Tobagotwo's Surgery Over
- Thread starter tobagotwo
- Start date
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Turkey Hunter
Well-known member
Eric & Pat,
Thanks for the updates and we are all glad to hear he is doing well.....please pass along my congrats and well wishes to Bob.............God Bless
Thanks for the updates and we are all glad to hear he is doing well.....please pass along my congrats and well wishes to Bob.............God Bless
cbdheartman
Well-known member
Thanks for letting us know. Sounds like things are going well.
Glenda
Well-known member
Hi Pat, thanks so much letting us know how Bob is doing. I try to check in everyday now to see how he's progressing. It sounds like he is doing great. Give him a big hug for me. He has been such a help to me over the past few years just by his wisdom and his knowledge. Like I've said before I love reading his posts. You have a great man there! I'm sure you are wore out too so take care of you ! ! It's always so stressful for our partner. My husband has been great through all my surgeries. You both are continuing to be in my prayers.
Star54
Well-known member
Wishing your Dad a speedy recovery!
hensylee
Well-known member
Glad to know he is coming along. He's a keeper so we need him back soon. We miss him.
Ross
Well-known member
Go look in the tawdry shirts forum.
ctyguy
Well-known member
Great to hear he is doing well....looking forward to when he is back to posting on his own....
kfay
Well-known member
He is posting on his own....like Ross said, check out the Tawdry shirts...he's home!
Kim
Bob in Colorado
Well-known member
Ah, so great to see. Thank you so much for the update! What valve did he end up with?
Glad to hear he is doing well and you too. What a relief it must be to be through that part. Hope every day is a little better.
Yes, I did post yesterday in the Tawdry Shirt (TOOTS) forum. Not ready to spend a lot of time on the PC just yet, though.
Same great surgeon and same great interventional cardiologist (cath man). I "stalked" my surgeon all the way to Newark, at St. Michael's, and had it done there. My Dream Team. As for the hospital, night personnel as a group were great (always an exception or two), Floor nurses on days were great. Food...well...yuk.
I'm doing stairs quite well, with a little huffing and puffing. Getting in and out of chairs, bed, etc. is the biggest hassle. Of course, most of you already know that.
I haven't had any pain meds since I've been home, although I have Ultram available if I need it.
They cauterized it this time, which makes the scar a lot less interesting (the zipper effect of staples is kind of neat, after all - if you have to have anything in the first place).
Home is definitely best. After a few days, most of what they're doing is just monitoring. It comes to a point where you have to consider whether the horrible food and the possibility (although not huge) of community-acquired bacteria in a hospital are more of a threat than other issues. My heart rhythm is less stable than last time, but I went in with AFib and "pauses," so it's not that surprising.
Four chest tubes this time. That was nasty, especially if you have a hint of claustrophobia to you. The night after they took two of them out, I still had my neck port in and couldn't turn my head to the right, I had a tube going to a separate suction machine on each side, and my legs were in booties that inflated alternately (to lower the chance of leg clots after the surgery). So I was pinioned in all directions.
Then they brought my evening pills (ALWAYS question what they bring you - don't be a fool, just to look polite), and sure enough, they included two dulcolax (a rather nasty laxative). I sent that back with expletives. Who the hell would've wanted to clean up that mess? I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be in the middle of it - or a half-hour struggle to somehow set me up on the hospital john - with observers no less. I lied about going #2 to get checked out, because I knew some freedom of movement with the tubes out would lead to results (which it did, a couple hours after I got home).
I did catch a bunch of things (besides the poorly-timed dulcolax), such as they would've had me taking both their metropolol and my bystolic on the day I left (double dose of beta blockers is not good that soon after surgery, although it mostly wouldn't hurt you much at some other time). One night orderly guided ice into my pitcher with his hand (that is how infection is spread), another took my weight (the beds had scales built in) in the middle of the night with a five-pound cooler on it. I woke up just in time to have him re-weigh it, or I'd have had extra lasix prescribed the next day. And more stuff. Trust me, I'm not the guy you want in your hospital if the suggestion box isn't safely locked up.
Awful? Not at all. RW Johnson University Hospital had about an equivalent number of errors when I was there for the last one, and I considered it an excellent hospital. As would just about any hospital. It is extremely difficult to manage so many people in such a rapidly changing environment perfectly. This is why I'm always on my soapbox about watching and speaking up. Why on earth would you jeopardize your health just to seem nice or cooperative? You get no health bonus for that, and they see so many people, they can't remember you after a week anyway. No matter how questioning you are, there is always a crankier SOB somewhere else on the ward (probably me). I believe that if God gave you life you should fight for it, or He should be greatly disappointed (certain hopeless and painful man-made situations aside).
Unfortunately, the anal-retentive response to miscommunication by most hospitals has been to cover their behinds by having even more paper reports written up (a huge load), which simply causes more fatigue errors and worse, the recopying of earlier errors - even ones that had previously been corrected. The thing to do is get pocket-sized handhelds, so the nurses can input each thing as they do it, where they do it, and it goes to a central repository and is placed in the patient's file. Greatly cuts down on confusion, no more recreated "copy" errors, no penmanship errors, no heavier workload on the floor nurses, nothing they have to remember when they get back to their station. And the hospital can get reports to see who is doing their job well and who is doing it in a timely way.
But I digress. But then, don't I always?
Glad to be home, delighted to hear from so many VR.com friends. Thank you so much for your continued support. I have a ways to go, and it still hurts like heck to try to draw a full breath (not the lungs - the chest wall muscles (intercostals), the healing sternum, and the outraged rib cage).
Be well,
Same great surgeon and same great interventional cardiologist (cath man). I "stalked" my surgeon all the way to Newark, at St. Michael's, and had it done there. My Dream Team. As for the hospital, night personnel as a group were great (always an exception or two), Floor nurses on days were great. Food...well...yuk.
I'm doing stairs quite well, with a little huffing and puffing. Getting in and out of chairs, bed, etc. is the biggest hassle. Of course, most of you already know that.
I haven't had any pain meds since I've been home, although I have Ultram available if I need it.
They cauterized it this time, which makes the scar a lot less interesting (the zipper effect of staples is kind of neat, after all - if you have to have anything in the first place).
Home is definitely best. After a few days, most of what they're doing is just monitoring. It comes to a point where you have to consider whether the horrible food and the possibility (although not huge) of community-acquired bacteria in a hospital are more of a threat than other issues. My heart rhythm is less stable than last time, but I went in with AFib and "pauses," so it's not that surprising.
Four chest tubes this time. That was nasty, especially if you have a hint of claustrophobia to you. The night after they took two of them out, I still had my neck port in and couldn't turn my head to the right, I had a tube going to a separate suction machine on each side, and my legs were in booties that inflated alternately (to lower the chance of leg clots after the surgery). So I was pinioned in all directions.
Then they brought my evening pills (ALWAYS question what they bring you - don't be a fool, just to look polite), and sure enough, they included two dulcolax (a rather nasty laxative). I sent that back with expletives. Who the hell would've wanted to clean up that mess? I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be in the middle of it - or a half-hour struggle to somehow set me up on the hospital john - with observers no less. I lied about going #2 to get checked out, because I knew some freedom of movement with the tubes out would lead to results (which it did, a couple hours after I got home).
I did catch a bunch of things (besides the poorly-timed dulcolax), such as they would've had me taking both their metropolol and my bystolic on the day I left (double dose of beta blockers is not good that soon after surgery, although it mostly wouldn't hurt you much at some other time). One night orderly guided ice into my pitcher with his hand (that is how infection is spread), another took my weight (the beds had scales built in) in the middle of the night with a five-pound cooler on it. I woke up just in time to have him re-weigh it, or I'd have had extra lasix prescribed the next day. And more stuff. Trust me, I'm not the guy you want in your hospital if the suggestion box isn't safely locked up.
Awful? Not at all. RW Johnson University Hospital had about an equivalent number of errors when I was there for the last one, and I considered it an excellent hospital. As would just about any hospital. It is extremely difficult to manage so many people in such a rapidly changing environment perfectly. This is why I'm always on my soapbox about watching and speaking up. Why on earth would you jeopardize your health just to seem nice or cooperative? You get no health bonus for that, and they see so many people, they can't remember you after a week anyway. No matter how questioning you are, there is always a crankier SOB somewhere else on the ward (probably me). I believe that if God gave you life you should fight for it, or He should be greatly disappointed (certain hopeless and painful man-made situations aside).
Unfortunately, the anal-retentive response to miscommunication by most hospitals has been to cover their behinds by having even more paper reports written up (a huge load), which simply causes more fatigue errors and worse, the recopying of earlier errors - even ones that had previously been corrected. The thing to do is get pocket-sized handhelds, so the nurses can input each thing as they do it, where they do it, and it goes to a central repository and is placed in the patient's file. Greatly cuts down on confusion, no more recreated "copy" errors, no penmanship errors, no heavier workload on the floor nurses, nothing they have to remember when they get back to their station. And the hospital can get reports to see who is doing their job well and who is doing it in a timely way.
But I digress. But then, don't I always?
Glad to be home, delighted to hear from so many VR.com friends. Thank you so much for your continued support. I have a ways to go, and it still hurts like heck to try to draw a full breath (not the lungs - the chest wall muscles (intercostals), the healing sternum, and the outraged rib cage).
Be well,
It is wonderful to see you posting and how very well you did. Very encouraging. Thanks for keeping us updated. Wishing you a very easy recovery
Earline
Earline
ALCapshaw2
Well-known member
I must have missed your original thread.
What triggered your second surgery Bob?
Also please tell us more about your new valve / type, etc (or provide a link to where that info can be found).
'AL Capshaw'
What triggered your second surgery Bob?
Also please tell us more about your new valve / type, etc (or provide a link to where that info can be found).
'AL Capshaw'
deano89
Well-known member
superb! hope the progress and good results keep coming
EireCara
Well-known member
Welcome ''home'' Bob.
Wise
Well-known member
Welcome back. Glad you're doing so well!
hi bob,
so good to hear from you. please thank eric and pat for keeping us posted.
also, thrilled that you are doing so well; you sound great.
keep it up, take it slow and rest up while you can.
stay well and keep us up to date on your progress,
sylvia
so good to hear from you. please thank eric and pat for keeping us posted.
also, thrilled that you are doing so well; you sound great.
keep it up, take it slow and rest up while you can.
stay well and keep us up to date on your progress,
sylvia
