How was your memory after OHS?

[Dale 1]

Yes, I'm of an age like that too. But I have noticed a big difference. It's getting better, but not totally gone yet!

 

[Bill B]

There was an interesting article on pumphead in Scientific American. It wasn't a true scientific analysis, but one man's experience with it. I read it in the magazine, but I see it is online as well:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=pumphead-heart-lung-machine

I read it just before my surgery and was concerned about it, but I had no noticeable cognitive change after surgery. Not that the machine had no effect - I developed a tiny visual defect (same in both eyes) that may have been from a microemboli said to be involved in the pumphead effect. I hardly notice it but it was there immediately after surgery and has not changed.

Bill

 

[westie]

.
my surgery was 5 hours long, i do not think i forgot anything, but i did have a big loss in self condidence for 2/3 months

 

[Dale 1]

Bill, can you describe your visual defect? My eyes are a little different, too, and a fellow OHS-er has mentioned that her eyes are not the same.

 

[Bill B]

Bill, can you describe your visual defect? My eyes are a little different, too, and a fellow OHS-er has mentioned that her eyes are not the same.

Dale:

The visual defect is a small, blurry, shimmering area just a bit off-center. Good thing it is not dead center or it would really bother me. I have migraines and this defect sort of resembles the visual aura I get before a headache, although that grows much larger but goes away in 30 minutes. Anyway, I think something knocked off a few cells in my visual cortex, as it is the same in both eyes, as is the migraine aura. So, this is not an over all change in my vision, but a tiny, new blindspot. Most of the time I do not notice it, but it's definitely there and appeared immediately after surgery. I was on the pump for a long time.

Bill

 

[debster913]

Hi Dale,

I often have trouble finding the perfect or most precise word when I know one exists. It will often be be on the tip of my tongue and I can't find it until a few minutes later. But my memory and some of the issues I had right after surgery have improved over time (months and maybe years? after OHS). Still I think there can be lingering issues, that I just deal with it.
I have read here that people attribute this memory loss to the trauma of surgery, anesthesia, other drugs, the perfusion process, or the rate of re-heating of the body after OHS, but I wonder if our brains might suffer some type of mini stroke or a minor oxygen deprivation that kills a few brain cells. Oh well, at this point whatever I have suffered was worth the cost for my new life provided by my new valve.
Best,
John

I'm nearly four years out of surgery, and I still have problems with recalling words, facts, and the like. I echo what John says. In fact, I felt a little "pumpheaded" the other day. I couldn't, for the life of me, remember what day or year it was. I also blanked out on my passwords for my computer accounts at work. It might have been stress...or a flash of pumphead.