R
roxdrop
Hello everyone,
I wasn't able to post before the surgery because I was incredibly busy with preparations/company/etc. but I wanted to let everyone know that I had my AVR surgery this past Tuesday, was discharged this past Friday, and am feeling better than I imagined I would. Thank you to everyone who offered their wise advice and comfort in the tense weeks leading up to surgery! I've searched the forums, but need a little "live" help with the following questions:
Pain in my right side
The biggest pain I've felt so far is around the incision area, and I've been controlling this with meds. I was very active on Saturday (relatively speaking), but in the early hours of Sunday morning I woke up with more extreme pain, including some along my right side. Pain meds killed this pain and let me go back to sleep, but the pain along my right side persists. It doesn't hurt on its own, just when I breathe in deeply (which has affected my performance with the spirometer). It is a sharp stabbing-type pain when deep breathing, and it runs from the right central pec muscle and down around to the side of my ribs (basically directly under my breast). Due to its location I am not able to feel the muscles with my fingers for tenderness, but I can say it does feel like a pulled muscle. Someone in another thread mentioned a torn intercostal muscle, but I wasn't sure if it would be too early in my progression to have this since I am really still immobilized. My only guess if it is torn is that it happened while doing deep breathing exercises...maybe I just overdid that.
Night Chills
While in the hospital, I experienced chills several times-- but since I slept on and off for most of my time there, it's hard to say if it was night or not when this happened. Now that I am home, I have a better sleep pattern and so far everything has been fine (except pain/discomfort waking me up). However, tonight I woke up with spontaneous chills that made me shake. As soon as I put a warm blanket over me, they went away, but I still felt a little strange. By strange, I mean when I woke up and touched my skin it seemed normal, and my temp was around 96 (my temp is usually around 97 during the day). I didn't feel cold or chilled, but I was shaking and only used the blanket to get the chills to go away. I have not had a fever at all since I left the ICU, and do not feel any other symptoms beyond the pain around the incision and being more tired than I was pre-op. Does this seem normal?
I really appreciate any input you guys may have. I am getting a visit from the nurse today and will see my cardiologist sometime this week and will definitely bring this up-- I just always like to hear from people who have actually experienced this themselves! Thank you!
I wasn't able to post before the surgery because I was incredibly busy with preparations/company/etc. but I wanted to let everyone know that I had my AVR surgery this past Tuesday, was discharged this past Friday, and am feeling better than I imagined I would. Thank you to everyone who offered their wise advice and comfort in the tense weeks leading up to surgery! I've searched the forums, but need a little "live" help with the following questions:
Pain in my right side
The biggest pain I've felt so far is around the incision area, and I've been controlling this with meds. I was very active on Saturday (relatively speaking), but in the early hours of Sunday morning I woke up with more extreme pain, including some along my right side. Pain meds killed this pain and let me go back to sleep, but the pain along my right side persists. It doesn't hurt on its own, just when I breathe in deeply (which has affected my performance with the spirometer). It is a sharp stabbing-type pain when deep breathing, and it runs from the right central pec muscle and down around to the side of my ribs (basically directly under my breast). Due to its location I am not able to feel the muscles with my fingers for tenderness, but I can say it does feel like a pulled muscle. Someone in another thread mentioned a torn intercostal muscle, but I wasn't sure if it would be too early in my progression to have this since I am really still immobilized. My only guess if it is torn is that it happened while doing deep breathing exercises...maybe I just overdid that.
Night Chills
While in the hospital, I experienced chills several times-- but since I slept on and off for most of my time there, it's hard to say if it was night or not when this happened. Now that I am home, I have a better sleep pattern and so far everything has been fine (except pain/discomfort waking me up). However, tonight I woke up with spontaneous chills that made me shake. As soon as I put a warm blanket over me, they went away, but I still felt a little strange. By strange, I mean when I woke up and touched my skin it seemed normal, and my temp was around 96 (my temp is usually around 97 during the day). I didn't feel cold or chilled, but I was shaking and only used the blanket to get the chills to go away. I have not had a fever at all since I left the ICU, and do not feel any other symptoms beyond the pain around the incision and being more tired than I was pre-op. Does this seem normal?
I really appreciate any input you guys may have. I am getting a visit from the nurse today and will see my cardiologist sometime this week and will definitely bring this up-- I just always like to hear from people who have actually experienced this themselves! Thank you!
