I summited that mountain!!!

[Shellbell]

So here i sit at Toronto General, and i made it!! Less than 24 hours after surgery i was on my walker and so far this been relatively easy. My surgeon decided not to graft my 3.8 cm aneurysm, makes me glad i chose tissue. I was still pretty out of it this morning when i spoke to him but hubby told me he said i have the heart of a 25 year old which made me laugh. Then i barfed up my breakfast lol. Pretty sore but Tylenol seems enough, i am out of icu and hopefullly i can keep something down tomorrow.
Ps - Heather Anne they said i had to remove all nail posh but i snuck my pedi u fer the wire and this morning all the cardiac nurses said they were admiring it in the OR lol

 

[knotguilty]

Congratulations Shellbell! Glad you made it. Enjoy being pampered for as long as you can. Take your time. It might seem easy but your body went through a lot. Prayers to you and hopefully you will have a very speedy and healthy recovery.

 

[Sten Osis]

Re: I summited that mountain!!!

Welcome to the other side!

 

[ski girl]

Woohoo congrats, it's all going to get better from here (although don't let inevitable bumps in the road get you down)!

 

[Leah]

Awesome!!! Relax & don't do too much too fast .

 

[T in YVR]

Way to go Michelle! Wish I could have joined you on the other side yesterday as originally planned. I hope to be there soon. Get well, take care and enjoy your new and improved ticker
T

 

[pellicle]

good to see another success story

keep up the good work

 

[AZ Don]

Congratulations! I'm surprised they left your aneurysm, but then it is rather small. You should look into Losartan. For those with Marfan's, studies have shown it may stop or even reverse an aneurysm. Studies are in progress now but it is thought it may do the same for those with a Bicuspid Valve.

 

[Heather Anne]

Shellbel -- YAY!!!!! I'm so happy for you!!! I've been thinking of you all day knowing this was your big day. It is all uphill (in a good way) from here. I'm so glad you made it through so well, and that you sneaked that pedi under the radar!!!

 

[big_L]

Contratulations! You made it! Isn't it amazing how Tylenol helps? I couldn't believe how quickly I was off the narcotics.

 

[jmstallard]

Wait...what does the lack of an aortic graft have to do with a tissue valve? The way you wrote it, it sounds like choosing a tissue valve saved you from getting a graft.

Oh, and congratulations. Don't sneeze!! :eek2:

 

[Shellbell]

Wait...what does the lack of an aortic graft have to do with a tissue valve? The way you wrote it, it sounds like choosing a tissue valve saved you from getting a graft.

Oh, and congratulations. Don't sneeze!! :eek2:

Well at that point i figured that if it did indeed continue to dilate in future and ever needed repair, then i had spared myself some years of warfarin. Have since spoken with my surgeon whilst i was somewhat more coherent and he said it actually looked quite normal. Its about 3.5 cm and not really dilated, just a bit oddly shaped which was why he originally thought it might need grafting.

So it looks like i am going home tomorrow, only 4 days post- op. it has been a rollercoaster though. Wednesday, the day after surgery, was quite yucky. I had terrible nausea and could not eat at all. Kept having to be sick in front of visitors. Blechhy. Wednesday night was even worse. Couldnt sleep at all, you guys weren't kidding about the beds killing ur back. How did Craftmatic ever make a dime??? They tell me my bod did not like the a aesthetic at all. Yesterday it all turned around.

Oops more later physio is here... Must walk

 

[Shellbell]

So yesterday morning the nurse gave me some Sofran (sic) via my iv and that worked a charm. Once my nausea went i was better able to keep down the Tylenol and get over both the pain and nausea. I always wondered how on those survival shows a wee bite of squirrel would fill you up, but after 3 days with no food it doesn't take much. I have worked up from a few bites to almost an actual meal. My color and energy are back. Had my pacemaker wires out today and that wasnt too bad, didnt love those drainage tubes the other day though. Had a physio come to take me walking, i had been doing laps around the ward even yesterday once i felt better. Today we did a flight of stairs, and i took them regularly but slowly. My heart rate was 93 at the top. And my blood oxygen was 98%. This time when the physio came to take me for that walk, the nurses at their station were teasing him that i was walking him. Made me feel great. So my surgeon says as long as today's echo looks fine, i am outta here tomorrow.

I have named my new valve Hammy Hancock and i am happy to have him.

 

[jmstallard]

Good work on the walking! My first walk was day 2 and I got about 20 feet before the nausea kicked my butt. Later that day I made it half way around but threw up all over the floor.

 

[kimcdougc]

Glad you made it through so well shellbell. Now you know the routine, eat, walk, sleep, breath...repeat!

 

[Heather Anne]

Hammy Hancock: I like it!

Sorry about the nausea. I've heard it's more common in young, slim, extremely attractive women with great pedicures.

 

[dg_moore]

Hammy Hancock: I like it!

Sorry about the nausea. I've heard it's more common in young, slim, extremely attractive women with great pedicures.

Could be - I'm a not so young, not so slim, arguably not so attractive male and I didn't have even a twinge

 

[Shellbell]

Hammy Hancock: I like it!

Sorry about the nausea. I've heard it's more common in young, slim, extremely attractive women with great pedicures.

Well no wonder i felt so devastatingly awful for 24 hours!!

I am a week home now, and all seems to be going well. I've been blessed with some beautiful weather, so i've been walking in the sunshine. Started going down to the corner and back on the first day, 5 times. Worked up to around the block 4 times the next. Now i am up almost a kilometer 3 times a day. Soon I will be doing 1.5 kms 3 times a day, have my fingers crossed that the weather holds for me.

Just getting off the panapoly of meds they sent me to get on the way home, mostly for my tummy it seems to buffer all the anti-inflammatories. Tomorrow i will be down to just iron pills, damn laxatives to go with the iron, and the beta blocker they have me on called bisoprolol. I know most folks here are put on metroprolol, and get off it eventually, but my md tells me i will be on this always. and my crestor still for cholesterol. But they did take me off both adalat for high bp and olmesarten, an ace inhibitor, that i took daily pre-surgery. Once all the post surgery meds are done, I will be on fewer meds than before!

I've been blessed to be able to sleep in my own bed since i got home, and the stairs dont seem too bad once a day or so. I dont have much bruising around my incision, but do seem to get most of my pain a few inches out from it over my breasts. And numbness too. The egg at the top of my incision hasnt gone down any yet, .....what are everyones experiences re: the egg, incision numbness and pain??

All in all, and i know a few mech valvers will want to smack me for sayin, but I think can do this again if i have to next time. If the technology has not advanced to the point where I can go TAVR, I might go ON-X next time, though. I know, its the opposite of the age vs valve choice norm, but my gut tells me its been right for me. Third time however, doesnt sound charming.

 

[jmstallard]

Initially, my pain was acute and over the incision, but that eventually turned into non-acute (obtuse?) pain to the right of the incision, and that didn't surprise my surgeon, so I think what you're feeling is normal.

I was also told that I would be on a beta blocker for the rest of my life, although they told me that years before my surgery. Who knows now...I'm going to bring it up the next time I see the Cardiologist.

It's great that you can sleep in your own bed. It took me over a week, and even then I was propped up considerably for another few weeks.

 

[Shellbell]

Jm i seem to be experiencing the exact same thing. Pain is doable, and seems concentrated an inch or 2 to the right of the incision, very tender there and even the skin seems sensitive. Not like that on the left... Wonder what thats about?