today's the day

[Greg a]

My name is Connie, my husbands been through 2 heart surgeries - I wish you well.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY Connie looking forward to your contributions and comments

 

[anutherbuddy]

The swelling was less this morning and he'd lost 2 pounds - so that's good. He has a daily chart for BP, pulse rate, weight and exercise (minutes walked) - that's really good to be able to see progress.

 

[epstns]

buddy - It always seems that things "close in" on us at night. All of the stimuli of the day seem to quiet down and our brains seem to dwell on whatever is bothering us at the time. I didn't have much trouble getting to sleep after surgery, but I did have trouble staying asleep. I would sleep for a few hours, then I would be awake for hours before falling back to sleep. Since I was still off work, I didn't worry about the lack of sleep (I got to take my naps to make up for it), but I found it frustrating. I finally discussed it with my cardio and she prescribed Ambien to help me sleep. I filled the scrip, then read the warning labels. Once I saw all the cautions, I never opened that bottle, ever. I did take over-the-counter benadryl at bedtime, and that "took the edge off" and helped me to sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time. My daughter works in an in-patient mental health facility, and she says that they sometimes use benadryl to calm patients who don't need the heavy-duty prescription meds but do need some help getting calm enough to sleep well. I would discuss it with your docs - they may say that it is OK for occasional use, and it did improve the quality of my sleep for the first couple of weeks after I was off all of the post-op meds.