I made it!

[Heather Anne]

So, I did the deed (or rather, had the deed done to me) this past Tuesday. I'm terrifically happy to have it over with. Some of the things I was worried about did happen: for example, I woke up with the breathing tube in and gagged and flailed about until they took it out, and had one weird episode of Afib that seemed to upset the doctors more than it did me. I have naturally very low blood pressure and run on the anemic side, so I think those are the biggest problems I've had so far in that I felt really droopy and draggy and fainty for the first couple of days and haven't been allowed to walk around as much as I would like.

But the removal of the drainage tube was no big deal at all, nor is the spirometor, nor was the the constant poking and prodding all night long -- the staff at UCSF have been terrific. The procedure itself went perfectly smoothly, and I'm looking forward to my slow and steady recovery. I think they're letting me out on Saturday.

The bottom line is that this is certainly no small deal, and you need to be on top of the pain situation. Don't let it get away from you. Ask for pain meds when you need them. There will also be little snags along the way, like your blood sugar running amok, or afibs that worry you, or your drainage tubes will have to stay in for an extra day. Don't let these bother you if you can help it. It's complicated, and nothing that's this complicated will go off completely without a hitch. But my surgeon says the first three days are the worst. For sure, I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday, and even a lot better than I did this morning.

And, I have a terrific new heart valve, and even though I was almost completely asymptomatic, I can already feel the difference!!

 

[ski girl]

Heather Anne that is excellent news! I'm very happy for you and SOOOO glad that you're already feeling a difference with the new valve. Best of luck for a continued kick-a$$ recovery.

 

[Agian]

What Ski Girl said. Great news Heather Anne. :thumbup:

 

[jmstallard]

But the removal of the drainage tube was no big deal at all...

Wow, when they removed my my drainage tubes, that was pretty rough. How many tubes did you have?

 

[Heart Of The Sunrise]

Excellent News, Heather Anne. Stories like yours helped me when I was in the waiting room. I feared the breathing tube story of yours. Fortunately, it was out by the time I was fully conscious.
My least favorite thing was the 4 am Heparin shots in my stomach. Once, I left the hospital I required no pain medication. I too was completely asymptomatic...pretty amazing considering the extremely poor condition of my BV and aorta.

 

[epstns]

Great news, Heather Anne! Keep on doing what they tell you and you'll be back to everything really soon.

 

[T in YVR]

Great news Heather Anne - glad to hear you are on the road to recovery! My surgeon's office told me I will likely have my surgery before mid-Oct., so I look forward to joining all of you on the other side and having this behind me as well.
Cheers,
Tony

 

[clawie1]

Great story Heather Anne. Oh the breathing tube - that was the most uncomfortable for me but it was removed in ICU. I am going on almost 3 weeks post op and I am feeling stronger every day. I am so happy you are on this with us now!! Clawie1 aka Nita

July 21, 2013, Minimally invasive Aortic Valve Replacement, 21 mm St. Jude porcine valve, septal myomectomy, Age 73. Keck Hospital at USC, Los Angeles, Ca. Dr. Cunningham, Surgeon

 

[knotguilty]

Great news Heather!! Glad you are past the worst of it. Jusy wondering what valve you went with? Keep us posted on your recovery!

 

[Mike59]

Congratulations from all in the UK

 

[Heather Anne]

I was so close to tying GymGuy's record of three days and out, but somebody realized I hadn't pooped yet, so I'm stuck here for another day, me and my laxatives. But I am continuing to feel better. The pacing wires came off today, which helped. JMStallard--I had two drainage tubes and they just yanked them
out easy peasy. I figure after the breathing tube unpleasantness I was owed a decent tube removal!

 

[Justin1981]

Congrats Heather! I am 12 days post op and feel great I hope your good luck continues.

 

[Heather Anne]

I'm home, wearing cozy pajamas after the best shower EVER, and I thought I'd take a couple of minutes to add a few details about my surgical experience for those yet to go through it. I found this kind of post very helpful when I was in the waiting room, so now I'm paying it....backward?

DAY ONE: This was Surgery Day, so I got up at 5 and my husband drove me into San Francisco for my 6 AM roll call. Everything went very smoothly despite the pre-op staging area resembling a bus station, and I was wheeled into the OR at 7:30. I wasn't as nervous as I'd thought I would be; my primary emotion was relief that the day had come and I would get my heart fixed at last.

I woke up in the ICU at 3PM with the breathing tube still in. My husband was there, and he told me that the surgeon had been surprised by how bad my valve looked given my lack of significant symptoms, and thought I'd notice a big difference. I was more about noticing the breathing tube at that moment, which I wanted out immediately. Although it wasn't claustrophobic, as I'd feared, and it was a lot smaller than I'd expected, there was still some gagging and flailing as they sat me up to cough it out that was, at least, over quickly. For those who fear the breathing tube, I will say that if you do wake up with it still in, it won't feel that bad (just breathe with it), and any gagging business during extraction will be short.

DAY TWO: Graduation from ICU! In the morning I took my first and only walk around the cardiac ICU, during which I guarantee you you will see a lot of people far worse off than you (which, if you're a small person like me, will make you feel much better about your situation). Then I was moved to a small private room in Cardiac Recovery. Here, in the afternoon, I had my only episode of AFib: my heart rate spiked to the 170s for 11 seconds. Within a minute, all 8 members of my surgical team were crammed into my teeny tiny room (if you ever want to be the most important person in a room, go into AFib in a Cardiac Unit). My head surgeon, though, decided it wasn't a big deal and was likely caused by the extreme low blood pressure (70/50) and anemia I was discovered to be suffering from, compounded by my just-ended walk. They gave me another unit of blood, some other stuff, and some iron, and banned me from walking for the rest of the day. Worse, from my perspective: they decided to wait to remove my chest tubes until the next day. The chest tubes are pretty much what you've heard them to be: they're not painful, exactly, but they make it really hard to draw a deep breath and the tubes and the jug they drain into are annoyingly in the way.

On the plus side, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror during my morning walk, and to be honest, I looked rather fetching. By that I mean relative to other 48-year-old women who've had heart surgery the day before. By that I mean that my hair looked fabulous.

DAY THREE: Chest Tube Removal! By afternoon my BP and CBC levels had improved to the point that they allowed me to walk again and took out the chest tubes. That is a bit uncomfortable, but so quick, and so worth it for the ease of movement and breathing it restores. Also, my kids came to visit and saw how fabulous my hair looked.

DAY FOUR: By the morning of this day, I had improved so much that my surgeon actually cleared me for discharge, until one of his interns pointed out that I hadn't pooped yet. Thus began an intense relationship between me and various laxatives, but unfortunately I didn't poop until that evening, so I was stuck for another night. They did take out my pacer wires, which, again, feels weird for less than a second and is more than worth it to have your heart "unplugged."

DAY FIVE: As intense as was my affair with laxatives the day before, my hatred of my bed by this day far exceeded it. Like many others on this board, I'd developed great soreness across my shoulders, neck and upper back, easily exceeding the incisional pain, and I attribute this to the surgical procedure and to the fact that I had to put my 5'2" body into a highly complicated hospital bed that contorted whenever and however it felt like all night long. So my 1:30 discharge, though a day early by my surgeon's standards, was actually a day late by mine.

So, there you have it: some glitches, but nothing too serious, and now I'm home. And, despite the lingering aches and pains, I really do feel that my heart is working better than it was just four days ago. I'm looking forward to some therapeutic walks tomorrow (I did some today, but being as how I couldn't resist those pajamas, it was conducted entirely in laps around my patio), and a good night's sleep in my reclining chair.

I'm happy to answer any questions any of you might have!

 

[jmstallard]

DAY FOUR: By the morning of this day, I had improved so much that my surgeon actually cleared me for discharge, until one of his interns pointed out that I hadn't pooped yet. Thus began an intense relationship between me and various laxatives, but unfortunately I didn't poop until that evening, so I was stuck for another night. They did take out my pacer wires, which, again, feels weird for less than a second and is more than worth it to have your heart "unplugged."

Haha! Yep, that was fun. My nurse warned me that, if I didn't "drop the kids off at the pool" by the next day they would have to bring in some suppositories. I didn't want it to come to that so I had a heart-to-heart with my colon. I barely made it, but I made it.

It's funny how quickly you lose your modesty in that situation. On the first day, when I was still pretty drugged up, the hottest nurse there had to hold on to Mr. Winky to help me use the pee bucket, but it wasn't embarassing; it was just business. Damn, was she hot though...not as hot as the wife, of course, but hot in her own inferior sort of way. :angel:

 

[pellicle]

Hey,

Haha! Yep, that was fun. My nurse warned me that, if I didn't "drop the kids off at the pool" by the next day they would have to bring in some suppositories. I didn't want it to come to that so I had a heart-to-heart with my colon. I barely made it, but I made it.

Kimchi, its a Korean food , and quite tasty. Much less harsh than the chemical purge ...

I swear by it.

And its good for you too! I take a 500g tub in with me every time

Damn, was she hot though...not as hot as the wife, of course, but hot in her own inferior sort of way. :angel:

You are skating on thin ice there my friend. If your wife kills you all the work of the ICU team and the surgeon will be wasted

 

[maisiejane]

I'm home, wearing cozy pajamas after the best shower EVER, and I thought I'd take a couple of minutes to add a few details about my surgical experience for those yet to go through it. I found this kind of post very helpful when I was in the waiting room, so now I'm paying it....backward?

DAY ONE: This was Surgery Day, so I got up at 5 and my husband drove me into San Francisco for my 6 AM roll call. Everything went very smoothly despite the pre-op staging area resembling a bus station, and I was wheeled into the OR at 7:30. I wasn't as nervous as I'd thought I would be; my primary emotion was relief that the day had come and I would get my heart fixed at last.

I woke up in the ICU at 3PM with the breathing tube still in. My husband was there, and he told me that the surgeon had been surprised by how bad my valve looked given my lack of significant symptoms, and thought I'd notice a big difference. I was more about noticing the breathing tube at that moment, which I wanted out immediately. Although it wasn't claustrophobic, as I'd feared, and it was a lot smaller than I'd expected, there was still some gagging and flailing as they sat me up to cough it out that was, at least, over quickly. For those who fear the breathing tube, I will say that if you do wake up with it still in, it won't feel that bad (just breathe with it), and any gagging business during extraction will be short.

DAY TWO: Graduation from ICU! In the morning I took my first and only walk around the cardiac ICU, during which I guarantee you you will see a lot of people far worse off than you (which, if you're a small person like me, will make you feel much better about your situation). Then I was moved to a small private room in Cardiac Recovery. Here, in the afternoon, I had my only episode of AFib: my heart rate spiked to the 170s for 11 seconds. Within a minute, all 8 members of my surgical team were crammed into my teeny tiny room (if you ever want to be the most important person in a room, go into AFib in a Cardiac Unit). My head surgeon, though, decided it wasn't a big deal and was likely caused by the extreme low blood pressure (70/50) and anemia I was discovered to be suffering from, compounded by my just-ended walk. They gave me another unit of blood, some other stuff, and some iron, and banned me from walking for the rest of the day. Worse, from my perspective: they decided to wait to remove my chest tubes until the next day. The chest tubes are pretty much what you've heard them to be: they're not painful, exactly, but they make it really hard to draw a deep breath and the tubes and the jug they drain into are annoyingly in the way.

On the plus side, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror during my morning walk, and to be honest, I looked rather fetching. By that I mean relative to other 48-year-old women who've had heart surgery the day before. By that I mean that my hair looked fabulous.

DAY THREE: Chest Tube Removal! By afternoon my BP and CBC levels had improved to the point that they allowed me to walk again and took out the chest tubes. That is a bit uncomfortable, but so quick, and so worth it for the ease of movement and breathing it restores. Also, my kids came to visit and saw how fabulous my hair looked.

DAY FOUR: By the morning of this day, I had improved so much that my surgeon actually cleared me for discharge, until one of his interns pointed out that I hadn't pooped yet. Thus began an intense relationship between me and various laxatives, but unfortunately I didn't poop until that evening, so I was stuck for another night. They did take out my pacer wires, which, again, feels weird for less than a second and is more than worth it to have your heart "unplugged."

DAY FIVE: As intense as was my affair with laxatives the day before, my hatred of my bed by this day far exceeded it. Like many others on this board, I'd developed great soreness across my shoulders, neck and upper back, easily exceeding the incisional pain, and I attribute this to the surgical procedure and to the fact that I had to put my 5'2" body into a highly complicated hospital bed that contorted whenever and however it felt like all night long. So my 1:30 discharge, though a day early by my surgeon's standards, was actually a day late by mine.

So, there you have it: some glitches, but nothing too serious, and now I'm home. And, despite the lingering aches and pains, I really do feel that my heart is working better than it was just four days ago. I'm looking forward to some therapeutic walks tomorrow (I did some today, but being as how I couldn't resist those pajamas, it was conducted entirely in laps around my patio), and a good night's sleep in my reclining chair.

I'm happy to answer any questions any of you might have!

A very inspiring thread, I love your sense of humour and I love the fact that your hair stayed fabulous throughout, hope I can be as optimistic and humerous as you have been and continue to be.
Deb x

 

[kimcdougc]

Great post. Keep up the great work!

 

[scott.eitman]

Great post. I was lucky to not have had the poop question asked. I think I was about 10 days for the first at home...I came out with my arms raise like I was winning a race.

Food for thought. I hired a message therapist to come to my house every other day when I got out. Luckily, she is a good friend as well. I found the back pain to be the worst part of recover from my 1st AVR.

Stay well
Scott

 

[clawie1]

DAY FIVE: As intense as was my affair with laxatives the day before, my hatred of my bed by this day far exceeded it. Like many others on this board, I'd developed great soreness across my shoulders, neck and upper back, easily exceeding the incisional pain, and I attribute this to the surgical procedure and to the fact that I had to put my 5'2" body into a highly complicated hospital bed that contorted whenever and however it felt like all night long.

 

[clawie1]

Hi Heather Anne,
I had the same soreness in my shoulders and thought darn! what a time for my arthritis to act up. Yes, I experienced the same kind of discomfort that almost brought me to tears. I asked the nurse for a heating pad and they brought me this super gel heated pad that not only covered my shoulders but my back as well. As soon as my body touched this pad, no more pain.

I am 3 weeks post op today and so happy to have all of this behind me. Heather Anne, you are a great writer and I enjoy reading your journal. I am sure many of us can relate to your "little obstacles." Clawie1 aka Nita

July 21, 2013, Minimally invasive Aortic Valve Replacement, 21 mm St. Jude porcine valve, septal myomectomy, Age 73. Keck Hospital at USC, Los Angeles, Ca. Dr. Cunningham, Surgeon