davidfortune is Back!!!!!

shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
D

davidfortune

Hi everybody. I'm back!!!! I'm posting from my hospital bed (just got moved out of ICU 45 minutes ago (22 hours after surgery). Thanks to Dr. William Ryan!!! I feel pretty good - except my chest is a little sore. Supposedly they're gonna bring me some real food for lunch, which is good because I'm hungry. They gave me some jacked up Cream of Wheat for breakfast that had absolutely no taste.

Anyway - as Priscila said, I ended up with the Ross procedure as my aortic annulus was too dilated to attempt a repair. Dr. Ryan explained that annuloplsaty in the aortic position.

I'll finish this later as my physical therapy is here.
 
Welcome Back, Dave!!!! So Glad To Hear All Went Well.
Now It's Just One Day At A Time.....remember Walk Walk Walk, Nap, Nap, Nap, Breathe Breathe Breathe.

Evelyn
 
Wow, posting already!

Wow, posting already!

That's awesome!!! :D

However, do try to take it easy and not over do it too soon. Trust me (from experience)...the drugs are great at masking when you do over do it, but you'll definitely know you've over done it when they start to wear off. That said, it's great to hear you are doing so well. ;) :p :D

I remember the cream of wheat :( Unfortunately, I didn't find the "real food" much better. :mad: Hope your hospital cooks better than mine did.

Cheers,
 
WOW! Awesome for you! Welcome to the world of tasteless food :D

Nap much!!!
 
Glad to hear that you're okay. Yeah the food probably won't taste right for a couple of weeks, at least that's the way it was with me, but it didn't stop me from eating.
 
looks like another successful dr. ryan surgery. forgot all about the icu dinner...cream of wheat and whole milk...don't miss it either...lol glad to hear that everything went well. just take it easy and do the annoying breathing exercise to get the lung fluid out and those fun arm stretches. it sounds like you are having the same schedule as i had with my surgery so the annoying lung tubes should be out by thursday night or friday morning and you will more than likely be discharged at noon on saturday. take care and tell dr. ryan the patient with the m&m tattoo said hi. seems that everyone in that hospital and in his office got a kick out the tattoo...lol let me know if you have any questions or what not.
 
Congrats David, It is so good to hear from you. Take care and get some rest, and I will be looking forward to hearing the whole story later. Take care my friend, you are now on the otherside.... :)

Jay
 
Awesome! Although I also got out of the ICU about 22 hours later like you, I can assure you even if they had served real food the first two days, I would not have been able to eat it!! For two days, they served a few ounces of apple juice and a few ounces of either jellow or apple sauce. It was very refreshing, but I kept throwing it up. Anyhow, you really sound like you are doing super great!
 
I'm happy to hear from you so soon! Hospital food doesn't seem to get much better. After my surgery my legs were full of fluid so they put me on a restricted fluids diet. Not only was the food tasteless, but it was dry as well. I was very happy to eat food with taste when I got home even though I didn't have much of an appetite.
 
oh yea...david. if you get tired of the hospital food...have the wifey pick up something around the corner. i was not on a restricted diet and i am pretty sure you will not be either. there is a jason's deli right beside the hospital. on greenville and walnut hill...it is right next to the presby heart building. on the northwest side of the intersection there is a chili's. and if you really need to get some food...there is an enchillada's about a block down from jason's deli. nothing like some good tex-mex food for the heart....but the margarita will have to wait for now. trust me, take advantage of the lady spoiling and running around for you...it won't last forever. :)
 
Sadly, it's probably not the mush they gave you, David. Most everything is likely to taste pretty flat for a while. It's a very common side-effect of detoxifying from the anesthetics.

You sound pretty chipper. Hope you have a good walk with the PT. It's a bit awkward with all those bags and tubes accompanying you on the cart.

You'll wear out quite fast for a while, and have no "second wind." That's pretty normal, so don't let it throw you.

If you have problems and have a way to ask, we're here.

Best wishes,
 
Good for you, David!!! Welcome back to the world!! I think I was in ICU for 27 hours......if you ask me, that last sponge bath might have lasted those 5 extra hours!! :p

You'll get accustomed to the gradual loss of pain killers and probable discomfort that settles in. It's all good and easily surmountable.

Keep up the good work. Way to play it! Good job!

:D Marguerite
 
Warning: Very detailed update - read at your own risk

Warning: Very detailed update - read at your own risk

Hi everyone, I?ll finish my update

Tuesday
7:30 am - into surgery for shaving and prep
8:45 am - start actual surgery and evaluate repair
10:45 am - notification to family that Ross was in process
12:00 pm - closing up
1:00 pm - into ICU
4:30 pm ? breathing tube out (Yeah!!!)
5:00 pm ? I was cracking some jokes with nurses and family
Talk and snooze from 5:00 till 1:00 am Wednesday

Wednesday
1:00 am ? wakeup for Vicoprofen in preparation for move to chair
2:00 am ? sponge bath and move to chair
3:30 am ? portable chest x-ray in chair
4:00 am ? back into bed to try and sleep (impossible with alarms and loud nurses)
8:00 am ? chest tube, swan catheter and foley catheter removed (foley was the worst but not too bad).
8:30 am ? tasteless, congealed cream of wheat breakfast
11:30 am ? into regular room
12:30 pm ? started first post (thanks to an unsecured wireless network) interrupted by pt
12:45 pm ? first walk with no tubes and wireless telemetry for HR/EKG
1:00 pm ? high glycemic lunch (bar-b-q chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, carrots, roll) which actually didn?t taste too bad.
1:00 ? 6:00 pm ? walk, breathe, arm exercises, dinner, walk more, breathe more, more exercises.

Overall I?m very pleasantly surprised by the recovery. Only one shot of morphine yesterday evening (they really didn?t want to prescribe my fentanyl so I relented). Otherwise I?ve had 3 doses of Vicoprofen (vicodine + ibuprofen combo). Pain has been low grade (surprising ? maybe I?ll be more sore tomorrow?). I don?t seem to be plagued by the ?lack of taste? syndrome that many get. I?ve had 3 doses of steroids intended to ?beef up? my pulmonary valve so it can handle the higher aortic pressures. Blood sugar is a little high due to steroids so they?ve been giving some insulin to keep it in line.

Saw Ryan for 2 minutes this morning. He said he was very pleased with how everything came together. No blood needed during surgery.

My incision is about 7 ? 8 inches long and closed with dermabond, so no staples (I?ll post the before and after in the infamous ?Tawdry Shirt?.

Thank all of you so much for your prayers, thoughts, and well wishes. Those are very meaningful to me, Priscila, and my family. I have been proselytizing VR.COM to all the nurses and PT.

I?ll check with y?all later. I?ll be careful and not overdo it ? I promise. I don?t want to jeopardize this great-so-far recovery.

David

p.s. Phyllis ? thanks for the tip on printing threads
mmarshall ? I think I?m having real bagel and decaf coffee tomorrow from Einstein?s
Bob ? Thanks for the shirt (I posted about ?The Order of the Tawdry Shirt?). I guess I?m lucky that I got rid of all accoutrements except the central line and wireless EKG before my first walk.
 
Excellent news, David. You seem to coming along much quicker than I did. I wasn't tubeless or wireless until my third day out of ICU. Good job! Keep it up!

Cheers,
 
Of all the people I've heard of, your recovery is the fastest!!! I can't believe you have the energy to type all those details on the first day after OHS!!! You will definitely be an inspiration to all those in the waiting room. My recovery went quite well, but yours is AWESOME!!!
 
Remarkable recovery!

Remarkable recovery!

David - this is Noni (Stretch's wife). I've been reading your posting and am amazed how fast you bounced back. WOW! It's truly the miracle of modern day surgeries. Hope you continue to have speedy recovery. I've been keeping Stretch updated on your surgery and recovery.

Stretch is doing well - he's progressiong nicely. He's tubeless today, but still has wires to monitor his heart. He looks great though - I'm grateful for everyone's prayers.

David, you continue to be in our thoughts and prayers as well.
 
Glad to read your "energetic" posts. I hope you continue to improve smoothly and successfully.

I had the Dermabond glued incision too. It held together very well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top