4 Days in the hospital

[pat45750]

I just got home from the hospital and now know I have not had a heart attack, stroke and have clean arteries. I was having my heart beating hard and fast along with dizzyness so I went to my doctor Tues morning. They did an ekg and sent me to the emergency room. The emergency room put me in the special care section for heart monitoring.

I thought it as a fib after reading about it. At first they thought that, but decided it probably wasn't. They wanted me to get a heart cath sooner rather than waiting until my Clevealnd Clinc appointment on Aug 4. So Cleveland Clinic told them to do it. I did find out my artieries are clean except for one with 10% blockage! YEA - I can have minimally invasive AVR!

They put me on digitalis to steady my heartbeat for now. I have not been in the hospital except once in my life for my hip replacement. The heart ward is interesting. You never can sleep because they wake you up all the time for something. So I am now experienced with sticky patches for montoring and ekgs, poking and prooding for blood and everything else they can think of.

I will make a post tomorrow for the new people about my heart cath. It was not diffiuclt at all. No big pain or problems. Actually rather interesting.

I am glad to be home and have to catch up on all the posts from this week. There is no place like home after the hospital

 

[Cris N]

Well, the good news is that you didn't have a heart attack or a stroke. And good news, too, on the arteries. Any idea what was going on?

 

[pat45750]

They are not sure what was causing it. They finally saw some irregular heartbeats and put me on digoxin. They figure it was mostly from the bad valve. Since everything else is OK, I am not going to worry. I only have to wait until Aug 9, then I will have a whole new experince with my AVR. It is so good to be home! I might actually get to sleep tonight.

 

[Jkm7]

Happy you are home and they have ruled out a stroke or heart attack.

Try using baby oil on a cotton ball to remove the residual adhesive. Worked well (and gently) for me.
Hope you get a good night's sleep.

 

[Ross]

Still sounds like Afib to me!

 

[pat45750]

My guess was afib after reading here and elsewhere. My heart was pounding hard and then it felt like it was going double speed for awhile. I could feel the double speed all the way up in my head. Very weird. It did that on and off all night. Guess I gotta get use to this kind of stuff now. It's all new to me. I am sure Thankful for this group of people - it is a great way to learn! Thanks to all those that post replies and information about many topics. It is so useful.

 

[sweetbanker]

Glad no damage and your home. Get a good nights sleep unless we should call you at 2, 4 & 6 am so you feel like your back in the hospital .
At least the Cath is out of the way and you had good results.
Hang in take one day at a time.

 

[Luana]

Hi Pat,
Glad you're home and hope you're feeling better. Is you minimally-invasive AVR going to be a smaller sternotomy?

 

[nngbwh]

Hope you feel better now. Thanks for the update.

 

[pat45750]

Thanks for the good wishes. Feel much better after a night's sleep.

I haven't met my surgeon, Dr. Smedira, yet. I have talked with his nurse several times by phone and as I understand the minimally invasive will be thru the ribs. Until I talk with them in person, I won't know more and it might be different than we originally talked about. I know it means normally 4 days in the hospital and 4 week recovery. I know everyone is different.

I found out my aortic area is .83 and I have a 33.2 aortic mean gradient. So as far as I have learned and have been told - it is severe. I am still a bit light headed and feel my heart beating more - but I guess I will live with it until Aug 9. I will take it easy and enjoy the month of July.

 

[Mentu]

Pat, it was good that you had this checked. You are right about the Cardiac floors not being good places to rest. After the AVR last year, I mentioned it to one of my nurses who laughed and pointed out that irritation at being poked and proded usually means that patients are ready to go home. August isn't far away.

Larry

 

[Luana]

I haven't met my surgeon, Dr. Smedira, yet. I have talked with his nurse several times by phone and as I understand the minimally invasive will be thru the ribs.

Oh, that's like I had. I have a small scar, about 3 inches on the right side of my chest. I know a while back when I looked on the Cleveland Clinic's site, they showed a mini-sternotomy as their minimally invasive procedure. If your recovery is like mine, you'll have just about no pain.

 

[pat45750]

Luana

Thanks for your post. I like the sound of that - just about no pain! Also like your signature - the only planet with chocolate! yummy! Have a nice evening.

 

[Luana]

I was sore for the first few days after surgery; I think I had a bit more discomfort when I got home from reaching for things and just doing more in general. I did post a picture of my scare in the photos section.