Six weeks postop

[Joan P.]

My husband is doing very well and was able to enjoy a week at the Outer Banks. He is concerned about a few things though. When he lays down, he sometimes get a pain in his chest as he leans back. It takes a couple of minutes for it to abate. He has been using a reclined chair or propped up on a bunch of pillows on the bed.

He is also having a lot of ankle swelling yet. He is on Lasix and we have tried to keep the sodium level down (except for the beach week and eating out a lot). Anyone else have this problem, and how long did it last?

 

[Mentu]

Joan, tell your husband that 6 weeks is too early to expect all chest discomfort to end. AVR is sort of like an earthquake in the body and there are aftershocks that can occur for months. Different kinds of chest discomfort associated with healing muscle and nerve tissues can appear and vanish for some time. As for fluid retention, a lot of us have had to deal with it. Some of the drugs we end up taking during recovery can foster fluid retention so we are familiar with Lasix/Furosemide. If this becomes a serious issue do report it to the doctors and, perhaps, they can try something else which will not cause as much of a problem.

Larry