I am alive and (possibly?) better than ever

[vik_thor]

Well, last Tuesday (21 June) I went into the hospital to have my bicuspid Aortic valve replaced with a tissue tricuspid valve. I don't remember much of the day (which is a good thing!) The surgery went perfectly by the book., I think I was told it took about 2 hours out of an expected 2-4 hour time frame. The surgeon did not replace any of the aorta itself, just the valve. That was the one thing he was unsure of until the actual surgery.

Chest tubes HURT!!!!

Once the chest/drainage tubes were removed, I was in much less pain, and could move around easier.
I was downgraded from ICU to (I don't remember the actual term) CCU during the day Saturday, but they left me in the ICU room, because there wasn't a room available in the CCU. Then they transferred me at 5AM Sunday morning. after finally getting asleep about 3:30AM. (I did not sleep well during the entire time I was in the hospital.)

Walking in the ICU was more regulated, I had to be accompanied by a nurse at all times, which is understandable. Once I woke up Sunday, I did a round with the physical therapist, using the walker that had been transferred with me from ICU, and was told no longer needed to have a nurse with me, could walk around the floor whenever I wanted. That felt so freeing! I still couldn't leave the unit, so I was walking around a lot, going back in to room to watch some TV, then walking some more. at some point in the early morning, after being cleared to walk by myself, with a walker, the floor cleaning crew came through. The first time I went out after that, the walker was no loud. it was no longer sliding smoothly. And the nurses said I was steady enough, don't even bother with the walker any more, just take is easy.. Endless to say, I went walking quite a bit. And was smiling a lot, because of the freedom, (one of the nurses even took to calling me Smiley, because I was smiling most of the time as I "made my rounds". And in fact did let the nurses know a couple times when someone was verbally calling for a nurse rather than using the call buttons, so I was useful. :)

There was a death in the unit sometime late Sunday. It was the first time my nurse had ever lost anyone under his care. There was one gentleman at the opposite end of the floor from me, who was in for basically comfort care, to keep his passing as tpainfree as possible. He also died at some time while I was in this unit. Another gentleman was in for cancer, and I talked with his wife on one of my rounds (she didn't want to stay in the room when they were doing something to him.) She wondered why I was still in the hospital, since I seemed to be doing so good. (Basically, they don't release heart surgery patients on the weekend.) every other day I was in there, my surgeon or someone from his practice had come around to my room by 9AM at the latest. Monday, they didn't get there until 12:30.

Paperwork for checkout started @~1:30PM Monday. We finally rolled out of the hospital door about 5:30 PM.

and time to take the last of my scheduled medicines an head to bed. as it is getting hard to keep my eyes open.

Comments

[makovette.livejournal.com]

Welcome back home and thanks so much for the update, was hoping things would go as well as they did for you. That said, avoid the temptation to slack on the Doc's instructions, physical therapy can be un-fun.

Here's to a fast and full recovery :)

Mako

[vik_thor]

The two main things I've been slacking a bit on are keeping my feet elevated while sitting in a chair, and making sure to use the Incentive Spirometer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incentive_spirometer as much as they want.

I've fixed up a 'footstool' under my desk, milkcrate with an old quilt on top for padding. (Very old quilt. Much older than I am. I believe that it was made by my maternal grandmother, who died while my mom was still in school.

As for the inspirometer, when I was in the hospital, I was doing good to get it up to 1250 mL. now that is the low end of my range.

I do have to be careful about overdoing the walking though.
(and this is almost as rambly as original, huh?)

[xoagray.livejournal.com]

Hey there! Glad to hear you're home and doing better. As routine as surgeries like this may be now it's always a little nerve wracking when something as important as a heart is at steak.
Here's to a speedy recovery! :)

[vik_thor]

»nods« There were times I was feeling like backing out of the surgery, even as late as the day of the surgery.
Heck, the day after surgery, when I still had the chest tubes in me, I asked Seph if it was to late to back out. Only half joking. The chest tubes were the most painful pat of the post-operative time IMO. and they felt so WEIRD when they were removed.
Thanks! I think I've been surprising most of the people involved, with my recovery speed. In large part, most of the people they deal with are at least a decade older than I am, or they had to do more extensive stuff to the heart, like bypasses.

I am thankful we went in to the ER last year for my heart palpitations, which were a one time occurrence. I don't think the aortic regurgitation would have been caught until much later if I hadn't. Long enough that the heart muscle would have enlarged to keep the blood flowing.

[xoagray.livejournal.com]

I would imagine something like chest tubes would feel pretty weird. I remember just getting a pick line in my arm felt really odd and that was nothing like what you had.
All in all it sounds like it was a good thing though, and it's liable to save you issues down the road. Glad you're continuing to heal well. *hugs*

[hartree.livejournal.com]

Don't feel lonely. I don't think anyone sleeps well in the hospital. If you do get to sleep, they wake you up to do vitals. :)

Glad to hear it went well, Vik! Keep healing up with no complications!