Post Op post

[Richard L]

Hi everyone
Sorry it's taken me so long to post, but i've not had access to the internet since my Op (!4th feb -St Valentine's). as I've been living a nomadic existence since leaving hospital, and have been exhausting my welcome at various friends.- (you really know who your friends are at times like these).
But Now I'm back home and much as I appreciate my friends hospitality... there is nothing quit like sleeping in my own bed!

Surgery appears to have gone well so far. I was in hospital for 10 days. they were going to release me on day 7 but I went into A-fib the night of my release so they kept me in for 4 more days until it settled back down.
They gave me various drugs to get my A-fib resolved (my heart was going at 150 beats per min and even peaking at 200 at one point!!) but although the drugs helped steady the rate it was still high (150 bpm), so on the evening of day 9 I decided to take matters into my own hands and started doing a breathing-meditation ... fell asleep and woke up to be told that I flipped back to normal (90bpm at 3am) in the morning. Did I wear a silly grin on my face that day!.

I was off all regular pain-killers 2 weeks out of hospital.

I must admit that I quite liked the bit in ICU when they gave me morphine via a self administering device. just "click this button" they said and it would deliver you a dose of morphine ... but it had an overdose regulator built in. I didn't experience any really painful moments except for when coughing

One problem that I still have is with breathing and in particular a persistent dry cough. I was in surgery for 6 hours and on a heart lung machine which along with the various tubes they put down my throat seems to have aggrevated my lungs. Also my lung capacity has not been great and my Oxygen saturation although acceptable could be better. has anyone else experienced post op shortness of breath and coughs - any suggestions / solutions appreciated.

I can now walk miles on the flat but still struggle up hills and stairs.
Saw My Surgeon last week and most my stats are on course but he was a bit disapointed that I wasn't feeling much fitter than pre-op.

Good to be back
Richard L
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Congenital Bicuspid Aortic Valve
Stentless Autologous Pericardial Tissue Aortic Valve Reconstruction, 14th Feb 2003 - Professor Dreyfus, Harefield, London
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[Georgia]

Hi, Richard - I'm a newbie since you had surgery. Mine was 2/3, so we're not too far apart.

I've been enormously fortunate in recovery. As for the dry cough, I've had a bit onand off since coming home. I finally began taking Claritin (loratadine) every day and using Ocean nasal spray (saline). Those and keeping hard candies handy seem to take care of the cough. Perhaps your's is much worse; but mine seems to have pretty much gone since the weather's gotten warmer and the furnace isn't running as much.

"There's no place like home . . . there's no place like home . . . "

Georgia

 

[KristyW]

Medication Side Effects

Medication Side Effects

Richard & Georgia,

You might want to check out the medications that you're taking. I know that there are a couple of beta blockers that can cause the "tickle" cough. If that's the case, you may want to check with your doctors to see if there's an alternative that doesn't cause that dry cough.


Hope this helps.

 

[Nancy]

Hi Richard-

It's so nice to hear from you. We all worry when we don't hear from our friends. It sounds as if everything is on track. It's still soon after surgery, so be patient with yourself a little more. Healing is still taking place. Just keep on walking to build your endurance and your body will eventually come around.

The dry cough is something that several people have mentioned. Sometimes it's from some of the medication, and sometimes it's from throat irritation from the tubes used during surgery.

I hope you will continue to keep us updated on your progress.

Take care,

 

[hensylee]

Hey, Richard, nice to see you back at home. I didn't go straight home either and when I finally did (after a month) it sure was good to sleep in my own bed and be with my own stuff. Much nicer, even tho our caretakers are wonderful to us, but home is always the most comfortable. Sounds like you are doing well so keep up whatever you are doing. I just read my diary that I kept for a few months after (bypass) surgery and SOB was definitely there. Sneezing, too - ugh, how it hurt! God bless

 

[Richard L]

Hi
Georgia, thanks, -hope your recovery is going well.
The Saline nasal spray sounds really interesting, I've not heard of that before.
Whilst in hospital I found the nebulizers really helpful which if I think about it, is just an oxygen inhaler with atomized Sodium chloride- ie saline mixed in. I had actually been seriously thinking about a trip to the coast to get some fresh salt air into my Lungs.

On discharge from hospital, I went to stay with friends who live in a busy part of London with lots of traffic and not the cleanest of City air! I briefly noticed an improvement when the air freshened for a few days, but then caught a cold and this aggrevated things again.
I have been prone to lingering after coughs in the past.

Kristy-thanks, I'm currently on Tritace(Ramapril) an ACE inhibitor??- the leaflet does list a dry tickling cough as a less common side effect. I'm also taking Digoxin and a short course of warferin. - don't know if they have coughs listed as a side effect

Hi Nancy Hi Hensylee
I also found yawning initially painful ( I like a good yawn), but this and coughing is now not so bad.

Friends and visitors mean well but can be hard work especially when all I wanted was to be left alone in peace and quite.
I remember a shiatsu/ Body Mind Centreing workshop exercise/meditation that seems particularly pertinent. We were asked to lie down under a blanket, find a comfortable postion and really embody and enjoy "being at home" (what the Ideal, perfect feeling of being at home would be, as oposed to what our real experience was which in some cases might be less than ideal). Everyone had their own perfect place and sense of home - for some a smell or a colour or a place or moment from the past or a dream future......
- I hope that doesn't make me sound too much like an ageing hippy!

Richard

 

[Georgia]

Hi, Richard! Sounds like you have every reason to have a cough. Catching a cold is the stuff nightmare's are made of for post-ohs patients. Do try the saline nasal spray - it's cheap, over the counter, and has absolutely nothing in it that'll hurt you. It doesn't just clear your nose, it moisturizes and allows you to get rid of all the "stuff" in the back of your throat that is so annoying.

There's really nothing like getting home - seems like psychologically it's the first time you can truly relax from head to toe after the surgery.

And most of us of a "certain age" are aging hippies to some extent. Nothing wrong with that. There were a few really valuable things brought forward from hippie-days - meditation being one of the biggies. And most, unfortunately, are probably illegal. lol

Enjoy rehabilitation.

Georgia

 

[Anne-Marie]

Hi Richard,

Good to hear that you're doing so well. I went on vasotec (ace inhibitor) back in December and did get the dry cough side effect. Also, each spring I usually end up with a persistent cough. Last year I had it for about 4 weeks before I was told that many times a steroid inhaler can clear up a persistent cough. I tried using my ventolin inhaler and the cough dissapeared within days. Maybe you should ask your doctor if that would work for you.

Good luck!

 

[EVELYN]

Hi Richard......and WELCOME HOME!!! It does seem as though you were gone for eons!!!

So glad everything is ok.....Remember, everyone heals differently, and sometimes patience is the best policy. Tyce wasn't really ready to go back to work for 10 weeks....he said he could have gone back after 8, and he probably could, but why push things.

Anyway, hope you will be a regular again.

Evelyn