A
akaShei
Please accept my apology for the late communication! Between caring for Nick & our 3 little ones (ages 2, 7 & 10), I haven't been able to spend much time online.
His surgery was on Monday 2/26 as scheduled and lasted 4 hours. It was an aortic valve replacement only. (25mm On-X) His surgeon assured us that a root replacement was not necessary. He was in ICU until the following afternoon. There were some side effects with the Percocet - nausea, lightheadedness and waves of heat. He was feeling pretty bad all day on Tuesday. They switched the pain med to Norco on Wednesday & he did much better on that. He walked for the first time on Wednesday night just once around the hall but came back feeling shaky & sore. Thursday was a dramatically different day. He felt much better and walked 4 times throughout the day.
He was discharged on Friday morning with an INR of 3.0. The target range for him is 2.5 - 3.5. He has been alternating 2.5 mg & 5mg of Coumadin, and his INR on Monday was 3.3. He was advised to keep alternating the dose until next week when they'll check it again.
Every day is better than the one before & his attitude has been very positive. I am very grateful & relieved that things went so well but haven't been able to sleep much at night and have been feeling very anxious & overwhelmed. I'm sure I'll be feeling normal again soon, though.
Again, I'm sorry for taking so long to give an update. Knowing that your thoughts & prayers were with us made this whole experience better!
His surgery was on Monday 2/26 as scheduled and lasted 4 hours. It was an aortic valve replacement only. (25mm On-X) His surgeon assured us that a root replacement was not necessary. He was in ICU until the following afternoon. There were some side effects with the Percocet - nausea, lightheadedness and waves of heat. He was feeling pretty bad all day on Tuesday. They switched the pain med to Norco on Wednesday & he did much better on that. He walked for the first time on Wednesday night just once around the hall but came back feeling shaky & sore. Thursday was a dramatically different day. He felt much better and walked 4 times throughout the day.
He was discharged on Friday morning with an INR of 3.0. The target range for him is 2.5 - 3.5. He has been alternating 2.5 mg & 5mg of Coumadin, and his INR on Monday was 3.3. He was advised to keep alternating the dose until next week when they'll check it again.
Every day is better than the one before & his attitude has been very positive. I am very grateful & relieved that things went so well but haven't been able to sleep much at night and have been feeling very anxious & overwhelmed. I'm sure I'll be feeling normal again soon, though.
Again, I'm sorry for taking so long to give an update. Knowing that your thoughts & prayers were with us made this whole experience better!
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