pericarditis removal

[Randy Fecteau]

Hello I was jus diagnosed with pericarditis which they said was caused by my first surgery. I was wondering if any one else on this site has had the same thing and if so what to look for. I put on 37 pounds in 4 days spent a week in the hospital and have lost 65 pounds, I was wondering what the surgery was like and how the recovery was.

 

[pellicle]

Hi Randy

while I didn't have exactly the same situation as you, I had an infection which extended through the sternal wires onto a "sheet" which was lain upon the pericardial sack (to prevent adhesions onto the pericardial sack when the sternum healed).

I had two "debridement" surgeries where they removed the infected flesh. I was on vancomyocin via a PIC line one both occasions for a few weeks and am still on antibiotics 3 times daily (the first debridement surgery) was Nov 2012.

The surgery was to me not as tough as the valve replacement because I didn't have the sternum reopened, but as they did some "open cut mining" operations on the area I have some kewl scaring now. You can find my posts about it here but perhaps that may agitate you more than is needed.

Please PM me if you wish, I'm happy to talk about it with you by skype or perhaps by phone (as voice calls to Canada aren't too expensive).

​Best Wishes