It's been a little over three weeks since I had my bicuspid aortic valve replaced. The surgery was on Thursday January 9th and went extremely well. By Friday mid-day I was out of ICU and was reading email and even having a few phone calls on Saturday and Sunday. I had little pain and probably could have been released on Monday morning, but was finally let out of the hospital on Tuesday Jan 14th. I felt great. By Wednesday and Thursday, I was taking walks around the block (relatively slow walks). All this time, I kept thinking how easy this was going.
On Friday (Jan 17 - 8 days post surgery), I had to go get my first INR blood test post-hospital. I decided to go the On-X mechanical valve route so that I wouldn't go through the surgery again, but given how easy this was, I was starting to question that decision. The lab is just five minutes away and I was back to the house within 30 minutes. However, when I got home, I started to go downhill fast. Just walking up a small flight of steps was exhausting. I collapsed onto our couch and rested for an hour. Then I attempted to go up to the bedroom with the same response. All the symptoms of were back - shortness of breath, extremely exhaustion, angina. I again collapsed into my easy chair and rested an hour. Then I called the surgeon.
The surgeon tried to get a hold of my cardiologist so I could avoid the emergency room, but in the end, I was advised to go directly to the emergency room. There, they did an echo-cardiogram where I was diagnosed with pericardial effusion. They put me on Colcrys (a gout medicine) and admitted me to the hospital for observation. BTW - my INR that day was 3.0 - when I had left the hospital the previous Tuesday it had been 1.7.
Everything was going well until Sunday around noon, when I started to again be very short of breath and then starting shivering. The doctors said I was going into tamponade, took me to the cardiac lab where they drained 1/2 liter of fluid from my pericardial sac. Almost immediately, I felt great. I was back in my hospital room within a football half. How do I know? I was wheeled out of the room when the 49ers recovered a fumble in the first minute of the game against the Seahawks and was back in the room for the last minute of the 2nd quarter. I felt great - shame the 49ers didn't play better.
In any event, they kept me under observation for another four days and I was finally released from the hospital on Jan 23rd (the two week anniversary of the surgery) and have been home for another week. I feel great and have no pain. The only issue I have right now is that my INR is not yet in therapeutic range. When I left the hospital on the 23rd, my INR was 1.6. By Saturday, it had dropped to 1.1 and has slowly risen back to 1.8 (on Friday Jan 31) with the doctors changing my warfarin dosage practically every day. The only inconvenience has been needing to go to the lab every morning to get blood drawn.
Which leads me to my question - is it too soon to go back to work? I'm bored to death hanging around the house and frankly can't concentrate working from home. At work, I spend my days in meetings, on phone calls, reading and writing emails. I don't do any heavy lifting. It's a typical office job. Therefore, I'm thinking about going back to work tomorrow (25 days post surgery)
Am I crazy? Are there other factors I'm not thinking about that should keep me home resting longer?
On Friday (Jan 17 - 8 days post surgery), I had to go get my first INR blood test post-hospital. I decided to go the On-X mechanical valve route so that I wouldn't go through the surgery again, but given how easy this was, I was starting to question that decision. The lab is just five minutes away and I was back to the house within 30 minutes. However, when I got home, I started to go downhill fast. Just walking up a small flight of steps was exhausting. I collapsed onto our couch and rested for an hour. Then I attempted to go up to the bedroom with the same response. All the symptoms of were back - shortness of breath, extremely exhaustion, angina. I again collapsed into my easy chair and rested an hour. Then I called the surgeon.
The surgeon tried to get a hold of my cardiologist so I could avoid the emergency room, but in the end, I was advised to go directly to the emergency room. There, they did an echo-cardiogram where I was diagnosed with pericardial effusion. They put me on Colcrys (a gout medicine) and admitted me to the hospital for observation. BTW - my INR that day was 3.0 - when I had left the hospital the previous Tuesday it had been 1.7.
Everything was going well until Sunday around noon, when I started to again be very short of breath and then starting shivering. The doctors said I was going into tamponade, took me to the cardiac lab where they drained 1/2 liter of fluid from my pericardial sac. Almost immediately, I felt great. I was back in my hospital room within a football half. How do I know? I was wheeled out of the room when the 49ers recovered a fumble in the first minute of the game against the Seahawks and was back in the room for the last minute of the 2nd quarter. I felt great - shame the 49ers didn't play better.
In any event, they kept me under observation for another four days and I was finally released from the hospital on Jan 23rd (the two week anniversary of the surgery) and have been home for another week. I feel great and have no pain. The only issue I have right now is that my INR is not yet in therapeutic range. When I left the hospital on the 23rd, my INR was 1.6. By Saturday, it had dropped to 1.1 and has slowly risen back to 1.8 (on Friday Jan 31) with the doctors changing my warfarin dosage practically every day. The only inconvenience has been needing to go to the lab every morning to get blood drawn.
Which leads me to my question - is it too soon to go back to work? I'm bored to death hanging around the house and frankly can't concentrate working from home. At work, I spend my days in meetings, on phone calls, reading and writing emails. I don't do any heavy lifting. It's a typical office job. Therefore, I'm thinking about going back to work tomorrow (25 days post surgery)
Am I crazy? Are there other factors I'm not thinking about that should keep me home resting longer?