J
JohnJ
for our wedding anniversary we went to homer for the night. we ate at Don Jose's and it wasn't very good. on the trip home i didn't feel well and just barely made it back to anchorage before feeling bad. that night i had dry heaves for over 12 hours and she decided to go to the emergency room. after many hours they decided to have a cat scan to see if that would determine the problem. their diagnosis was a kidney stone. you need to capture the stone when it passed and take it to a urologist. after many days, no stone nor no real symptoms. wife insisted we visit the urologist anyway. the urologist didn't see any evidence of a kidney stone either. but under Ginger's every ready questions he mentioned i had calcium buildup worse than his and his was bad.
tho he cautioned he never had the conversation he took us to another room had had a long chat about heart health. on the way out the door me mentioned the calcium buildup was on the ER report. when we got home and looked at the report and cat scan i could see the problem as well. Ginger then got busy and found a heart doctor and got me in in spite of many obstacles. the heart doctor heard heart murmur and recommended a echo cardiogram and stress test. this test indicated narrowed aortic valve. the heart doctor said he'd think i'd need a valve replacement in 5 years, come in if any symptoms develop. then the heart institute called and asked if we wanted a followup on this year's deductible. Ginger persuaded me to go. at this visit the dr recommended a catheterization procedure. had that yesterday. the results indicated i'll need the valve replacement sooner than 5 years so we're awaiting a surgeon's visit.
i've been home from the valve job for a few days now.
first day home was a good day, yesterday not so much.
feel a lot better today.
so the first step was an office visit with the surgeon. options were explained
like approach, valve type, other repairs whilst in the area, etc. then the schedule
checked and the appointment for the surgery. surgery 7:20 Jan 9, pre op 1pm Jan 8.
for pre op they took blood for type (no transfusion anticipated), chest xray, ultrasound of neck vessels. watched a movie on post op, got a briefing on what to
expect, some soap to shower with that night, a blank copy of a living will and off to
home. we were told to be at the reception area at 6am. no food or fluid after midnight
including water. i thought surely water so read the at home instructions. good thing.
left early the next morning figuring it i got ther early they'd start processing me early. no joy, place was closed till 6am on the dot.
got shaved then send to shower with the anti-bacterial soap. changed to a HUGE gown.
gas doctor came in explained his function. he indicated i'd not remember a lot of the process, figured he meant i'd be out while he did it. he had really dirty hands. explained he'd been down to his condo unthawing pipes and he'd wash a few more times.
signed the anesthesia consent and away i went. i remember rolling into the OR and looking around at stuff.
next memory was waking and seeing 209. probably not a 209 in heaven so i musta made it. i could tell my arms were restrained and i felt the tube down the throat and could not talk. noone was around, the lights were low so i drifted back to sleep.
awoke again some later and a nurse was ther. said if i'd stay wake she'd take the tube out of my throat. did so, so did she. not bad tho i was still drugged so the gag reflex was probably lessened. she explained i had a lot of other tubes to go and when the tubes were all gone, i could go home. most of stay in intensive care was visits from nurses taking vital signs and giving pain and other meds. i was groggy and could nod off at will so that time went fast. moved to progressive care and the real struggles started. i was on Oxycontin and morphine. morphine helped, Oxycontin not so much. in the intensive care the nurse said another pain med helped a few people and asked if i wanted to give it a try. problems were it probably would not work and i'd have to wait a few hours until the next dosage time to get back on Oxycontin. but it did work better, so i asked to be changed. they didn't know what i was talking about so changed to vicoden. that was much better. issue now was getting all the stuff stuck in and to me around for chest xray and to the toilet.
two chest tubes (several tubes associated with each one), iv, oxygen line, catheter, ekg monitor, all had to be moved each time. they kept giving me laxative to get my bowels moving again, but 'd not eaten much before the several days preceeding surgery so i didn't have much to give so after the 30 minute move to the toilet and seeing all that equipment sitting on the floor for me to fall on decided to sit ther as long as possible. after the last chair ride to xray (wher they left the monitor in my breast pocket musta made a good impression on the xray) when i got back to my room and located to the chair i got to feeling real bad. feeling worse and worse. called nurse, no problem found, then noticed a big knot of tubes on my chest. called nurse again she then did a bit untangle job and i started to feel some better. stood up and was able to fill the bladder bag so it was tangled too.
each day afterwards was a milestone after rounds. able to walk down the halls, chest tubes out, off oxygen, catheter out, pacemaker wires out, central line out, shower and shave, last iv line out then i was scheduled to be released. since we had a bit of bad weather another ultrasound was scheduled on left arm since ther was some puffiness. had a scare since stool was solid black, a side effect of iron pills.
so all in all, not a bad experience. better to have it behind me instead of infront of me.
tho he cautioned he never had the conversation he took us to another room had had a long chat about heart health. on the way out the door me mentioned the calcium buildup was on the ER report. when we got home and looked at the report and cat scan i could see the problem as well. Ginger then got busy and found a heart doctor and got me in in spite of many obstacles. the heart doctor heard heart murmur and recommended a echo cardiogram and stress test. this test indicated narrowed aortic valve. the heart doctor said he'd think i'd need a valve replacement in 5 years, come in if any symptoms develop. then the heart institute called and asked if we wanted a followup on this year's deductible. Ginger persuaded me to go. at this visit the dr recommended a catheterization procedure. had that yesterday. the results indicated i'll need the valve replacement sooner than 5 years so we're awaiting a surgeon's visit.
i've been home from the valve job for a few days now.
first day home was a good day, yesterday not so much.
feel a lot better today.
so the first step was an office visit with the surgeon. options were explained
like approach, valve type, other repairs whilst in the area, etc. then the schedule
checked and the appointment for the surgery. surgery 7:20 Jan 9, pre op 1pm Jan 8.
for pre op they took blood for type (no transfusion anticipated), chest xray, ultrasound of neck vessels. watched a movie on post op, got a briefing on what to
expect, some soap to shower with that night, a blank copy of a living will and off to
home. we were told to be at the reception area at 6am. no food or fluid after midnight
including water. i thought surely water so read the at home instructions. good thing.
left early the next morning figuring it i got ther early they'd start processing me early. no joy, place was closed till 6am on the dot.
got shaved then send to shower with the anti-bacterial soap. changed to a HUGE gown.
gas doctor came in explained his function. he indicated i'd not remember a lot of the process, figured he meant i'd be out while he did it. he had really dirty hands. explained he'd been down to his condo unthawing pipes and he'd wash a few more times.
signed the anesthesia consent and away i went. i remember rolling into the OR and looking around at stuff.
next memory was waking and seeing 209. probably not a 209 in heaven so i musta made it. i could tell my arms were restrained and i felt the tube down the throat and could not talk. noone was around, the lights were low so i drifted back to sleep.
awoke again some later and a nurse was ther. said if i'd stay wake she'd take the tube out of my throat. did so, so did she. not bad tho i was still drugged so the gag reflex was probably lessened. she explained i had a lot of other tubes to go and when the tubes were all gone, i could go home. most of stay in intensive care was visits from nurses taking vital signs and giving pain and other meds. i was groggy and could nod off at will so that time went fast. moved to progressive care and the real struggles started. i was on Oxycontin and morphine. morphine helped, Oxycontin not so much. in the intensive care the nurse said another pain med helped a few people and asked if i wanted to give it a try. problems were it probably would not work and i'd have to wait a few hours until the next dosage time to get back on Oxycontin. but it did work better, so i asked to be changed. they didn't know what i was talking about so changed to vicoden. that was much better. issue now was getting all the stuff stuck in and to me around for chest xray and to the toilet.
two chest tubes (several tubes associated with each one), iv, oxygen line, catheter, ekg monitor, all had to be moved each time. they kept giving me laxative to get my bowels moving again, but 'd not eaten much before the several days preceeding surgery so i didn't have much to give so after the 30 minute move to the toilet and seeing all that equipment sitting on the floor for me to fall on decided to sit ther as long as possible. after the last chair ride to xray (wher they left the monitor in my breast pocket musta made a good impression on the xray) when i got back to my room and located to the chair i got to feeling real bad. feeling worse and worse. called nurse, no problem found, then noticed a big knot of tubes on my chest. called nurse again she then did a bit untangle job and i started to feel some better. stood up and was able to fill the bladder bag so it was tangled too.
each day afterwards was a milestone after rounds. able to walk down the halls, chest tubes out, off oxygen, catheter out, pacemaker wires out, central line out, shower and shave, last iv line out then i was scheduled to be released. since we had a bit of bad weather another ultrasound was scheduled on left arm since ther was some puffiness. had a scare since stool was solid black, a side effect of iron pills.
so all in all, not a bad experience. better to have it behind me instead of infront of me.
