Now that I've earned my stripes, I'll be glad to share any and all of my experiences. I posted another thread a few weeks ago and had a lot of replies, but as a reminder... I'm now a 49 year-old semi-newbie to the forum who was born with a Bicuspid Aortic Valve. Had mild Aortic Root Dilation, but the aorta didn't have to be replaced, just the valve. Had it replaced starting at 8 am (ending at 11 am) yesterday morning (5/5/10 - Cinco de Mayo day).
The first thing I'd want everyone to know, especially those that are in the pre-surgery stage, is that you can go ahead and chalk up another one in the "it really wasn't as bad as I feared" column. Obviously still have the recovery period to get through, but so far I am very, very pleasantly surprised.
I'll recap everything briefly, but it's going to sound like a broken record, very similar to the majority opinions on here. In my case (probably due in large part to keeping busy right up until surgery day) I really wasn't all that nervous. Just wanted to get it overwith. I went mechanical (even though was leaning pig early on) and so far, I'm happy with the decision. As smooth as the surgery was, it was still a major event that I'd prefer not to go through again if I can avoid it. The clicking is noticable, but hoping it gets better over time. Started on Coumadin tonight - too early to tell how I'll do on it, but as Ross and others have said, I'm very confident it's a lot better than a second OHS.
Now that I've made it sound like the OHS is something to avoid, let me repeat. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as I feared. Worst part for me was the breathing tube (which was out within a couple hours of the surgery being over). I went into the surgery with a phlem problem and that contributed to how uncomfortable the breathing tube was. Felt great to finally get it out. On the positive side, I cannot believe how little pain my incision is causing. Went off morphine sometime very early this morning (about the same time I came out of ICU). Have just been on tablet pain killers since (with hours of no pain killers). Only on them to "stay ahead" of the pain. But even when I was off of them, it just doesn't hurt much (again, unless I breath deep, cough, etc.). Somewhere between good and bad, starting with the "bad" parts for me were the bladder catheter (was a little uncomfortable while was in, and a little painful - but not unbearable - coming out, and painful to pee the couple times I've peed since it was out), the chest tube (got a little sore before they took it out - but wasn't bad at all coming out) and the hourly blood sugar tests / insulin. The surgery elevated my blood sugar (which sounds very common) so have been on insulin since last night. Still not able to breath very deep, but getting better with the contraption they make you breath into. Still short of breath when I just get up and walk around (which is to be expected) but am told that will get better soon too. Still a little tired (maybe because they were waking me up every hour all night) so looking forward to a good night's sleep here on night 2 - don't think they're going to be checking blood sugar all night - must have gotten it figured out.
That's about it for now - as I said, I'm tired and am going to bed. But just wanted to say hi quick. I've been "online" since early this morning (about the 20 hr mark). Bottom line - not bad at all considering what all they did, and the good will definitely outweigh the bad! So, git er dun!!! Nothing to be afraid of! More later. Nite nite.
The first thing I'd want everyone to know, especially those that are in the pre-surgery stage, is that you can go ahead and chalk up another one in the "it really wasn't as bad as I feared" column. Obviously still have the recovery period to get through, but so far I am very, very pleasantly surprised.
I'll recap everything briefly, but it's going to sound like a broken record, very similar to the majority opinions on here. In my case (probably due in large part to keeping busy right up until surgery day) I really wasn't all that nervous. Just wanted to get it overwith. I went mechanical (even though was leaning pig early on) and so far, I'm happy with the decision. As smooth as the surgery was, it was still a major event that I'd prefer not to go through again if I can avoid it. The clicking is noticable, but hoping it gets better over time. Started on Coumadin tonight - too early to tell how I'll do on it, but as Ross and others have said, I'm very confident it's a lot better than a second OHS.
Now that I've made it sound like the OHS is something to avoid, let me repeat. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as I feared. Worst part for me was the breathing tube (which was out within a couple hours of the surgery being over). I went into the surgery with a phlem problem and that contributed to how uncomfortable the breathing tube was. Felt great to finally get it out. On the positive side, I cannot believe how little pain my incision is causing. Went off morphine sometime very early this morning (about the same time I came out of ICU). Have just been on tablet pain killers since (with hours of no pain killers). Only on them to "stay ahead" of the pain. But even when I was off of them, it just doesn't hurt much (again, unless I breath deep, cough, etc.). Somewhere between good and bad, starting with the "bad" parts for me were the bladder catheter (was a little uncomfortable while was in, and a little painful - but not unbearable - coming out, and painful to pee the couple times I've peed since it was out), the chest tube (got a little sore before they took it out - but wasn't bad at all coming out) and the hourly blood sugar tests / insulin. The surgery elevated my blood sugar (which sounds very common) so have been on insulin since last night. Still not able to breath very deep, but getting better with the contraption they make you breath into. Still short of breath when I just get up and walk around (which is to be expected) but am told that will get better soon too. Still a little tired (maybe because they were waking me up every hour all night) so looking forward to a good night's sleep here on night 2 - don't think they're going to be checking blood sugar all night - must have gotten it figured out.
That's about it for now - as I said, I'm tired and am going to bed. But just wanted to say hi quick. I've been "online" since early this morning (about the 20 hr mark). Bottom line - not bad at all considering what all they did, and the good will definitely outweigh the bad! So, git er dun!!! Nothing to be afraid of! More later. Nite nite.
