Laura,
Welcome and Godspeed . . . I am three weeks postop today from my AVS. I will tell you that the days leading up to the surgery were much more stressful than after the procedure. Why do I say that? Well, the week prior to my procedure I was fighting a little cold, and was completely isolated from people, so my imagination was working overtime. I obsessed about the surgery, the surgeon, the pain, the potential complications after the surgery, my recovery, the Coumadin forever, you name it. . . I had it spinning around in my head. I had trouble sleeping just like you did.
The reality, as I remember it. . . The surgery was completely successful, and I was off the ventilator in a couple of hours. I don't have any way to measure a couple of hours, so it could have been about 20 minutes, but it was late afternoon or early evening You just won't have a frame of reference, and you will be on so many powerful drugs that's okay. Other than all of the checks and beeps and some of the activities overnight you will probably get some sleep.
The next day the nurses tried to start feeding me, got me up for a lap around the nurses station and kept my pain under control with Dilaudid. That made me pretty nauseous, so they added Reglan and I was in and out on demand. Mostly just resting today, to get ready to leave the ICU for the Telemetry Unit. The ICU has better/more comfortable beds.
Late afternoon day two, they finally had a bed for me upstairs and away we went. You will have a bunch of tubes to contend with - 02, Chest Tubes, Foley, IV (s), Central Lines. . . . They will prove to be a hassle when you try and walk over the next couple of days. The chest tubes are heavy and pass through your diaphragm. They are made of a tacky rubber, so that you can relieve the pressure of their weight by rearranging them on the bedsheets. My O2 cannula was irritating the tops of my ears by now, so the respiratory tech got some nifty pads that fit on the tubes, much appreciated.
The next three days you will be concentrating on gaining strength, walking, reducing the amount of output from your chest tubes and any drains anywhere else. They will probably pull the Foley, in an attempt to get you up and moving pretty early in the process. Then either the PT, or OT or Nurses will get you up and walking 150 feet or so three or four times a day and they will suggest that you eat a meal 3 times a day sitting up in your chair.
It just gets better every day, you get stronger, less apprehensive about every little noise or issue and before you know it you are in the car going home.
I know that I have oversimplified this process, but it is not as bad as all of the fears and apprehensions that we can ascribe to it before we have gone through it. You have great surgeons, and frankly this is surgery that is performed with tremendous success more frequenly than ever. Best of luck to you . . . I hope you come through with flying colors!
), geckley (I see that you're new. What's your story?), and Tom (I got a very friendly, upbeat vibe from your post. Thanks for the good vibes!).
