Glenda
Well-known member
That's great news. I'm glad Eddie came through surgery so well. Tracy, thanks for taking the time to post for him. I know you are wore out. You take care of yourself too, Eddie will need you later.
Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:
Nancy
Well-known member
Eddie and Tracy-
Congratulations! It's over with, the healing has begun. A little more time, and he'll be better than new. Great news.
Congratulations! It's over with, the healing has begun. A little more time, and he'll be better than new. Great news.
S
SJJ
Tracy,
Thanks for taking the time to let us know Eddie is through surgery and doing well. Tell him all of his friends at VR.com have big smiles on their faces and look forward to his first post when he gets home and settled in.
Sue
Thanks for taking the time to let us know Eddie is through surgery and doing well. Tell him all of his friends at VR.com have big smiles on their faces and look forward to his first post when he gets home and settled in.
Sue
J
jenlynn72
Great news!! So glad everything went well, and already expected home by the weekend...fantastic!!
S
Susan BAV
Eddie and Tracy -
GREAT NEWS!!!!! Hope the recovery is smooth sailing! Best wishes!
~Susan W
GREAT NEWS!!!!! Hope the recovery is smooth sailing! Best wishes!
~Susan W
K
KathyH
Tracy, Thanks for keeping us posted.Glad he is doing well and will be home by tomorrow. It is so much better to be home.
Kathy H
Kathy H
RayinSF
Well-known member
Good News! Thanks for the update.
E
edjspi
Hey Everyone - I'm BAA-AACK! 
had the surgery on tuesday 4/13 at 7:30 AM, had my wife pos while still in the hospital, and got home saturday afternoon. they had even thought about releasing me on FRIDAY! unbelievable...
well I will post a more detailed info in replies and other posts I think, but bascially, it went VERY WELL. my surgeons and cardiologists said the surgery went excellently, and my surgeon said he 'got a nice big valve in there, and it went in very easily', and he saw no reason (assuming no complications) I wouldn't get 15-20 years out of it. the strangest thing was on wed to hear my cardiologist say 'don't hear a mur-mur anymore, sounds great. you are no longer a medical student case' I've never heard ANYONE say that after listening to my heart... it was kind of surreal.
Tuesday day/night was rough - I won't try to sugar-coat it at all. the back pain was horrendous. that was they worst part!! but I can honestly say that after tuesday night, it wasn't that bad at all. everyone kept saying how well I was doing, and they couldn't believe that I had just had surgery on tues, etc. I was up in a chair on tuesday night once, twice on wed., walked twice on Thursday, and by thursday night I was up walking around on my own, going to the bathroom, etc.
the toughest part about it was the nights - getting real SLEEP. tuesday night was really rough just because everytime I wanted to move I had extreme back pain... like stifiling back pain. wed night my heart rate stayed at about 115 all night, and it felt like it was pounding, so that kept me up. Thursday night was probably the best one. and like I said by friday I was up and moving around, not much pain, all was good.
THEN, firday night/sat morning at about 3 AM, I woke up with what felt like a STAB in my rib cage. every time I would take a breath it would do it. and as it hurt more, the more I got worked up and it was a vicious cycle. the worst pain I've ever felt. I tried my pain killers (percaset), ibuprofin, heat, different positions - nothing worked. it was fine if I was sitting up and breatheing normally or walking around, but as soon as I would lay back and sleep a short while, it would be back, and I would have to work into taking a normal breathe for about 10 minutes. they did a chest x-ray on saturday morning before I left and said that it was all clear, and said that this pain must just be a rib cage /back muscle strain from the suregry that didn't show itself for a few days after I was more active, and they said ibuprofin would maybe help. and that's where I'm at now...
so I want to pose this question to everyone and see if anyone can help or suggest something. I'm felling GREAT other than this, but when this happens, I feel like I'm going to die!! I will post just this portion of the question on the post-surgery forum also to try to get as much help as possible... I hope that's OK.
here's how it goes:
Like I said I'm fine most of the time - right now, walking, sitting, generally being awake. I lay down (or sit up) to sleep, sleep for about 1.5-2 hours, and as soon as I wake up I feel the pain. it is in my ribs, anywhere from the front near the breastbone, to all the way around in the back, near my shoulder blades. since my breathing is lower while I sleep it doesn't bother me. as soon as I wake up and try to breathe in even SLIGHTLY more than my 'sleep' breathing, it is like someone stabs me in the ribs. i have to gradually take a little deeper and deeper breaths, and try to stretch out the muscle, before the pain subsides. As soon as I am able to take in a normal breath pain-free, then its gone and I'm OK from there. having someone very roughly massage the area helps it move along faster...
but this is no joke the worst pain I've ever felt in my life, and it's even thougher because as I get the pain, I get more anxious and worked-up, and that makes my heart rate go up, and subsequently my breathing rate goes up, and the pain gets even worse.
all the docs told me thus far was that i 'would be getting some things like this over the next few weeks' and that 'rub muscle pulls are very painful', and that's just the way it is. I will be talking to them more today about it, but wanted to ask here too. right now I dread going back to sleep again...
thanks for all the well wishes and help everyone! let the recovery begin!!
-Eddie
had the surgery on tuesday 4/13 at 7:30 AM, had my wife pos while still in the hospital, and got home saturday afternoon. they had even thought about releasing me on FRIDAY! unbelievable...
well I will post a more detailed info in replies and other posts I think, but bascially, it went VERY WELL. my surgeons and cardiologists said the surgery went excellently, and my surgeon said he 'got a nice big valve in there, and it went in very easily', and he saw no reason (assuming no complications) I wouldn't get 15-20 years out of it. the strangest thing was on wed to hear my cardiologist say 'don't hear a mur-mur anymore, sounds great. you are no longer a medical student case' I've never heard ANYONE say that after listening to my heart... it was kind of surreal.
Tuesday day/night was rough - I won't try to sugar-coat it at all. the back pain was horrendous. that was they worst part!! but I can honestly say that after tuesday night, it wasn't that bad at all. everyone kept saying how well I was doing, and they couldn't believe that I had just had surgery on tues, etc. I was up in a chair on tuesday night once, twice on wed., walked twice on Thursday, and by thursday night I was up walking around on my own, going to the bathroom, etc.
the toughest part about it was the nights - getting real SLEEP. tuesday night was really rough just because everytime I wanted to move I had extreme back pain... like stifiling back pain. wed night my heart rate stayed at about 115 all night, and it felt like it was pounding, so that kept me up. Thursday night was probably the best one. and like I said by friday I was up and moving around, not much pain, all was good.
THEN, firday night/sat morning at about 3 AM, I woke up with what felt like a STAB in my rib cage. every time I would take a breath it would do it. and as it hurt more, the more I got worked up and it was a vicious cycle. the worst pain I've ever felt. I tried my pain killers (percaset), ibuprofin, heat, different positions - nothing worked. it was fine if I was sitting up and breatheing normally or walking around, but as soon as I would lay back and sleep a short while, it would be back, and I would have to work into taking a normal breathe for about 10 minutes. they did a chest x-ray on saturday morning before I left and said that it was all clear, and said that this pain must just be a rib cage /back muscle strain from the suregry that didn't show itself for a few days after I was more active, and they said ibuprofin would maybe help. and that's where I'm at now...
so I want to pose this question to everyone and see if anyone can help or suggest something. I'm felling GREAT other than this, but when this happens, I feel like I'm going to die!! I will post just this portion of the question on the post-surgery forum also to try to get as much help as possible... I hope that's OK.
here's how it goes:
Like I said I'm fine most of the time - right now, walking, sitting, generally being awake. I lay down (or sit up) to sleep, sleep for about 1.5-2 hours, and as soon as I wake up I feel the pain. it is in my ribs, anywhere from the front near the breastbone, to all the way around in the back, near my shoulder blades. since my breathing is lower while I sleep it doesn't bother me. as soon as I wake up and try to breathe in even SLIGHTLY more than my 'sleep' breathing, it is like someone stabs me in the ribs. i have to gradually take a little deeper and deeper breaths, and try to stretch out the muscle, before the pain subsides. As soon as I am able to take in a normal breath pain-free, then its gone and I'm OK from there. having someone very roughly massage the area helps it move along faster...
but this is no joke the worst pain I've ever felt in my life, and it's even thougher because as I get the pain, I get more anxious and worked-up, and that makes my heart rate go up, and subsequently my breathing rate goes up, and the pain gets even worse.
all the docs told me thus far was that i 'would be getting some things like this over the next few weeks' and that 'rub muscle pulls are very painful', and that's just the way it is. I will be talking to them more today about it, but wanted to ask here too. right now I dread going back to sleep again...
thanks for all the well wishes and help everyone! let the recovery begin!!
-Eddie
That sounds like an intercostal pull. I had one show up a few days after surgery. I'd had one once years before, or I'd have been terrified.
There are two similar pains that occur with breathing shortly after surgery. One is the rubbing of the pericardium against the pleural membranes (lung sacs), chest wall, liver, etc. Your pericardium is enraged for a few days from the indignity of having been invaded (pericarditis). You likely recieved an antiinflammatory for that, such as Vioxx. However, you can feel the rubbing nature of it with your breathing, and the pain crests as the lung fills.
The one you describe sounds like the other type. It's a little muscle inside the chest wall that has been pulled, either due to spirometer exercises or while trying to leverage yourself around on the hospital bed without splitting your chest open. Perhaps it is started as a byproduct of the surgery as well. This one comes and goes. It may disappear completely for a while, then suddenly reappear when you turn or lay down. It causes disabilitating agony when you breath in too deeply, and may keep you from being able to take in a full breath for minutes at a time, before subsiding. It may not hurt at all until your lungs become almost full, then suddenly clamp part of your chest and back in unyielding, stabbing agony.
The doctor's full of beans: the meds won't touch it. This is like a special message of humility from God.
If that's it, it goes away in a few days, and is actually harmless. It can make a big, tough guy scream like a girl on a roller coaster when it happens, though.
It sure does keep your mind off all the other stuff, doesn't it?
Get well, be well. Best wishes,
There are two similar pains that occur with breathing shortly after surgery. One is the rubbing of the pericardium against the pleural membranes (lung sacs), chest wall, liver, etc. Your pericardium is enraged for a few days from the indignity of having been invaded (pericarditis). You likely recieved an antiinflammatory for that, such as Vioxx. However, you can feel the rubbing nature of it with your breathing, and the pain crests as the lung fills.
The one you describe sounds like the other type. It's a little muscle inside the chest wall that has been pulled, either due to spirometer exercises or while trying to leverage yourself around on the hospital bed without splitting your chest open. Perhaps it is started as a byproduct of the surgery as well. This one comes and goes. It may disappear completely for a while, then suddenly reappear when you turn or lay down. It causes disabilitating agony when you breath in too deeply, and may keep you from being able to take in a full breath for minutes at a time, before subsiding. It may not hurt at all until your lungs become almost full, then suddenly clamp part of your chest and back in unyielding, stabbing agony.
The doctor's full of beans: the meds won't touch it. This is like a special message of humility from God.
If that's it, it goes away in a few days, and is actually harmless. It can make a big, tough guy scream like a girl on a roller coaster when it happens, though.
It sure does keep your mind off all the other stuff, doesn't it?
Get well, be well. Best wishes,
