure does not seems to end....

 

[Raoul]

Just had my shock, thank god they only needed one and now my HR is back to "ok".
Hopfuly i can go back home tomorrow

 

[tommyboy14]

Hi Raoul,

sorry to hear about your complications. Did they tell you about what you had? Was it Atrial Fibriliation? I also had that right after post-op, but they gave me a medicine called Amediorone, which apparently fixed it over a period of 6 weeks or so.

Good to hear that they only needed to shock your heart once and lets hope that this is it in terms of post-op complications.

Good luck

 

[Raoul]

Yeah, normal they give propranolol for a couple of weeks after surgery so the hartrate will not go to high. But i probably had some alergic reaction with that and had alot of problem to breath (astma reaction). Thats why wensday the decidid i could stop with that medication. And this morning morning o get the cardiac arrhythmia. The docters told me it is commen with operations like this.
For now its ok again, i have to stay 24 hours and then i can get home again....

 

[tommyboy14]

Great to hear the Docs have it under control. Please do let us know how you are getting on. Good luck.

 

[preciosa1974]

Praying you recover well and now will be just a time to recover. Please do keep us updated.

 

[Survived03]

Stay strong Raul. You got this.

 

[Chuck C]

Yes, irregular heart rhythms are very common following surgery. The majority resolve completely within a few days/weeks. I had two bouts of afib while recovering in the hospital. Since being released I've had no issues in this area and that was almost two years ago.

Hang in there Raoul! You'll soon be home and well on the road to recovery.

 

[Raoul]

Thats comforting to know, thank you!!

 

[ValveAdmin]

Prayin' you'll be okay. Just hang in there!