R
ross3
Hi Everyone ?
I made it through my ?procedure? last Tuesday the 15th and I?m home today trying to find my way.
Just a day before surgery I realized I wasn?t on the VR Forum calendar and felt like it was too close to surgery to warrant posting in the ?pre? section.
I suppose in toto things went quite well because here I sit typing out my experience, but there have been some definite bumps.
I was scheduled for catheterization on Monday (14th ) morning at 7:00 and by the time all of that and the pre-op meetings (+ lying on my back for ~ 3 hours waiting for the opening in the groin artery to clot) it was 4:00 p.m.
Phyllis & I went home to try and relax, have some supper, etc. We were to report back at 5:30 the next morning. About 9:00 I went to take my antibacterial shower and no sooner had the water run down to the bandage on my groin that the incision began to bleed ? a lot!
After about an hour and a half on the phone trying to get though to someone who could advise us we were lucky enough to be reconnected with the very cardiologist who had preformed the catheterization ~ 12 hours earlier in the day. He advised that I come to the emergency room where he would meet us. He was completely familiar with my approaching surgery time, now only about 8 hours away.
By the time he found us at the emergency room we?d been there some time (BTW ? a horribly germy looking environment to spend your last pre-surgery hours). He stabilized the incision such that he felt confident that it would be OK for the surgery ? and he said that he?d get me ?admitted directly?. Unfortunately this was not to be so easy.
Due to ?computer problems? we waited at least another hour in the ER to be admitted and by that time I was going ?nuts? feeling my possible hours of rest time slip away.
Finally at about 1:45 a.m. I was admitted to a room and immediately hopped in bed and tried to get some sleep, however within about ten minutes they came and said I was in the wrong room and would have to be moved to a room on the cardiac floor. Upon arriving there they started to weigh me, get vital measurements . . . in other words it was now less than three hours before surgery, I hadn?t had any sleep, and they were expecting me to go though a standard intake process although all of that had already been done almost a day earlier following the catheterization. On top of that I hadn?t had the 1st of the 2 antimicrobial showers that had been prescribed which concerned me a good deal. I stood there in front of those three nurses and told them that I felt that I was being driven beyond my limits. Fortunately my wife was there and one of the nurses suddenly got the right idea and soon I was getting my shower while my wife went through all the paperwork.
So that?s the bad news. . on the up side Dr. Hughes removed my dilated (51mm) aortic root all the way up through the bottom of my arch. He said that my AV wasn?t what he expected - apparently it?s something halfway between a normal tri-cuspid and a bi-cuspid. (I was a bit fuzzy getting the story) It was his opinion looking right at the valve that I?d be better off with this native valve than my back-up plan (On-X). So he reimplanted it into the Dacron sleeve. I was also happy to learn that my coronary arteries are in great shape and shouldn?t pose any problems.
I don?t do well in confined situations (most don?t ? right?!) so the hospital and now being home are really something.
As for most on day 6 after surgery (Tues surgery) I?m incredibly tired. My fingers have a strange cold/numbness that feels odd but don?t affect their use. I?m speculating that this may be because I was right on the borderline for getting a unit of blood yesterday, but the latest test results showed a very small uptick in blood count and I guess this created the decision to have my body re-make the blood. Perhaps this will slow my recovery?
I also went through a bout of AF on day 3 (horrible) but some med I?m taking seems to have stabilized things (current BP 91/69 73pulse).
And finally my arm veins got messed up with all the needles/drugs so I?m taking Kleflix (sp) antibiotic.
OK ? so that?s my report.
It?s great to have made it through!
I made it through my ?procedure? last Tuesday the 15th and I?m home today trying to find my way.
Just a day before surgery I realized I wasn?t on the VR Forum calendar and felt like it was too close to surgery to warrant posting in the ?pre? section.
I suppose in toto things went quite well because here I sit typing out my experience, but there have been some definite bumps.
I was scheduled for catheterization on Monday (14th ) morning at 7:00 and by the time all of that and the pre-op meetings (+ lying on my back for ~ 3 hours waiting for the opening in the groin artery to clot) it was 4:00 p.m.
Phyllis & I went home to try and relax, have some supper, etc. We were to report back at 5:30 the next morning. About 9:00 I went to take my antibacterial shower and no sooner had the water run down to the bandage on my groin that the incision began to bleed ? a lot!
After about an hour and a half on the phone trying to get though to someone who could advise us we were lucky enough to be reconnected with the very cardiologist who had preformed the catheterization ~ 12 hours earlier in the day. He advised that I come to the emergency room where he would meet us. He was completely familiar with my approaching surgery time, now only about 8 hours away.
By the time he found us at the emergency room we?d been there some time (BTW ? a horribly germy looking environment to spend your last pre-surgery hours). He stabilized the incision such that he felt confident that it would be OK for the surgery ? and he said that he?d get me ?admitted directly?. Unfortunately this was not to be so easy.
Due to ?computer problems? we waited at least another hour in the ER to be admitted and by that time I was going ?nuts? feeling my possible hours of rest time slip away.
Finally at about 1:45 a.m. I was admitted to a room and immediately hopped in bed and tried to get some sleep, however within about ten minutes they came and said I was in the wrong room and would have to be moved to a room on the cardiac floor. Upon arriving there they started to weigh me, get vital measurements . . . in other words it was now less than three hours before surgery, I hadn?t had any sleep, and they were expecting me to go though a standard intake process although all of that had already been done almost a day earlier following the catheterization. On top of that I hadn?t had the 1st of the 2 antimicrobial showers that had been prescribed which concerned me a good deal. I stood there in front of those three nurses and told them that I felt that I was being driven beyond my limits. Fortunately my wife was there and one of the nurses suddenly got the right idea and soon I was getting my shower while my wife went through all the paperwork.
So that?s the bad news. . on the up side Dr. Hughes removed my dilated (51mm) aortic root all the way up through the bottom of my arch. He said that my AV wasn?t what he expected - apparently it?s something halfway between a normal tri-cuspid and a bi-cuspid. (I was a bit fuzzy getting the story) It was his opinion looking right at the valve that I?d be better off with this native valve than my back-up plan (On-X). So he reimplanted it into the Dacron sleeve. I was also happy to learn that my coronary arteries are in great shape and shouldn?t pose any problems.
I don?t do well in confined situations (most don?t ? right?!) so the hospital and now being home are really something.
As for most on day 6 after surgery (Tues surgery) I?m incredibly tired. My fingers have a strange cold/numbness that feels odd but don?t affect their use. I?m speculating that this may be because I was right on the borderline for getting a unit of blood yesterday, but the latest test results showed a very small uptick in blood count and I guess this created the decision to have my body re-make the blood. Perhaps this will slow my recovery?
I also went through a bout of AF on day 3 (horrible) but some med I?m taking seems to have stabilized things (current BP 91/69 73pulse).
And finally my arm veins got messed up with all the needles/drugs so I?m taking Kleflix (sp) antibiotic.
OK ? so that?s my report.
It?s great to have made it through!
And it does sound like it was a doozey!
