New here - BAV replacement scheduled for 2/9/22

[pellicle]

Love the relationship with my percussion massager

I can affirm my relationship.

 

[d333gs]

Bon chance!

I am out of the icu. Having problems with pain control and a desire to eat. Nothing since Tuesday except a piece of bread and a banana. Apple sauce is ok but nothing like meat or pasta. My throat is in bad but getting better. All the tests are very good. Walking is no problem, no dizziness or weakness in the legs.my biggest worry is eating, I have asked for different juices. Not very talkative but everyone here says it is normal. Dr said my valve was minuscule

 

[Superman]

Don’t rush to eat. I had a problem where everything tasted too sweet after surgery for a while. Good news was it was a great weight loss program.

Glad to see you’re done and on the mend already!

 

[Seaton]

I am out of the icu. Having problems with pain control and a desire to eat. Nothing since Tuesday except a piece of bread and a banana. Apple sauce is ok but nothing like meat or pasta. My throat is in bad but getting better. All the tests are very good. Walking is no problem, no dizziness or weakness in the legs.my biggest worry is eating, I have asked for different juices. Not very talkative but everyone here says it is normal. Dr said my valve was minuscule

Welcome to the other side!
My voice was hoarse for a good few weeks post surgery. And it was a touch painful to swallow at first, also. Things should/will steadily improve. One day at a time…
Onwards…

 

[Chuck C]

I am out of the icu. Having problems with pain control and a desire to eat. Nothing since Tuesday except a piece of bread and a banana. Apple sauce is ok but nothing like meat or pasta. My throat is in bad but getting better. All the tests are very good. Walking is no problem, no dizziness or weakness in the legs.my biggest worry is eating, I have asked for different juices. Not very talkative but everyone here says it is normal. Dr said my valve was minuscule

Well done! Welcome to the other side!

Keep up the walking; walk walk walk and use the breathing device (spirometer), as often as you can to get you lungs to expand back to normal, as they collapse them during the surgery.

It is common for food to taste different right after surgery. For me, I lost my appetite for some foods for months. This too shall pass.

Please keep us posted on your recovery.

 

[Beach77]

Glad you're on the other side! I only ate grapes and cold cereal in hospital. Once I was home, it took another few weeks for my appetite return. I forgot about talking! yes, talking was trying/hard! A few times I had the nurse call my husband with updates. No visitors at the time of my surgery (Dec.2020) Wishing you a speedy recovery!

 

[carolinemc]

I am out of the icu. Having problems with pain control and a desire to eat. Nothing since Tuesday except a piece of bread and a banana. Apple sauce is ok but nothing like meat or pasta. My throat is in bad but getting better. All the tests are very good. Walking is no problem, no dizziness or weakness in the legs.my biggest worry is eating, I have asked for different juices. Not very talkative but everyone here says it is normal. Dr said my valve was minuscule

It takes time to feel better and get the appetite back to normal. You just got out of ICU and now the hard work begins, walking the halls. Take it easy and do what the nice nurses tell you. And no heavy lifting yet. Be good and you will be home soon.

 

[Croooser]

I am out of the icu. Having problems with pain control and a desire to eat. Nothing since Tuesday except a piece of bread and a banana. Apple sauce is ok but nothing like meat or pasta. My throat is in bad but getting better. All the tests are very good. Walking is no problem, no dizziness or weakness in the legs.my biggest worry is eating, I have asked for different juices. Not very talkative but everyone here says it is normal. Dr said my valve was minuscule

I had low appetite. Went from +8 lbs right after surgery due to liquids to - 20 lbs a few weeks after. Sense of taste changed quite a bit and had the hoarse throat thing going on for a couple of months. Was sore and had trouble getting a good night of uninterrupted sleep. Had no interest in TV or reading.

Now I am 6 months post op and everything is pretty much back to normal. I have managed to keep about 15 lbs off but am slowly losing that battle.

As said here, follow the post op directions with self discipline and it will very likely all come together for you. Best wishes for a complete recovery with no lasting issues.

 

[tom in MO]

I am out of the icu. Having problems with pain control and a desire to eat. Nothing since Tuesday except a piece of bread and a banana. Apple sauce is ok but nothing like meat or pasta. My throat is in bad but getting better. All the tests are very good. Walking is no problem, no dizziness or weakness in the legs.my biggest worry is eating, I have asked for different juices. Not very talkative but everyone here says it is normal. Dr said my valve was minuscule

I believe after OHS, our body and subconscious have been traumatized and is ready for whatever happens next. I couldn't sleep for a full 24 hours and wasn't hungry...it'll come back once the subconscious begins to trust again

 

[d333gs]

I am out of the icu. Having problems with pain control and a desire to eat. Nothing since Tuesday except a piece of bread and a banana. Apple sauce is ok but nothing like meat or pasta. My throat is in bad but getting better. All the tests are very good. Walking is no problem, no dizziness or weakness in the legs.my biggest worry is eating, I have asked for different juices. Not very talkative but everyone here says it is normal. Dr said my valve was minuscule

 

[d333gs]

Really the only issue now is pain control: no problem walking or breathing,the strength is there. Problem arrives about 4pm when pain emerges, first slowly then like a freight train. Extra night time meds mostly anti inflammatories help a lot but make for an exhausting night constantly on the move in the search for relief.
As I typed the above I just had a discussion with staff about trying a mild opiate after supper, I will keep you updated.
this is my last night here . Tomorrow I get sent to a rehab place . I willkeep you updated. In general I am very impressed by the care and money that clearly goes into these places to keep them working at such a high level

 

[ChrisW]

Really the only issue now is pain control: no problem walking or breathing,the strength is there. Problem arrives about 4pm when pain emerges, first slowly then like a freight train. Extra night time meds mostly anti inflammatories help a lot but make for an exhausting night constantly on the move in the search for relief.
As I typed the above I just had a discussion with staff about trying a mild opiate after supper, I will keep you updated.
this is my last night here . Tomorrow I get sent to a rehab place . I willkeep you updated. In general I am very impressed by the care and money that clearly goes into these places to keep them working at such a high level

I'm glad to hear yours went well! My surgery is bright and early tomorrow morning. My nerves have definitely been a bit on edge this week building up to it, but reading about your experience immediately ahead of mine has definitely helped to calm some of the anxiety!

 

[AZATADINE]

I'm glad to hear yours went well! My surgery is bright and early tomorrow morning. My nerves have definitely been a bit on edge this week building up to it, but reading about your experience immediately ahead of mine has definitely helped to calm some of the anxiety!

Best of luck. I had mine done in November. It's actually not as bad as you fear (in my case anyway). Took a couple of tablets the morning of my op and I assume they knocked me out, remember nothing else until waking up and the whole thing done.

You'll be surprised how much better you'll feel day by day after about day 3 or 4.

 

[tom in MO]

Really the only issue now is pain control: no problem walking or breathing,the strength is there. Problem arrives about 4pm when pain emerges, first slowly then like a freight train. Extra night time meds mostly anti inflammatories help a lot but make for an exhausting night constantly on the move in the search for relief.
As I typed the above I just had a discussion with staff about trying a mild opiate after supper, I will keep you updated.
this is my last night here . Tomorrow I get sent to a rehab place . I willkeep you updated. In general I am very impressed by the care and money that clearly goes into these places to keep them working at such a high level

They had me taking Percocets (5 mg oxycodone/325mg acetominophen) and sent me home with a prescription. They helped.

 

[d333gs]

That sounds right . The thing is to achieve a level that you can function at. I would have preferred to be stoned and painless for the first two days. Food should have been liquid based with the extra nutrients you need rather than solid food that hurts to swallow. Today was a great day , no snooze, walked around a lot, till about 5pm then i needed more medicine .took an hr to get under control,and now I am typing this and listening to talk radio. I still don’t want solid food but a piece of cheese on soft bread went down well at lunch.so far for dinner I have had yogurt while looking at some funny looking chicken sitting in front of me.

 

[Chuck C]

The thing is to achieve a level that you can function at. I would have preferred to be stoned and painless for the first two days

Hopefully you have the pain now under control. I agree with you on preferring to be painless. I found that each nurse had their own interpretation of pain control, and I really had to self advocate with a few to make sure that I got the pain meds that I needed to stay ahead of the pain. Chasing the pain is difficult- ideally you want to stay just ahead of the pain, but at the same time not use more pain meds than needed.

My first night was challenging in terms of pain, as the nurse did not want to give me much pain killer, preferring that I try to get by mostly on Tylenol. That was a bit rough and at a time when I needed pain control the most.
I stood up for myself the next morning with the new nurse and he was very helpful in advocating for me to the ICU doc to get me better pain control. For the next two days I was given a self administered button with dilaudid. Pretty heavy stuff. They have controls built in that only allow you to push it 6 times/hour. It was ideal because I was able to just use it as I needed. I ended up only using it 1-2 times/hour, but it sure was nice for days 2 and 3 in ICU. That was a game changer for me. I was able to stay mentally alert, but dampen the pain a little when needed, for example, pressing the button just before they came to pull my tubes out.

It is great that you are getting your walking in - keep it up. I liked your video- you look like you are doing just great. It really is something when you think about where you were a couple of days ago and now you are up and about already.

Please keep us posted with the updates.

 

[AZATADINE]

Those tubes coming out.....that's definitely one of the things I like to try forget.....

 

[d333gs]

Hopefully you have the pain now under control. I agree with you on preferring to be painless. I found that each nurse had their own interpretation of pain control, and I really had to self advocate with a few to make sure that I got the pain meds that I needed to stay ahead of the pain. Chasing the pain is difficult- ideally you want to stay just ahead of the pain, but at the same time not use more pain meds than needed.

My first night was challenging in terms of pain, as the nurse did not want to give me much pain killer, preferring that I try to get by mostly on Tylenol. That was a bit rough and at a time when I needed pain control the most.
I stood up for myself the next morning with the new nurse and he was very helpful in advocating for me to the ICU doc to get me better pain control. For the next two days I was given a self administered button with dilaudid. Pretty heavy stuff. They have controls built in that only allow you to push it 6 times/hour. It was ideal because I was able to just use it as I needed. I ended up only using it 1-2 times/hour, but it sure was nice for days 2 and 3 in ICU. That was a game changer for me. I was able to stay mentally alert, but dampen the pain a little when needed, for example, pressing the button just before they came to pull my tubes out.

It is great that you are getting your walking in - keep it up. I liked your video- you look like you are doing just great. It really is something when you think about where you were a couple of days ago and now you are up and about already.

Please keep us posted with the updates.

Thanks! I am in the rehab place now . Will be here for three weeks.BP is high with the new larger valve /mr muscle left ventricle combination . In my imagination I thought this combo would create a heart with a long pump stroke and low bpm under stress. But not so. BB are still a nice average resting at about 59, . It used to be 55 with BP around 130/80. Post op it ranged wildly from 120s to the 150s, no dizziness issues at all. They decided to Use a beta blocker to get it to stay in the 100/120 range which produced my first sense of light headedness after quick moves.sadly my French is bad (chronic French failure) so I I am not always sure of what they are telling me. But I did not notice a BB in med mix this morning. I only took half the pain meds this morning and feel fine.

 

[AZATADINE]

I remember going from a resting heart rate of around 60 pre-op to 100 for the first week post op. It settled after about another week or so back to 50 to 60.

I came out on 2.5mg Bisoprol but my BP was kinda low (100/75) and I'd always been around 120/80 pre-op so it was reduced to 1.25mg Bisoprol after 6 weeks. I noticed some light-headedness upon standing up sometimes when I was on 2.5mg and that's gone now.

 

[paulk]

Thanks! I am in the rehab place now . Will be here for three weeks.BP is high with the new larger valve /mr muscle left ventricle combination . In my imagination I thought this combo would create a heart with a long pump stroke and low bpm under stress. But not so. BB are still a nice average resting at about 59, . It used to be 55 with BP around 130/80. Post op it ranged wildly from 120s to the 150s, no dizziness issues at all. They decided to Use a beta blocker to get it to stay in the 100/120 range which produced my first sense of light headedness after quick moves.sadly my French is bad (chronic French failure) so I I am not always sure of what they are telling me. But I did not notice a BB in med mix this morning. I only took half the pain meds this morning and feel fine.

Wow, 3 weeks in rehab! I was sent home 5 days after surgery, and cardio rehab is outpatient, starting 2 weeks after release.