buffhughes
Member
Well, I am back and to quote a phrase “what a long strange trip its been”. I last checked in over in the “Pre-Surgery” area after getting a 5:15p.m. time for surgery. It’s been 10 days now and I think I have a handle on what went on to write it up. Still get a bit foggy so some details may be a little out of order but you’ll get the gist.
Arrived at the hospital at 3:25 p.m. and reported to the HUP Admission Center. There were few forms and just the usual questions about allergies and then they banded me for identification. Within 25 min they arrived to bring me up to the pre-surgery area. Prep there was quite simple – take off all your clothes, put on a gown, booties and a hair net and wait. By 5 p.m. the anesthesiologist came by to chat and asked if I had any questions; the only issue that was noted was to harvest the artery for the bypass from my right arm. Minutes later I kissed DW and was wheeled off to the O.R.
I was fully awake for about 15 minutes in the OR and got a chance to look around see lots of high-tech medical equipment , about half a dozen OR type folks and the anesthesiologist setting up his station. They started an IV in my wrist and I joked that they might want to double dose me because I go down hard; I recall saying it, but absolutelty nothing else.
I awoke in ICU with the breathing tube still in and was being cajoled into waking up so they could take it out. I kept drifting (for how long I don’t know) in and out until finally I began to bang my hands on the bed to let folks know I would really appreciate having it out of my throat. The nurse came in and a few minutes later they told me to breathe out as hard as I could and they yanked the tube; simultaneously they jammed a vacuum wand down my throat to suck up all the goo and other junk that had worked up/down into the trachea. And then it was done. I was still a bit groggy but awake; they gave me the vacuum wand and told me to use it as needed to clear goo.
My wife told me I had been gone from 5:15 pm on Wednesday to about 1:30 a.m. on Thursday; they had done the On-X mechanical AVR (25mm) as well as a double bypass. I drifted back to sleep, aided by pain meds and didn’t really come to until late in the day on Thursday. Dr. Pochettino stopped by briefly to talk; he said they found a heavily calcified aortic valve and as a result that I was currently in complete heart block. He said my rate was currently all on pacer and that there was a possibility of needing a permanent pacemaker; he said they would know more in a few days.
Friday dawned to find me awake and alive although feeling like I’d been in prize fight. I was transferred to stepdown mid-morning. My chest incision hurt, arm hurt, leg hurt and I had absolutely no drive whatsoever. I had no desire to eat but desperately desired to drink – water, ice chips, juice anything cold/wet. The nurses kept the ice chips coming, but fluids they dispensed sparingly to avoid fluid overload. I did not get out of bed except to sit very briefly in a chair and drink a diet iced tea (diabetic diet after surgery). Went to bed on pain meds and slept fitfully through the night. The largest obstacle to sleep was the constant pounding of my heart and the air handler in the room that was likely designed to clear out a warehouse. I was in a constant fight with the nurses – I wanted to have my head down, they wanted it up. So up-down all night, along with finger sticks for blood sugar and vitals checks.
The highlight to Friday night was the onset of a-fib , intravenous amiodarone and the fight between the medical team members about the cause. One doctor came in and said the cause was the central venous catheter in my neck; he said it might be touching the right atria. He then proceed to undo the stitches holding the catheter in place, pull it out a bit and then stitch it back into place. Two hours later, a different doc shows up and completely removes the catheter and replaces it with another, and again stitches it into place.
Saturday started the most stressful three days of my life so far. I awoke weak and tired but in much less pain. I ate breakfast but mostly just drank liquids. The PT person came by to get me out of bed and walking; as soon as I got up and started moving , I nearly collapsed. All I wanted to do was get back in bed; I spent the rest of the day in bed, only recovering late in the day on Saturday. Saturday eve, a covering doctor came by and said my hemoglobin might be too low (8.2%) and that I might need a transfusion. She said their level of action was 8% and so they would watch and wait. Sunday was a repeat of Saturday – attempt to get up only to crash and recover by the evening. Sunday afternoon they said I would get a transfusion; it never happenend and nobody came by to explain why not.
Monday dawned the same as the previous two days – crash and burn and then back in bed to recover. I was eating but sparsely – just no interest in food. Monday afternoon they finally pulled the trigger on transfusion after achieving a 7.2% hemoglobin level. Then the trouble started – the catheter changed way back on Friday night turned out to be a single lumen catheter. This meant they could give me heparin or blood but not both. No problem they said, we’ll start a line and get it in there. Except that they couldn’t start the line; they tried half a dozen times – in the wrist, forearm, elbow, to no avail. They wanted to do another central line (PIC line) but by the time they did all this, the PIC team was gone for the day. Eventually they just decided that I was sufficiently anti-coagulated to just swap out the heparin for two hours while they did the transfusion. Thus I ended Monday bruised and abused but now with lots of red blood cells.
Tuesday dawned and I felt like a whole new person; sleep was still fitful due to all the blood draws, finger sticks, vitals etc. but I felt like eating and could sit up. I ate like a horse on Tuesday and was able to do PT, walk the halls etc. I thought I was done with the up/downs but Tuesday night would prove me wrong. DW stayed till closing time and I was in good spirits but tired. As soon as she left I fell asleep for about 4 hours. When I awoke I was confused; I felt hot all over, was running a low grade (99.9) fever and I swear I could hear music that was just at the threshold of hearing. I felt general malaise; something was wrong but I couldn’t place exactly what. The doctors fixed on low O2 levels (lowest was 89%) but kept telling them I didn’t feel short of breath. So we did x-rays, breathing exercises; they wanted to do arterial blood gases but I nixed that after the Monday pm line fiasco.
Wednesday I was drained again after getting only about an hours sleep. I was truly low – I swore I would never do this again. I felt nauseous throughout the day and struggled to get in the PT walks and exercises but I did them. I again heard the strange music and was questioned at length by staff if I thought I was having audio hallucinations. To this day I am not sure, though I can still hear that eerie music in my head if I dwell on it. The electo team decided to send me home without a permanent pacemaker and so started me on amiodarone pills. I did better on Wednesday, able to walk more and though still nauseous I was eating.
Thursday I was released; it took forever to get all the paperwork done. We left Philly by noon and headed out into traffic for a six hour (with stops) ride home. I travelled in my jammies and we made a lunch stop at a service area on the highway. I was slow in/out but did it myself. I joked to my wife that the folks around us must have thought “what a nice lady, taking food to that derelict”. I didn’t care – I was out and breathing fresh air and getting some rays (tho not too much). I slept in our bed the first night – it was fitful largely due to a-fib for hours, but oh so great because it was a comfy bed and near complete silence in the house.
I am now doing much better – still in and out of a-fib but resting and eating and walking without any probs.
While in hospital, I did get to meet Amy (CRAWAL); her surgery was two day later than mine and she was up and about long before me. The whole affair is over, I am beat, but I AM BACK, and on the other side of the mountain.
Thanks to all for reading; sorry its so long.
Thanks to all for the support and well wishes; I’ll post again soon.
Go Class of 2011!
Arrived at the hospital at 3:25 p.m. and reported to the HUP Admission Center. There were few forms and just the usual questions about allergies and then they banded me for identification. Within 25 min they arrived to bring me up to the pre-surgery area. Prep there was quite simple – take off all your clothes, put on a gown, booties and a hair net and wait. By 5 p.m. the anesthesiologist came by to chat and asked if I had any questions; the only issue that was noted was to harvest the artery for the bypass from my right arm. Minutes later I kissed DW and was wheeled off to the O.R.
I was fully awake for about 15 minutes in the OR and got a chance to look around see lots of high-tech medical equipment , about half a dozen OR type folks and the anesthesiologist setting up his station. They started an IV in my wrist and I joked that they might want to double dose me because I go down hard; I recall saying it, but absolutelty nothing else.
I awoke in ICU with the breathing tube still in and was being cajoled into waking up so they could take it out. I kept drifting (for how long I don’t know) in and out until finally I began to bang my hands on the bed to let folks know I would really appreciate having it out of my throat. The nurse came in and a few minutes later they told me to breathe out as hard as I could and they yanked the tube; simultaneously they jammed a vacuum wand down my throat to suck up all the goo and other junk that had worked up/down into the trachea. And then it was done. I was still a bit groggy but awake; they gave me the vacuum wand and told me to use it as needed to clear goo.
My wife told me I had been gone from 5:15 pm on Wednesday to about 1:30 a.m. on Thursday; they had done the On-X mechanical AVR (25mm) as well as a double bypass. I drifted back to sleep, aided by pain meds and didn’t really come to until late in the day on Thursday. Dr. Pochettino stopped by briefly to talk; he said they found a heavily calcified aortic valve and as a result that I was currently in complete heart block. He said my rate was currently all on pacer and that there was a possibility of needing a permanent pacemaker; he said they would know more in a few days.
Friday dawned to find me awake and alive although feeling like I’d been in prize fight. I was transferred to stepdown mid-morning. My chest incision hurt, arm hurt, leg hurt and I had absolutely no drive whatsoever. I had no desire to eat but desperately desired to drink – water, ice chips, juice anything cold/wet. The nurses kept the ice chips coming, but fluids they dispensed sparingly to avoid fluid overload. I did not get out of bed except to sit very briefly in a chair and drink a diet iced tea (diabetic diet after surgery). Went to bed on pain meds and slept fitfully through the night. The largest obstacle to sleep was the constant pounding of my heart and the air handler in the room that was likely designed to clear out a warehouse. I was in a constant fight with the nurses – I wanted to have my head down, they wanted it up. So up-down all night, along with finger sticks for blood sugar and vitals checks.
The highlight to Friday night was the onset of a-fib , intravenous amiodarone and the fight between the medical team members about the cause. One doctor came in and said the cause was the central venous catheter in my neck; he said it might be touching the right atria. He then proceed to undo the stitches holding the catheter in place, pull it out a bit and then stitch it back into place. Two hours later, a different doc shows up and completely removes the catheter and replaces it with another, and again stitches it into place.
Saturday started the most stressful three days of my life so far. I awoke weak and tired but in much less pain. I ate breakfast but mostly just drank liquids. The PT person came by to get me out of bed and walking; as soon as I got up and started moving , I nearly collapsed. All I wanted to do was get back in bed; I spent the rest of the day in bed, only recovering late in the day on Saturday. Saturday eve, a covering doctor came by and said my hemoglobin might be too low (8.2%) and that I might need a transfusion. She said their level of action was 8% and so they would watch and wait. Sunday was a repeat of Saturday – attempt to get up only to crash and recover by the evening. Sunday afternoon they said I would get a transfusion; it never happenend and nobody came by to explain why not.
Monday dawned the same as the previous two days – crash and burn and then back in bed to recover. I was eating but sparsely – just no interest in food. Monday afternoon they finally pulled the trigger on transfusion after achieving a 7.2% hemoglobin level. Then the trouble started – the catheter changed way back on Friday night turned out to be a single lumen catheter. This meant they could give me heparin or blood but not both. No problem they said, we’ll start a line and get it in there. Except that they couldn’t start the line; they tried half a dozen times – in the wrist, forearm, elbow, to no avail. They wanted to do another central line (PIC line) but by the time they did all this, the PIC team was gone for the day. Eventually they just decided that I was sufficiently anti-coagulated to just swap out the heparin for two hours while they did the transfusion. Thus I ended Monday bruised and abused but now with lots of red blood cells.
Tuesday dawned and I felt like a whole new person; sleep was still fitful due to all the blood draws, finger sticks, vitals etc. but I felt like eating and could sit up. I ate like a horse on Tuesday and was able to do PT, walk the halls etc. I thought I was done with the up/downs but Tuesday night would prove me wrong. DW stayed till closing time and I was in good spirits but tired. As soon as she left I fell asleep for about 4 hours. When I awoke I was confused; I felt hot all over, was running a low grade (99.9) fever and I swear I could hear music that was just at the threshold of hearing. I felt general malaise; something was wrong but I couldn’t place exactly what. The doctors fixed on low O2 levels (lowest was 89%) but kept telling them I didn’t feel short of breath. So we did x-rays, breathing exercises; they wanted to do arterial blood gases but I nixed that after the Monday pm line fiasco.
Wednesday I was drained again after getting only about an hours sleep. I was truly low – I swore I would never do this again. I felt nauseous throughout the day and struggled to get in the PT walks and exercises but I did them. I again heard the strange music and was questioned at length by staff if I thought I was having audio hallucinations. To this day I am not sure, though I can still hear that eerie music in my head if I dwell on it. The electo team decided to send me home without a permanent pacemaker and so started me on amiodarone pills. I did better on Wednesday, able to walk more and though still nauseous I was eating.
Thursday I was released; it took forever to get all the paperwork done. We left Philly by noon and headed out into traffic for a six hour (with stops) ride home. I travelled in my jammies and we made a lunch stop at a service area on the highway. I was slow in/out but did it myself. I joked to my wife that the folks around us must have thought “what a nice lady, taking food to that derelict”. I didn’t care – I was out and breathing fresh air and getting some rays (tho not too much). I slept in our bed the first night – it was fitful largely due to a-fib for hours, but oh so great because it was a comfy bed and near complete silence in the house.
I am now doing much better – still in and out of a-fib but resting and eating and walking without any probs.
While in hospital, I did get to meet Amy (CRAWAL); her surgery was two day later than mine and she was up and about long before me. The whole affair is over, I am beat, but I AM BACK, and on the other side of the mountain.
Thanks to all for reading; sorry its so long.
Thanks to all for the support and well wishes; I’ll post again soon.
Go Class of 2011!
