Hi - Greetings

[rajeevg]

Hi

I found this forum very useful and informative. Though I live outside North America ( I live in India) but this forum has benefitted me a lot. I started reading the posts before I went for surgery. I travel to United states almost every second/third month for business before my surgery, so I am quite familiar with US though.

I got my AVR ( St Jude mechanical) on 8th of April. I am home and recovering. I feel lot of muscular pain in my shoulders and upper back. I feel more when I get out of or into bed. Any suggestions. I am trying pillows under my back and arms , it helps liitle bit. Is it normal? I do feel heavyness in my strenum. I think I was using my arms a lot which I try controlling after I read few posts.

I some how believed that I would be able to start working part time (I am in software business) after 4/6 weeks post op? Is it too ambitious?

Rajeev

 

[Ross]

Hi Rajeev and welcome to our humble little home

All of us or at least most of us have gone through the back and shoulder pain. The most positive suggestion is to get someone to massage those areas a couple times a day. Sooner or later, the pain will be gone. I know I dreaded getting up out of bed because that guaranteed a great amount of pain in those areas. It subsided about 3 months after surgery. Not that that is the norm, but that's what it took me.

As far as returning to work, as long as it's not demanding a ton of physical performance, (lifting, pushing, running, etc) you should be able to handle some part time hours in that time frame. You need to listen to your body though. It will tell you in no uncertain terms when your overdoing it. If you find yourself in that position, back off and rest.

 

[Jean]

Hi, Rajeev.
As to your pain, different things help different people. I was able to take Advil and get along fine. I used a big pillow tucked under the side and front of my body after two weeks so I could sleep on my side and then my tummy...I just cannot sleep soundly on my back. Others have used recliner chairs, but at least our recliner really hurt me...I didn't like the caving in of my chest at all.

For work...probably you could go back for a few hours by 6 weeks if all goes well. I didn't go back until 11 weeks, but I teach high school and wanted to make sure I was ready to go full blast. I was set to go back at 9 weeks, but just had one more week until spring break, so went back after break.

Good luck and I hope you are soon marveling at how great you are feeling.

 

[ccrawford]

Welcome

Welcome

Hi Rajeev - Welcome to our happy family. I'm also a recent valve recipient, and I'm slowly on the way to recovery. Everybody heals at a slightly different rate, so its important to pay attention to what your body says to you. If you are getting lots of sleep at night and taking naps when needed, then all you need to do is make sure you are getting a good diet, not straining your self, and progressively getting more excercise each day. My doctor recommended adding 5 minutes more excercise each day, but again, everybody is different. I wouldn't see any reason why you could not do some part time work, but only if you are really honest with yourself and willing to walk out the minute you start to feel overextended-I know that is sometimes hard to do. Best wishes on a good recovery and keep us informed. Chris

 

[Les]

Hello Rajeev,
As you can already tell by the responses to your post, you have come to the right place for boundless information and support. Everyone has 'been there" and can offer so much. Welcome to VR and best wishes on your recovery!
_________________
Les AVR '93 / '95

 

[Kevin M]

I remember that awful shoulder and neck pain.
I too found it very uncomfortable. For me, it seemed to last
for about 5 weeks or so, if memory serves me correctly.

It's like a cramp or sometimes like a lactic acid buildup.

Have no fear, it's perfectly normal, but it will subside.

Once you are past the 4-6 week mark, you can do some stretches to allieviate the tension.

Keep well. You are through the worst of it.
Kev

 

[pillarpaul]

Welcome

Welcome

Hi Rajeev and welcome to this great community of wonderful people. I had my surgery the day after you! I, too, have the same pain you have. It starts from the surgery - our shoulder blades get practically pinched together for five hours when we're in surgery. That alone would hurt. Then add that we can't do our normal posture after the surgery and you get the perfect recipe for back and neck pain. I hired a professional masseuse to come to my house and give me a massage on just the affected areas. It has made a WORLD of difference and she comes once a week.

As for returning to work, like everybody says, your body will tell you if it's ready. I probably will return very part-time at six weeks because my office is right by my cardiac rehab location and I'll be driving then.

Best of luck in your continued recovery.

Paul

 

[Ross]

Paul what makes a world of difference, the massage or the masseuse?

 

[pillarpaul]

"Enquiring" Minds Want to Know

"Enquiring" Minds Want to Know

BOTH, Mr. Class Clown, but I ain't telling HOW?

 

[epstns]

BOTH, Mr. Class Clown, but I ain't telling HOW?

Or was that WHO? ? ?

 

[Nancy]

Hi rajeevg-

You have found a terrific site. As you can plainly see, everyone is friendly and can even joke around with each other from time to time.

You are experiencing something that most heart surgical patients complain of. Just what do they do to your poor body while you're under anesthesia, anyway?

My husband is the patient here, and he's had 3 of these surgeries. He has had the back and neck pain also. It does go away, but it takes an annoyingly long time. I think a lot of it is "heart surgery patient's posture" like Paul has mentioned. I remember my husband having the stooped over hunched up shoulders which were his way of keeping his sore chest protected, and those muscles can become very tense. As time goes on, and the back doesn't straightened out, those muscles sort of set themselves in that position, causing your chest muscles to shorten and the back muscles to stretch out. It takes a while to get that all worked out. I think some of it is muscle spasms.

I can understand why massage therapy works well for this.

It is something you could ask the surgeon about. I'm sure they have heard this before and might have some good ideas for you.

Wishing you the best.

 

[ccrawford]

Its in the book

Its in the book

Paul/Steve - I looked up your question in the Physician's Desk reference - the answer is that one of them is guaranteed not to rub you the wrong way. Chris

 

[Jan]

Hi Rajeev

Welcome to the wonderful world of VR.com,

I just want to wish you a speedy recovery, and say take things easy remember you have had surgery,so give the body time to recover.

Keep smiling

Jan

 

[Georgia]

Hi, Rajeev

Hi, Rajeev

Welcome to our set of problems.

The neck/back pain is amazingly tenacious - I had my husband massage them 3 times a day; I was lucky - it went away within 2 - 3 weeks.

I have no idea what your health system is like in India - I certainly hope there's a cardiac rehabilitation program you can participate in. Between neck/back massages and cardiac rehab, I feel my recovery has been quite smooth. Please do anything you can to find a rehab program. You'll exercise earlier and more efficiently, and will definitely know if you're ready for work as early as you hope.

Congratulations on your accomplishment, and keep us informed how you're doing - we're always interested and everyone's welcome.

 

[rajeevg]

Thanks for your so much support. I am touched!!

I got relieved. I have started the massage and it is quite effective , my wife is helping me out , couldn't take paul's suggestion of masseuse.

I liked Nancy's explanation of heart surgery patients posture ( HSPP).I realise I was doing the same. Now I am contious of this while walking and trying to walk with straight shoulders ( what ever possible.

I also liked the idea of adding 5 minutes to exercise daily.

Thanks and I will keep you posted.

I have a confusion about taking tomato and cucumber. Some say tomoto is ok as it has low Vitamin K but one dietitian felt that I can have cucumber but not tomato. Any ideas!!

Rajeev

 

[Ross]

Any ideas!!

Us, have ideas? What makes you think we'd have ideas?

If you take the skin off of the cucumber, you should be fine and a tomato is about the same value as a skinned cucumber. In other words, you can have both as they are low in Vit K content, just make sure the cuke is skinned. An unskinned Cuke is very very high in Vit K. Here's a handy little reference below. You'll need adobe acrobat reader to view the file. If you don't have that, let me know and I'll get a link for it too.

http://www.valvereplacement.com/downloads/VitaminK.pdf

Here's another link. No reader required!
http://www.coumacarenews.com/consumer/INT_VitaminK1.asp#vege