Hello everyone-
One week ago at this time I was at the hospital sitting in pre-surgery. One week later all is well.
The procedure was to have my aorta reinforced w/ dacron strip and have my aortic valve replaced with a tissue valve. I do not even remember being put under and it seemed like as soon as I was carted into the operating room they were waking me up around 5:00. To my surprise, they fitted me with a horse valve. The surgeon felt this was the best fit for my active lifestyle. It resembles the human valve the closest, and does not require a metal ring to be sewn in. When this needs to be replaced, there is a good chance it could be less-envasive. The lack of metal ring also makes it more flexible with the heart instead of being restricted by the ring.
I did not run into any complications at the hospital and went home a day early. I did run 2 slight fevers, but one was due to lack of food. Shortly after I drank some ensure, it went away. The other one only lasted about 30 min and was fixed with some tylenol.
I thought everyone at the hospital was great. The dislikes I had were all the tape all over the body (I still have residue over my body), and the fact that they kept waking me up all night to do different tests. Seriously, they have to do a chest x-ray at 3:00 AM? I did feel better each day and I never felt that bad any single day. On a pain scale, I was probably a 6 on Monday (from what I even remember that day), and was down to a 2 by the time I left. That 2 is associated with general soreness around my chest. The worst part for me was the removal of the catheter and that was not even that bad.
I have developed a routine at home and have been sleeping a solid 8 hrs each night; which I have not done in a long time. I also take 2 naps during the day (1 to 2 hrs). As far as exercise, they gave me directions of "as tolerated". I think I may have been slightly overdoing it, so we are going to cut it back this week. Friday and Saturday, I did 3x30 min walks using my current resting HR + 30 beats as a general ceiling for intensity.
This week will be the same as I continue to get caught up on movies/ tv shows that I dvr'd the past few weeks. Hope to start on season 4 of "24" later this week, and then eventually focus my attention on reading.
One week ago at this time I was at the hospital sitting in pre-surgery. One week later all is well.
The procedure was to have my aorta reinforced w/ dacron strip and have my aortic valve replaced with a tissue valve. I do not even remember being put under and it seemed like as soon as I was carted into the operating room they were waking me up around 5:00. To my surprise, they fitted me with a horse valve. The surgeon felt this was the best fit for my active lifestyle. It resembles the human valve the closest, and does not require a metal ring to be sewn in. When this needs to be replaced, there is a good chance it could be less-envasive. The lack of metal ring also makes it more flexible with the heart instead of being restricted by the ring.
I did not run into any complications at the hospital and went home a day early. I did run 2 slight fevers, but one was due to lack of food. Shortly after I drank some ensure, it went away. The other one only lasted about 30 min and was fixed with some tylenol.
I thought everyone at the hospital was great. The dislikes I had were all the tape all over the body (I still have residue over my body), and the fact that they kept waking me up all night to do different tests. Seriously, they have to do a chest x-ray at 3:00 AM? I did feel better each day and I never felt that bad any single day. On a pain scale, I was probably a 6 on Monday (from what I even remember that day), and was down to a 2 by the time I left. That 2 is associated with general soreness around my chest. The worst part for me was the removal of the catheter and that was not even that bad.
I have developed a routine at home and have been sleeping a solid 8 hrs each night; which I have not done in a long time. I also take 2 naps during the day (1 to 2 hrs). As far as exercise, they gave me directions of "as tolerated". I think I may have been slightly overdoing it, so we are going to cut it back this week. Friday and Saturday, I did 3x30 min walks using my current resting HR + 30 beats as a general ceiling for intensity.
This week will be the same as I continue to get caught up on movies/ tv shows that I dvr'd the past few weeks. Hope to start on season 4 of "24" later this week, and then eventually focus my attention on reading.