Seasons Greetings and looking for feedback after (almost) one year !!

[Guest]

Greetings folks, this is my first post as a new member and fast approaching my one year anniversary (18 Dec, 2014). I'm basically looking for input, feedback, comments and perhaps even advice, so I'll set the stage and provide a brief synopsis.

Subsequent to a visit to my family doc in the summer of 2014 during which I absolutely coincidentally mentioned that I seemed to have problems with my breathing during jogging exercises, I was diagnosed with an Aortic Aneurysm (5.5 cm, bicuspid valve) and promptly referred to a surgeon (Dr. Bhatnagar, Trillium in Mississauga), who advised that I undergo immediate surgery. Given that I'm self-employed, I put it off until late Dec, 2014. Long story short, everything went fine.....surgery on 18 Dec, 2014 (the surgeon was even able to replace my bicuspid valve without having to insert a new one), out cold in ICU the entire time and didn't come around until noon the next day, released from hospital on 23 Dec, 2014 (home for Christmas) and was back working (albeit remotely from home) on 05 Jan, 2015. I must confess, that I should have taken at least an additional month off, but again, being self-employed, I felt that I could manage it. By Feb, 2015, I was feeling in fine fettle and by Apr, 2015, it seemed that I was, for the most part, back to "normal" and fully recovered. Fast forward to the beginning of Sep, 2015.....suddenly, out of the blue, I couldn't recognise my own mobile phone number, had temporary memory loss, had problems articulating myself as well as understanding others, could not read properly, had ocular migraines, had cognitive issues, and to top it all off, I had some serious anxiety attacks. Despite taking a full two weeks off work, the symptoms did not subside and I was forced to end my contract with my employer at that time as I was absolutely not capable of performing simple day-to-day tasks.

I'm still not working, but I appear to have recovered from all of those previous symptoms over the past 3-4 months and I'm generally feeling so much better than before (thanks in no small part to my caring wife who has nursed me back to normality and increased my daily supplement intake).

Having done a lot of research (if Googling can be considered as scientific research), I've read some articles that indicate that a fair number of cardiac surgery patients suffer from PTSD post-surgery, some in the first month, other up to approx 6 months post-surgery. Looking at the symptoms of PTSD that can typically affect OHS patients, I'm wondering if this is what I may have experienced at the beginning of Sep, 2015 ? Since I so concerned with the symptoms, I managed to have a consultation with a stroke specialist who has ruled out TIA's based on scans that he performed and I've also has an MRI to rule out any other underlying factors. The neurologist advised me to simply "take a break".

To me, this episode is definitely stress induced, but again, I'm wondering if it makes sense to conclude that this could have been related to PTSD post surgery, or something completely unrelated ?

I'm naturally not anticipating receiving a conclusive response to my post, but some of you may have some interesting insights that I simply haven't thought of before.

Any (objective) comments would be really appreciated.

P.S. Male, 55, 170cm, 165lbs, extremely fit.

 

[honeybunny]

My first thought was TIAs (my late husband had them) but your doctor has ruled that out, so that is good. What else was going on in your life when these symptoms manifested? I had what I call my burnout in 1989 which, IMO, stemmed from several life-changing events (including a miscarriage, job change, and return to college full time) coupled with no support from my now ex-husband. I've always been anxious but that two-week episode was horrendous and I've been on antidepressants every since. I'm wondering if an event or series of events triggered your symptoms. If that's the case, you may experience future situational "attacks".

Regarding PTSD, I've noticed changes that may or may not be neurological. The biggest one is my energy level, which has really increased. Its as if my metabolism has sped up. This is a positive change for me because I've been sluggish all my life; however, it is a change and could make a difference in how my body reacts to certain events (e.g., stress) down the road.

Bottom line, I would try to identify the triggers that led to the symptoms so I could recognize and respond to them in the future before I was incapicated, so to speak. Good luck and hope you receive more helpful responses.

 

[Paleowoman]

Welcome to the forum ! Sounds absolutely awful and frightening what you went through. Also very mysterious. Has any of your doctors given you a tentative diagnosis, other than advice to "take a break" ? I can certainly relate to stress after this type of surgery and have read about PTSD being something that can happen. The book "Coping with Heart Surgery and Bypassing Depression" by Carol Cohan mentions this. Not sure about specific symptoms of PTSD. I get ocular migraines, I have been getting them and other visual problems since the day after surgery, though they are more infrequent now than they were - you'll find whole threads about them on forum as they appear to be a side effect of the heart lung machine, here's one thread: http://www.valvereplacement.org/foru...ardiac-surgery

 

[Eva]

Season's greetings to you too and welcome aboard.

In my unprofessional opinion, I don't think it's PTSD? Read about PTSD here: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...-stress-disorder/basics/symptoms/con-20022540

many of heart patients may have some despression after such a big surgery? As recommended before, I encourage you to look for the to roots for your symptoms in order to avoid it next time.

Keep us posted and best wishes.

 

[Dreamark]

Thank you all for you comments and feedback. honeybunny, the only thing going on in my life at that time was having obtained a new contract with a new company, which started in Jul. The job wasn't any different to any other contract job that I've had, although the workload was somewhat more than other places. With this particular contract, I was however required to work onsite i.e no working from home whatsoever. The cubicle environment was not particularly quiet (sometimes hard to conduct a conference call with all of the surrounding noise) and overall, I can't say that I really enjoyed working there, although it wasn't that bad. I'm not sure that a dislike of the working environment could have had such an adverse effect on me. You also mention "burnout", which is another topic that I've been reading about. Perhaps my body decided to "shutdown" as an allergic reaction to the corporate world ?

Cheers.

 

[gregjohnsondsm]

Hello. I am 9 months out from avr surgery. I write complex software for heavy industrial applications and often feel that there are times when I'm not as sharp as I was before surgery. I'll sit 'or stand at my new adjustable desk which has been great' and think what the hell am I doing. Then the feeling goes away after a minute or hour and I'm back to normal. But never to the point I couldn't recognize a phone number.
How did they fix your bicuspid AV without replacement? We're your echo tests good?

 

[pellicle]

Hi guys

I've been thinking of replying to this but I'd been in a training course on a specific Java application framework.Yes I'm a developer too. I guess that Dreamark is the OP (posting as guest initially). I guess this is also applicable to gregjohnsondsm too. I just got off the phone talking to an old colleague of mine who's also a software developer who also had OHS 2 years ago. I mentioned this topic (here) when he mentioned to me his observation that he can't concenrtate as well as he could before surgery. He is fit (way fitter than me) and does "AirHand" (Karate) while I used to do "The Meeting Spirit way" (Aikido).

In my view software developers are sort of like intellectual versions of athletes ... we train for years to get to a point and eventually something happens which causes us to need to step back from being "out on the edge". Just like (say) pro golfers who remain very good throughout their lives in comparison to 90% of golfers, they don't stay PGA top level for many decades. Its always some small injury or just a change of focus in their lives. This is from the outside natural, but I'm sure that they feel the same as what you're describing.

I've certainly stepped back from where I was in software (by which I mean the level of challenge I was eager to seek) and take on less. I'm only 53 but I can say that after my last surgery (more so than the one at 28) I've noticed that I have trouble pulling together complex projects in my head and need to resort more to documentation and organisation to keep on top of big projects. I attribute this to two things:
* the time on the PUMP (read this link) causing some sort of lasting neural impact (call it my neural net needing retraining)
* stepping back from the edge and thus falling in fitness somewhat

For instance I recall that (as an indicator of cognitive process) I used to be able to flip through racks of CD's looking for titles (not specific ones, but anything that matched my interest). Then I stopped going to that shop (because I went to Japan) for 3 years. When I came back I noted almost immediately that when I flipped through CD's at the rate my muscle memory told me was right I just didn't see things properly.

I didn't lose mental ability, because in that 3 years I'd learned to speak , read and write Japanese. I had lost a 'familarity edge' which is not unlike what top athletes also have.

I feel that the same thing has happened post surgery. I need more time to get started on a project and I do not like changing between projects as much.

Add to this that since surgery somehow my vision has dropped close focus ability just enough to be over the edge of "able to cope" to "struggle to cope" ... when flicking between printed page and screen its tiring and I need to now adjust to bi-focal lenses. This slows me down.

Somehow I feel now that its more of a pain in the arse than a reward, and accordingly I'm considering stepping back from my work and doing things at a pace I dictate rather than other deadlines dictate.

Perhaps this is all just another wrapper on the old classic story of "getting older"

Hope that helps you to not feel as alone, and have some framework to examine your situation from.

Best Wishes

 

[epstns]

I may not have experienced the profound differences some of you have, but I have definitely noticed a difference in my "interest in taking on substantial new projects." I definitely need more time now (almost 5 years out from aortic valve surgery) to get moving on large projects - to the point that I try to minimize the amount of major turmoil I sign up for. The fact that I am now 68 and still working full-time at a high-stress executive position doesn't help any. At this point, I'm beginning to question how many more years I want to work at "full speed."

I guess that at "my age" I can begin to chalk it up to getting older, although I really don't feel much older over-all.

P.S. Pellicle - I've been dealing with multi-focal glasses for many years. I find that if you discuss your office layout with your dispensing optician, they can customize the progression and segment heights of the new progressive lenses so that they are really easy to use for reading, computer screens and distance. My optician does it so well that I almost don't realize that I'm wearing the progressive equivalent of the tri-focals that "really old" people used to wear.

 

[Capizzi]

www.Brainline.org is a useful resource related to brain injuries. There are useful sections related to exercise after a TBI (see post-concussion syndrome and about visual problems). I experienced a lot of what you describe and it changes over time. At one year post-surgery I started to get really stressed, waking up with clenched fists...surprise. I found many ways to deal with this, but unfortunately along with the injury has come a kind of lapse in discipline, so the start-stop-starts are expected.

 

[Dreamark]

Good day to everyone ! Thank you for your replies and feedback and I thought I'd post an update, given that I now have some additional symptoms that may, or may not, be related to my surgery (which is now 15 months ago to the day !!).

I've been extremely active the past few months i.e. 3 workouts at the local gym each week, as well as 3 "solo" squash sessions per week. The result of all of this activity has been a decrease in my weight of 10 lbs and an overall improvement in my physical well-being.

I still have ocular migraines (auras only, no headache, they subside after approx 20 mins) every few days, as opposed to only two or three times a month. In addition, there are a couple of additional symptoms that have surfaced that I'm concerned with. Firstly, a dull ache/pain behind my left eye that comes on sporadically and disappears after a few minutes. Sometimes, I have multiple short instances of this daily, other times I'll go 2 or 3 days without any occurrence at all. Secondly, I seem to have a very slight "unbalanced" feeling when walking or moving around. I can only describe this as a very minor vertigo like feeling. It's very subtle and doesn't have an impact on my ability to walk, to the point where I would almost trip or fall, but something is definitely out of synch. I have a new family doctor who has described my symptoms as "complex" and has referred me to a different Neurologist for a second opinion. I'm also trying to get a referral to an Ophthalmologist to have the above symptoms checked as well as going back to my cardiologist in an effort to unveil some clues as to what may be going on.

My nerves are also taking a hit, as I seem to get easily agitated by relatively normal household noises, such as my cats meowing for attention, family members typing on their keyboards. My mood seems more like a rollercoaster these days, ranging from “normal” to paranoia and anxiety.

In short, I’'m becoming increasingly frustrated not knowing what could be causing all of these symptoms, especially, as I’'m seeing a general decline as opposed to overall improvement. It has been hinted by a family member, that I may be suffering from chronic depression,– a condition apparently not unusual with cardiac patients, but would depression cause ocular migraines, eye ache, and subtle vertigo?

As with my original post, I'm not expecting anyone to come back with an unequivocal diagnosis, but rather, I would like to take the opportunity to use this forum as a sounding board...……if anyone has any feedback, I'd be grateful to hear it.

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi Draeamark - I'm two years post surgery and I can testify that the migaine auras without headache are not due to depression ! Mine started the day after surgery and the cardiac doc in the hospital said people often get that following heart surgery. I'm pretty sure that vertigo and eye ache wouldn't be due to depression either. That's not to say you can't be depressed as well. Following surgery it doesn't help if you are feeling a general decline and getting other symptoms as well. Post traumatic stress disorder is something to consider, but again it doesn't cause those visual problems AFAIK.

I can also say that I don't feel any improvement, but that's becasue I felt fine before surgery. The result is that the surgery itself has taken a big hit on me. I'm feeling fine now, but that's the same as I felt before surgery and I suppose the fact that I get occular symptoms (migraine auras, double vision and flashes/sparkles of light), and costochondritis symptoms (daily niggling pain along right edge of sternum where a couple of ribs connect - not bad enough to need pain killers) means that, in fact, I'm not quite so good as before surgery ! At least I'm not dead as one doctor put it !

I hope you get your neurologist referral soon, plus your cardiologist one. Do let us know what they say. All the best.