My "wake-up" was a bit odd. Like most, it felt like only a split-second passed between pre-op and waking up in the ICU, although in my case it was about 10-12 hours later. However, unlike most, I woke up suddenly with people yelling questions at me. I had some visual hallucinations initially that only lasted 30 seconds or so, but I was completely alert and not at all drowsy and could understand the questions. Apparently I had been given what must be a routine injection of Fentanyl (narcotic pain med) post-op and I reacted to it by ceasing to breath. So a Code Blue was called, I was bagged and then given Narcan, which immediately reversed the narcotic's effects and I started breathing on my own again and woke up. The commotion quickly subsided and I felt absolutely fine. The only thing that bothered me was dry mouth, and the nurse was pretty stingy with ice chips until morning came. The real odd part was that I NEVER had one iota of pain or discomfort anywhere - no incisional pain, no shoulder or rib soreness, nothing. And the breathing tube was pulled before I woke up, so I have no recollection of that at all. The temporary pacing wire, chest tube(s), central line and bladder catheter never bothered me and I did not have any pain when they were removed. The worst thing that happened in the hospital was a minor phlebitis (vein inflamation) that subsided with warm compresses over a few days and a lot of trouble sleeping in the surprisingly noisy hospital environment. Like most, I retained a fair amount of fluid (maybe 10 lbs) at first, that diuresed away after a week, had some digestive problems (anesthesia commonly paralyzes the GI tract) that took longer to resolve, helped by some Reglan, and I was very impaired exercise-wise with gradual improvement in that over the first 2 months, aided greatly by cardiac rehab (highly recommended). Now, about 1.5 years later, I'm doing great, am remarkably stable on warfarin (always within a hair of my target 2.5) and only see my GP and cardiologist once a year from here on out.
I've been off-line here for about 8 months, enjoying life. Packed on almost 20 lbs which didn't help my cholesterol and blood pressure. I failed to generate my own exercise routine after completing cardiac rehab, so I'm back there again doing a scheduled workout; weight is melting away and my blood pressure has fallen like a rock. I'm happy just to be alive but even happier that I can do anything I did before surgery.
