LDM251
Member
Today is a week since I had my surgery and I have to say that I'm feeling so much better than I ever thought I'd feel after having had open heart surgery. My surgery was in the afternoon, so my "fun" didn't begin until late Monday evening. I really have nothing good to say about the ventilator. Not that anything bad happened, but they kept it in until I was fully awake and was way too aware of the thing in my throat. I was hot because I had too many blankets on me and couldn't tell anyone, I could feel phlem in my throat but couldn't swallow or cough, it was just overall not fun at that point. Thank goodness they got it out about 11:30pm. Life got better after that.
Apparently I had quite a bit of bleeding following the surgery and didn't look good at all when I first arrived in ICU. My family and friends were a little freaked out. But I had a really good nurse that I unfortunately never got to meet who tried to put their minds at ease. I vaguely remember seeing a couple of family members by my bedside. After the ventilator came out, I was so parched. They gave me a few ice chips and moved on to some little sips of water, then for some reason the nurse decided it was a good idea to give me an aspirin on my empty stomach. This was her only mistake. I woke up not long afterwards frantic because I was going to throw up. Scared me to death. The nurse was able to get the phenagren into my veins and luckily we avoided what would've been a very painful experience. Being turned afterwards was pretty painful too.
After all of this though, things began to look up. The next morning I was up, sitting in a chair. Finally got to drink some apple juice, and eventually got to have some real food by the end of the day. I remember in the past having to slowly work up to solid foods, but not with this. They had regular food in front of me pretty fast. By Tuesday night, I was out of ICU and into a regular room.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent getting up, walking, taking showers, talking to everyone under the sun that came into my room, and enjoyed being told that I didn't look or act like a person who'd just had open heart surgery. Thursday morning the cardio rehab guy had me take the stairs since I have stairs at home, and that was a piece of cake. And then Friday morning the dr said, ok, let's go home! By Friday evening (it takes forever to get checked out of the hospital), I was at home watching the Texas Rangers lose on my own tv.
So. Having the ventilator pulled out, wasn't too bad and was really just a relief. Having the drain tubes pulled, not fun at all. That hurt a little, but it was short, fast, and felt better afterwards. Having the pacemaker wires pulled, no problem there. Just felt kinda weird, but it didn't hurt.
Biggest problem since getting home has been fluid retention. It's just hanging around and I can't seem to get rid of it. I'm going to focus hard on getting rid of some today. I've already walked to the end of the street and back, and will do that at least one more time again today. I'm also going to drink a little more water and see if that helps. In addition to taking the lasix tablet I'm scheduled to take. Fluid seems to be the one thing that's holding me back.
Pain has been minimal. I've taken my pain meds more as a precaution so I stay ahead of the pain, but I'm going to ease off of that a little and start working towards just Tylenol. I think Tylenol is going to be sufficient.
I've been up, cooking, doing some very minor things around the house. I have to stop sometimes and ask myself if I really do still feel ok, and the answer is almost always, yes. I think my focus the next few days will be figuring out my exercise routine. I'm in Texas and it's still more than hot around here, so going for an afternoon stroll isn't very pleasant.
So there's my story! I'm pretty satisfied with it. Things have definitely gone better than I ever could've hoped for, or expected. All of the input from people on here has been so useful, so if you have anymore words of wisdom, I'd love to hear them.
Cheers!!
Liz
Apparently I had quite a bit of bleeding following the surgery and didn't look good at all when I first arrived in ICU. My family and friends were a little freaked out. But I had a really good nurse that I unfortunately never got to meet who tried to put their minds at ease. I vaguely remember seeing a couple of family members by my bedside. After the ventilator came out, I was so parched. They gave me a few ice chips and moved on to some little sips of water, then for some reason the nurse decided it was a good idea to give me an aspirin on my empty stomach. This was her only mistake. I woke up not long afterwards frantic because I was going to throw up. Scared me to death. The nurse was able to get the phenagren into my veins and luckily we avoided what would've been a very painful experience. Being turned afterwards was pretty painful too.
After all of this though, things began to look up. The next morning I was up, sitting in a chair. Finally got to drink some apple juice, and eventually got to have some real food by the end of the day. I remember in the past having to slowly work up to solid foods, but not with this. They had regular food in front of me pretty fast. By Tuesday night, I was out of ICU and into a regular room.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent getting up, walking, taking showers, talking to everyone under the sun that came into my room, and enjoyed being told that I didn't look or act like a person who'd just had open heart surgery. Thursday morning the cardio rehab guy had me take the stairs since I have stairs at home, and that was a piece of cake. And then Friday morning the dr said, ok, let's go home! By Friday evening (it takes forever to get checked out of the hospital), I was at home watching the Texas Rangers lose on my own tv.
So. Having the ventilator pulled out, wasn't too bad and was really just a relief. Having the drain tubes pulled, not fun at all. That hurt a little, but it was short, fast, and felt better afterwards. Having the pacemaker wires pulled, no problem there. Just felt kinda weird, but it didn't hurt.
Biggest problem since getting home has been fluid retention. It's just hanging around and I can't seem to get rid of it. I'm going to focus hard on getting rid of some today. I've already walked to the end of the street and back, and will do that at least one more time again today. I'm also going to drink a little more water and see if that helps. In addition to taking the lasix tablet I'm scheduled to take. Fluid seems to be the one thing that's holding me back.
Pain has been minimal. I've taken my pain meds more as a precaution so I stay ahead of the pain, but I'm going to ease off of that a little and start working towards just Tylenol. I think Tylenol is going to be sufficient.
I've been up, cooking, doing some very minor things around the house. I have to stop sometimes and ask myself if I really do still feel ok, and the answer is almost always, yes. I think my focus the next few days will be figuring out my exercise routine. I'm in Texas and it's still more than hot around here, so going for an afternoon stroll isn't very pleasant.
So there's my story! I'm pretty satisfied with it. Things have definitely gone better than I ever could've hoped for, or expected. All of the input from people on here has been so useful, so if you have anymore words of wisdom, I'd love to hear them.
Cheers!!
Liz
