Ross Procedure 3 1/2 week post surgery

[PCGeekz]

My 24 yr old daughter had her Aortic valve replaced with her Pulmonary and a Homagraphic (hope I'm saying the correctly) in the Pulmonary position. She had her surgery done on 8/28/14. She came home from the hospital 5 days after surgery (6 day stay).

Some Questions:
How long after surgery until your chest and back pain went away?
Anyone with history of migraines with aurora before surgery and did they change (hers have)?
She has traveling pain, one day one spot the next day a different spot, anyone else?
She had 3 episodes of left eye vision loss with "sparkles" in her right eye at the same time, it lasted 10-15 minutes, anyone else?
PT starts first week in October, anything she needs to know before starting?
What about breathing issues 3 weeks post op, she has left lung pain/breathing issues?

I have many more questions, but I'll leave it at that for now. She has a follow up tomorrow because of breathing and the left eye vision loss. Hopefully her cardiologist will have some answers for us. Thanks in advance everyone for your comments.

Kat

 

[pellicle]

Hi

She came home from the hospital 5 days after surgery (6 day stay).

well I'll preface this by saying its still early days and some landings are bumpy. I hope that things get better soon ... to wit

Some Questions:
How long after surgery until your chest and back pain went away?

weeks for me ... to be gone entirely that is. I am sure it was about 7 or so weeks that I was sleeping in the spare room with the rope on the bed.

Anyone with history of migraines with aurora before surgery and did they change (hers have)?

yes, my migrains got worse for a while, but (as I suspect mine are related to posture and back / neck) it went back to 'normal' over a few months.

She has traveling pain, one day one spot the next day a different spot, anyone else?

yep, probably related to which muscles are giving up after straining to keep other areas 'supported' ...

She had 3 episodes of left eye vision loss with "sparkles" in her right eye at the same time, it lasted 10-15 minutes, anyone else?

I have had the sparkles and also (when the room was very dark) bright circles mid vision when I moved suddenly. I'm told there is an optical nerve basis for this, but never looked it up.

What about breathing issues 3 weeks post op, she has left lung pain/breathing issues?

I'm not sure what to say, but I'll assume you mean left side of the chest, which will be the ribs and muscles. I didn't think lungs had nerves in them

Best Wishes

 

[Duffey]

Kat, I hope she gets some answers at today's appointment. The breathing issue sounds like she's retaining fluid in either the lungs or around the heart. Let us know what the cardiologist recommends.
Mary

 

[tom in MO]

Chest and back pain will go away incrementally. She should be able to see a week by week change to the better.

Pain can move around with any surgery. That's normal.

Don't know what you mean by "breathing issues." The best thing is to use the spirometer religously. Usually the breathing problems go away by now. She may be sore due to the surgery and feels it with breathing.

 

[PCGeekz]

Thank you for your comments.
* The lung pain has gotten better in the last few days, they did a chest xray and said no fluid and said everything looks good. She doesn't like using the spirometer, I told her even if she doesn't use it, she needs to work on deep breathing and doc agreed that will help the lung soreness.
* Her Vision is better as well and fewer migraines, at least they aren't daily anymore. Doc said that can happen from surgery and migraine suffers might suffer "different" migraine symptoms until their bodies get more back to normal. She has only had 1 migraine this week so that is an improvement. They up'ed her dose of baby aspirin to 4 a day for now "just in case". Doc said the left eye blindness is not a stroke, its highly unlikely that she'd have the same exact symptoms 3 times in a row.
* They were pleased with her progress and said she can drive again if she wants.

It was a good appt but as a Mom, I still worry, guess that part will never go away but I'm certainly glad to see her improving every day!! She's almost 4 weeks post op, her cardiologist asked her if she feels better than 4 weeks ago (silly question, of course she does) but his point was, she will feel so much better another 4 weeks from now. That is most certainly what I look forward to now!

Thanks again!
Kat