So my surgery sucked...and it's not over yet

[escargome]

Geez Dale,
I sure is a shame that you are going through all these bumps. I hope that once they get that mechanical valve you wanted in the first place and things will smooth out for you. I will keep you in my thoughts.

 

[TheGymGuy]

Dale, I am super psyched to hear from you. Though, this news SUCKS big harry balls!!!!!!!! (I apologize to everyone else for this comment).

Surgeons make mistakes and thankfully you are alive and kicking. On the negative side THIS SUCKS!!!!!! Arghhhh!!!!! On the positive side, I can list several things that I personally am happy about.

1. Like Bean Counter and others said, it would suck more if your repaired valve starting failing later and not right away.
2. They will replace it now and the replacement will be just that "a replacement", the other parts are already fixed, so it will be a much simpler procedure.
3. You only lost 1 week, and it SUCKED. In perspective, this is only 1 week, write it off to sheer bad luck.
4. They now know better how to manager your pain, so expect to feel better and in less pain after the surgery. Make sure to bring this **** up to your team and demand to be super comfortable for the first day or 2 after the surgery
5. This is not a positive point, rather more of a question. Which mechanical valve will you choose. SaintJude Regent, On-X, Carbomedics TopHat (sp?). ?

Stay strong brother, you have been in my thoughts quite a lot. Also, you mentioned you were "jaundiced" for a little. Bill B made a great point, make sure they know why it happened and how to avoid it from happening again.

Lastly, the freaking breathing tube. Find out their criteria for removal of said tube post-op. My hospital said that when your lungs work and your blood O2 is within certain limits we will remove it. Right after the surgery as soon as I was somewhat awake, I was sucking air with my lungs and mouth as if my life depended on it. I was medicated so I did not feel my sternum much, and I was able to take in full breaths and the tube was gone in 15 minutes. I swear I did not suck air this hard in my life. The 15 minutes I was sucking air, I was taking deep breaths as much as I could. I wanted to demonstrate that I am meeting their criteria for removal. JeffF gave this piece of advice and it totally paid off. I made sure to talk to my surgical team before hand and share with them the breathing tube concerns and criteria for removal. Anesthesiologist was the one who was responsible for this in my case.


Shoot, It seems that the date of your re-op is today and you will get through it like a champ. I will work overtime in sending you positive vibes.

 

[Boston Tiger]

TheGymGuy summed things up pretty will with his first sentence! Hope your resurgery goes a lot smoother than your earlier one and that you don't have any more bumps in your recovery.

 

[kschul]

What a nightmare! Having gone through your first surgery and being told we are doing another. We are all thinking of you. Imagine how much better you will feel post-op with a working valve this time around.

 

[Sarah_Louise]

Dale, i'm so sorry your repair never worker,
I have absolute everything crossed your replacement went well, and your recovery this time round is going well,
thinking of you!
Love Sarah xxx

 

[nngbwh]

Sorry to hear that. Wishing you the best.

 

[TheGymGuy]

Alright people, its been 5 days since they should've done repair and we need to work overtime and send some positive energy Dale's way. He last logged in 6 days ago and at this moment I hope he is recovering and working overtime walking and healing up.

Dale, get better, recover, and post up with some good news.

 

[tprice54]

ditto that ....Let's go Buffalo!

 

[Sarah_Louise]

Does anyone know how Dale is doing?
Have i missed a post somewhere?
Been thinking of him,
Hope your on your way to a good and bump free recovery
Love Sarah xxxx

 

[TheGymGuy]

So have I. I sent him a message through here. It looks like his surgery happened 2 weeks ago, and I see that his account was active 1 week ago. That gives me hope that he is ok.

 

[HiMyNameIsDale]

Hey all,

Sorry it took so long for me to post. I had another bout of bad luck and my laptop crashed during my second recovery at the hospital. It was getting old anyways. I am home from the hospital now and feeling a lot better. I had my repaired valve replaced with an On-x valve and I can really hear it clicking. I am not bothered by it though. My second recovery was a little better this time around as far as the pain management, but the breathing tube was worse. I was awake with the tube still in longer this time and it actually made me throw up. So that part sucked. I didn't get any problems with my liver this time around, but I had an enlarged spleen this time. Another problem I had was really low hemoglobin levels. My hemoglobin was around 7. They were going to give me some blood to help me out, but they decided not to give me any because I was young and they said I would bounce back in a couple of weeks. The surgeon also went in through the same incision and put the chest tube in the same hole as last time so I didn't have any new holes. Other than those few bad things recovery in the hospital went pretty well this time and I left the hospital with an INR of 2.6. I have had some problems since I have been home mainly with my primary care and dealing with coumadin. My primary care doctor and the nurse practitioner that works with my doctor both told me to never eat things with vitamin k and that vitamin k will make my INR go up. That is so frustrating to me because they are wrong and they don't want to work with me on having a steady diet with vitamin k. Now I have to worry about finding another doctor. Another problem I am having is a heart rate that ranges between 85 and 120 with a strong bounding pulse. I can sometimes see my pulse in my eyes in the form of little blotches that appear with each pulse beat. Has anyone else had this problem? I have also been having some PVCs. I am hoping that those will go away over time. Sorry about all of the complaining. I will say some good things. My incision is healing really well with no signs of infection so far and the same goes for my chest tube hole. I have been walking a little over a mile every day with no difficulties. I am not taking any pain medicine and my pain is not too bad. I am lucky because I got a mini sternotomy which might not cause as much pain as a full sternotomy. I am glad those two weeks of surgery are over and I am on the road to recovery. It was the worst feeling ever when they told me I had to have the surgery again, but I am past that now. If anyone has any questions for me feel free to ask and I will try to respond. I might have forgot to say some things. Sorry about the long post.

 

[ElectLive]

Dale - Unfortunately, I'm short on time, but just had to say:

Whew!!!

I think we all felt a twinge of the absolute horror of what happened. So good to hear from you, thank goodness in good shape, all things considered of course. Hope for only good news from here on out...you certainly deserve it!

 

[TheGymGuy]

Thanks for your message Dale and for this update. Lots of things you posted are known post-op things. They will only get better with time. I think you are about to see lots of people taking this issues apart and giving you some good suggestions. One thing that I will add is about Vit. K. You are right, anyone that says avoid it is, for the lack of better word, silly. I have posted a thread in the Anti-Coag. forum with links to plenty of research that shows that Vit. K and supplementing with it is actually good for keeping INR more stable. http://www.valvereplacement.org/for...K-Supplementation-and-Anticoagulation-Control

Also, great job on walking and being off of pain meds.

 

[nngbwh]

It may take some time for you to heal, but the goal is stay positive. Thanks for your updated post.

 

[catwoman]

Glad you're home and back on the road to recovery, for real this time.

When I was 2 weeks post-op, I chatted with a man while we were waiting for INR tests at a Coumadin clinic at Baylor Hospital. He had a re-op about 6-8 weeks after the first replacement. Don't remember if he said why.

 

[sarahsunshine]

Sorry about the re-op. but glad you are feeling better. Skyler went through the same thing - reop after 2 weeks. His was for infection. The worst part for him was the re-recovery the second time as mentally, it's tough to go through it once (and you can be prepared for that), but twice is just overwhelming. Getting through those first couple days after the second op was the toughest part, but then when the real healing got going it was put in perspective since the healing was actually doing something and he could feel it.

Glad to hear you are doing better now. Most of your complaints are normal post-op. Keep eating properly (yes with vit K!), getting your exercise, sleeping and repeating. We were all worried about you for a while when we didn't hear anything!

 

[Bill B]

Dale: Glad to hear you are home and safe (although you do need a new primary care doctor!).

With your Hgb of 7, no wonder your pulse is 85 and pounding. YOU ARE ANEMIC, and rather severely so. Yes, young people "tolerate" this, which in doctors' eyes means that you won't die on them or fall over. BUT it markedly reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of your blood, makes you feel weak and tired, and will slow you down until you make some new red cells. Figure a month or two. Eat foods rich in iron - I had steak sandwiches twice a week for a while (yum!), but beans, raisins and nuts are good. In the meantime your heart is pumping more blood volume to make up for the loss of red cells.

 

[dcc617]

Glad to hear you're finally on the mend. It situations like yours that remind all of us that each situation is unique. I hope you're up and feeling better soon.

 

[tprice54]

Thanks for posting... We were worried! As others have said, sounds like your issues are part of recovery. Oh, and complain away, that is why we are here. It will make you feel better to get it off your chest!

 

[Sarah_Louise]

Glad to hear from you
So glad all went well second time round,
hope thats it for a long long time
Love Sarah xxx