Yesterday I had my second follow up since surgery with my Cardiologist. They also did and xray to look at my sternum wires. All looks good with that, thank God. What happened is I pulled a muscle that is right next to my sternum, you know that nice big bone that is broken. So that is the cause of all my pain since Monday. He put me back on muscle relaxers 4 times a day, Morphine and Ibuprofen 600 mg/3 times a day. We will see how it goes. It doesn?t really relieve the pain as I thought it would. He will do another Echo at 6 months after surgery.I will return to Rehab on Monday and just take it slow.
He informed me that I was still in the very early stages of recovery and to take care of myself. It should be about another 4 weeks before I start to feel healed. I hope they go faster than the last 4 weeks. My diaphragm is still out of place which is still causing my left lung to be very quiet. He is hoping that within 6 months that it is back in place. I hope so, it makes it hard to breathe a lot of times. He reduced my beta blocker (Metoprolol) to half the dose I was taking and it sounds like I will be able to eventually come off of that. That would mean I would only be on a baby aspirin and Xanax (hoping to get off of that eventually too). That means absolutely no heart medication. That would be great.
Since the surgery, I have only had one small flutter from the atrium. I was getting these at least 4-5 times a day before and they would last a couple of minutes at a time. This means that the Maze procedure that they weren?t sure was going to work with me DID!!! It feels so good not to have those racing heart beats every day.
The depression I am having at times is completely normal he said. Most Cardiac patients that go through open heart surgery experience this at one level or another. This will also go away eventually.
As far as driving, what his words were are ?since I?m in a good mood today, I will say this? If you have to drive then go ahead. I would prefer if you get someone else to do it but if can?t find someone else to drive you then go ahead. He is concerned about my chest hitting the steering wheel and opening up my sternum that is not fused together yet. Matt is not comfortable with this at all. I guess we will have to talk about that and figure out a solution that works for both of us.
All in all it was a great check up. If any of you are ever in the area of Children?s hospital in WI, the new building is now open and absolutely gorgeous? There are no words to describe it. I will see if they have pictures online and maybe send out a link.
Until next time, take care and I will continue to keep you updated. Hope all of you are doing well.
He informed me that I was still in the very early stages of recovery and to take care of myself. It should be about another 4 weeks before I start to feel healed. I hope they go faster than the last 4 weeks. My diaphragm is still out of place which is still causing my left lung to be very quiet. He is hoping that within 6 months that it is back in place. I hope so, it makes it hard to breathe a lot of times. He reduced my beta blocker (Metoprolol) to half the dose I was taking and it sounds like I will be able to eventually come off of that. That would mean I would only be on a baby aspirin and Xanax (hoping to get off of that eventually too). That means absolutely no heart medication. That would be great.
Since the surgery, I have only had one small flutter from the atrium. I was getting these at least 4-5 times a day before and they would last a couple of minutes at a time. This means that the Maze procedure that they weren?t sure was going to work with me DID!!! It feels so good not to have those racing heart beats every day.
The depression I am having at times is completely normal he said. Most Cardiac patients that go through open heart surgery experience this at one level or another. This will also go away eventually.
As far as driving, what his words were are ?since I?m in a good mood today, I will say this? If you have to drive then go ahead. I would prefer if you get someone else to do it but if can?t find someone else to drive you then go ahead. He is concerned about my chest hitting the steering wheel and opening up my sternum that is not fused together yet. Matt is not comfortable with this at all. I guess we will have to talk about that and figure out a solution that works for both of us.
All in all it was a great check up. If any of you are ever in the area of Children?s hospital in WI, the new building is now open and absolutely gorgeous? There are no words to describe it. I will see if they have pictures online and maybe send out a link.
Until next time, take care and I will continue to keep you updated. Hope all of you are doing well.
