a few non-critical questions about post-op

[dmeehan]

Hi everyone,
just a few questions that have come up about life after surgery:

I pretty much only wear shirts that pull over my head: polo-style shirts in the day and cotton tee-shirts at night. Will I be able to get into these post-surgery or should I go out and buy some shirts that button up so I don't have to raise my hands to get into them?

I have an art studio on the 3rd floor of my house. It's my main hobby and something I was hoping to do more of while in recovery. Is there any chance I'll be making it to the third floor during recovery? Any idea how many weeks in it will be before I can get up there?

If my surgery is March 1st, do you think it's reasonable to expect that I can do some gardening by end of April/early May? By gardening I mean planting my annuals, herbs, etc. and weeding - not heavy stuff like mowing the lawn or edging the beds.

thanks again!
Derek

 

[Freddie]

Hi Derek, here are my answers/experience:
1) I wear sweatshirts and I continued to wear them after surgery. I didn't get any help putting them on - a little painful yes but I did it. With a little help you should have no problem getting your shirts on

2) As for stairs: I had to use the stairs to use the bathroom and to go to bed - slow and steady is the answer. I wouldn't expect you to do to many stairs in the first 10 days or so after surgery. The trick is to use your legs when using the stairs and only use the hand rail as a guide, don't use the rail to help you up.

3) I had my surgery March 30th, by May 18th or so I was SLOWLY planting my annuals.....it was tough going and slow, but I got it done. I used my hoe (carefully/lightly) to get at the small young weeds. By the end of June I was able to pull the rip cord on our gas mower and cut the grass. Didn't do any edging, heaving digging until the following year.

 

[DebbyA]

I wore t-shirts day and night for weeks after my surgery because of the seeping from surgical sites. You can get into a t-shirt by pushing each arm in turn forward through a sleeve. (You can also wash your hair by raising your hands and forearms without lifting your whole arm above your shoulders.)

The third floor may be a challenge for a while. Remember you won't be able to use your arms for support on stair rails going up or down. You don't want to get up there and be too tired to do anything, or to come back down. We all vary and I'm sure someone will post they were running up several flights a week after surgery!

You may get some gardening done, but it's probably your back and shoulders that would prevent it. Unless your weeds are kinder than mine, weeding may be too much. After 8 weeks, your sternum is supposed to be 90% healed. Just take it slowly and don't try to get it all done in a day.

All only my opinion--whatever happens, you will gradually get stronger and enjoy all those activities.

 

[drivetopless]

If you have some bigger shirts, those will be easier to get on. After 3 weeks, I was wearing whatever shirt I wanted.

Your incision will weep for a week or two when you get home. I addressed this by wearing a tank top under my shirt and safety pinning a paper towel to the inside of it to catch the weepage.

You could do some gardening if you are gentle as others have said. I find that when I use my arms, especially the left) at 5 weeks, I get sore and achy. Driving made me really sore but was worth it.

I stayed downstairs and avoided stairs my first week home. After that, I could do one flight but I limited the number of times I did the stairs. You will likely need to rest between flights. Can you set up your art studio with a comfy chair/ottoman/phone and some drinks/snacks so if you make it up there you can stay a while?

 

[Greg a]

As someone who lost his sternum I would do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I was told by MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS to protect it ...... I am alive BUT ..........

I lost mine to a MRSA but we have members on the support site who have had the wires shred their sternum ......not everyone who wears golf shirts does damage but I ask you how much trouble is it to get a couple of shirts that button or sports sweats that zipper up and protect your sternum for the short term for along term gain

 

[Jkm7]

I wore pull over head sweaters and jerseys right away after both my surgeries with no difficulty. I found I pulled my head through the jersey and then put my arms into the sleeves one at a time. I reversed that method for taking off the jersey.

I walked full flights of stairs right away home from the hospital. I went slowly and sometimes paused a moment mid way up but the most important thing is to remember to not pull yourself up with your arms on the bannister. Lightly hold the hand rail just for balance but your legs do the work.

As to gardening, I was able to plant my annuals in mid May. I did not do any heavy weeding or digging but my surgery was just about the same date as yours and I put in the flowers a few flats at a time. Don't try to do too much in one day. Start slow and see how it goes but if all is going well for you, you should be able to do light planting.

 

[Mentu]

Derek, it is likely that for the first week or so after you come home, you may not feel like doing much after walking, daily chores and such and that is very normal. As for stairs, give it a try and modify your activity accordingly. It is use of your arms that will be more of a problem like the others have said. Gardening in a couple of months is a different matter. If you are talking about working in loose soil and planting seed, you can probably do that. On the other hand, if you must use tools to break up heavy compact soil...I would say, not likely. During those first 12 weeks of recovery, you first priority needs to be healing. The incisions in your heart and chest should take about 3 weeks to heal. The sternum should be healed in 12 weeks. What you may not appreciate until later is that besides the incisions and sternum, your chest muscles, nerves and ribs are also going to take awhile to return to normal; they caused me more discomfort than the surgical site itself. If placing a priority on letting your body heal means that some things are planted late or not at all this year, consider that you will now have many more years to plant as you think they should be done. Enjoy the spring as you can; its the first of many more.

Larry

 

[normofthenorth]

1) I was OK with pullovers, but experience is very variable. If you've ONLY got pullovers, you might be stuck, no guarantees. Better to be over-prepared, I'd think.
2) I'd worry more about the workout on the stairs than most comments above. You'll figure out the arm part "in a heartbeat", because pulling on a banister will probably hurt! But you might well have to treat two flights of stairs as a "trip", to be divided in portions, with little rest stops along the way. I've got bed and bath up a long flight of stairs (100-y-o house w/ high ceilings), kitchen and world downstairs. I walked it from the start (6d post-op), but not much more than 1x/day, and I stayed out of the basement for ~ a week. YMMV.
3) I'm 2.5 months post-op now, and I don't think gardening would be a problem. I've even gently and slowly shoveled some snow already. Adding "gently and slowly" to SOME strenuous activities makes a lot of difference, and time heals all wounds, too. Your sternum will probably feel ~100% well before your ticker does, based on my sample of one. (Neighbors and passers-by can't tell that my heart isn't 100% yet, but I can -- and my volleyball teammates can sure tell because I'm not THERE!)

 

[Lynlw]

As you can see all ready, everyones experience is different. And of course things can change if you hit some bad bumps, but for a normal recovery (even with a couple smaller bumps),You're pretty young so that should help. FWIW Justin had 1 surgery when he was 17 and 2 at 19, and for him, he "could" get bigger Tshirts on, but in the hospital and probably the first week home, he found it easier just to have a couple button down shirts.

We only have 2 floors in our house, but he didn't have any problems going up or down the stairs a couple times a day even the first week home. As mentioned just make sure NOt to use your arms to help. Take it slow and if you have to take a break between floors.

Gardening, It depends what size garden you are talking about and how you have to get the soil ready to plant, but I don't think putting in a couple rows of seeds or even using a trowel to dig small holes for plants, for a small family type garden should be a problem. I don't know if you checked out the "stickies" in the pre and post op forums, but this http://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/showthread.php?36996-PDF-from-STS-What-to-expect-after-OHS has a link to a pdf
put together by the society of surgeons, that has a pretty good chart showing when you can start to do different things, they even talk about the different gardning things and when you can do them.

 

[Lily]

Hi Derek -- We members seem to love these type of questions

I could carefully pull over baggy shirts -- but the plackets, like on a button-up polo shirt, will irritate your sternum incision (if that's going to be the surgeon's entry route).

Surgeons vary in post-op restrictions, often telling patients not to drive and not to lift/push/pull more than five or ten pounds for six to eight weeks.

You may not see noticeable improvement day by day; but you will likely see noticeable and then dramatic improvement week by week.

Stairs? I have no stairs, but I've read of many members traipsing up and down stairs without problems. The hospital rehab people should make sure you are safe for that before they release you.

Vigorous Gardening or Art? Do be careful early on. I was sawing lower branches on some trees about two months post-op I think and I may have triggered some costochondritis, a painful and long-running cartilage inflammation. But I was also able to successfully tackle an enormous and complicated and vigorous, multi-layered painting project (not canvas but rather several large and tall walls in two connecting rooms of my house) by three months post-op, rolling and sponging. Just the taping for the fancy faux painting project took me over ten hours, while scurrying up and down a tall ladder, if that gives you an idea of the industriousness of the project. I was so happy to again have the energy to take on such a large creative project.

Hoping you too will be feeling much better very soon. Take care

 

[Elmo]

Hi Derek,
I'm 3 months post op & still find it most comfortable to wear round neck cotton T-shirts which are a couple of sizes larger than I normally wear.
I still find that any buttoned shirt makes my scar sore.
I also bought a few long sleeve T-shirts a couple of sizes bigger than normal & wear them over a short sleeve "T" if I get a bit cold. The same with a light jersey. I wore t-sjirts day & night as they were easy on the scar (especially if its seeping a bit) & if you do get stuck to one its easier than getting stuck to bed linen!!

As to walking up & down stairs - ask your surgeon specifically & explain what you want to do - if he says "No" then DON'T do it!! You also need to remember that you will have to come downstairs at some point. In my early post-op days I used to look at where I wanted to go & work out what I'd do if halfway there I felt bad. This meant i didn't do soem things & that with others i had to wait until someone could go with me. It gets frustrating, but getting better to carry on for the rest of your life is far more important that being able to boast you climbed the stairs on just one occaision.

I found, & I'm sure a lot of other forum members have found, that some of the goals you set yourself are just too high - whether they be physical or mental challenges, & you often have to re think things so you can mke steady progress rather than rushing & injuring yourslef. Any cardiac rehabilitation & physiotherapy you can get will help & you should get some advise/instructions from your surgeon/hospital.

With your gardening, again be careful & take medical advice. The combination of bending, stretching & digging uses a lot of muscles that will have been partially dormant. Also a doctor friend of mine told me the biggest injury he sees in the spring is gardners who have injurred their backs doing their planting after the winter. I think an injured back is the last thing you want.

Hope all goes well with th esurgery & you are able to do everything you want

Tony

 

[drivetopless]

I just tried to "pump" a sprayer can to spray some Round Up. Don't do that at 5 1/2 weeks. Still too much push-pull in that activity

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Most surgeons advise patients not to Push / Pull / Lift more than 5 lbs for 6 weeks when the sternum will be '80% healed', then gradually increase that limit (to 10 lbs?) for the next 6 weeks when the sternum should be completely healed barring rare complications.