aches & pains

[csutherland]

Jerry's AVR & bypass were done on Feb. 12. As mentioned in previous posts he has had a phenomenol recovery. However, last Sat. he was extremely exhausted all day, walking about half as much as usual. He has body aches & pains, pretty well head to toe. With the exception of a couple of days, it has been the same all week. He's going to rehab, his BP stays good throughout, the valve sounds good, protime level good, the nurses in rehab think he's "doing too much", when in reality he's doing about half what he was doing 2 wks post-op. He phoned the cardio's nurse and she thought it sounds like a viral thing.

Input anyone?


AVR + 1 Bypass 2/12/02
Springfield MO

 

[Nancy]

Gee, sorry to hear that Jerry's not feeling well.

Here are some of the questions I would be asking myself if Joe were to have similar symptoms. Have they changed any of his meds recently, is he running a fever, how is his breathing at rest and when going up stairs, etc., is he retaining any fluid, does he have any hives or rashes, are any of his joints stiff or have rashes localized over them, have they run any bloodwork recently, has he been exposed to anyone who is sick or even been in a "germy" environment like the hospital, doctor's office, market, does he have any known allergies.

I would monitor him carefully. I'm not a real firm believer that things are nothing. I truly believe that everything with heart surgery patients means something. Chances are that it's a viral thing, but do be vigilant.

I may seem like a mother hen, but if you see anything you don't understand or think is out of the ordinary, get the doctor on the phone.

Keep us posted.

 

[Mb]

Nancy, thats really great advice.

Nothing is small with these folks.


Marybeth

 

[sylviayasgur]

hi csutherland!
so sorry to hear jerry is feeling a little under the weather. nancy gave some great advice; i'd follow it!
she and marybeth are right, nothing is small and most things/symptoms are usually indicative of something else.
please take thier advice and pursue this if it persists.
please wish jerry well,
sylvia

 

[csutherland]

Questions for Nancy

Questions for Nancy

Nancy, you seem to be an expert on husbands with heart surgeries so I'm directing this to you. Anyone else feel free to jump in and help he out.

Last night Jerry's pain "moved" to the right upper back/shoulder area. He can't lie down in any position, and basically sat up all night, hearing the clock strike every hour. Since tylenol is supposed to be the painkiller allowed with warfarin he's reluctantly taken a few of those over the past 24 hrs. This afternoon he called me to come home from work to take him to ER. The cardio doesn't want to see him, the PCP couldn't work him in and said to go to ER. By the time I got home he had changed his mind about going. He is definitely NOT a hypochondriac.

He's a tall slim man with a 65 yr old abdomen. I did notice that it looked a little bigger under his shirt tonight but didn't say anything. Then he mentioned that his jeans seem tighter. He hasn't been eating more. Could there be CHF or fluid retention at this point? And if so what would cause it? He is having shortness of breath on exertion which wasn't happening before.

Husband Jerry had AVR + 1 Bypass
2/12/02 Springfield MO

 

[Nancy]

Hi csutherland-

It's tough when your doctors "blow you off", especially with a heart surgery patient. What exactly was the excuse the cardiologist gave for not wanting to see him or at least talk with you on the phone??? Sort of leaves you swinging doesn't it.

OK, Joe has had and on occasion still has CHF. The fluid can accumulate in the lungs, the stomach area, the heart, the neck veins making them protrude, the legs, feet and sometimes the hands. It can cause shortness of breath. Most heart surgery patients are on Lasix at least for a short time. Joe is on it probably for life.

Right now, after you read this, put Jerry on the scale and write his weight down, then weigh him every day and write it down. If you see a sudden weight gain of 3 pounds, you should get on the phone with the doctor right away.

Sodium will make CHF much worse because it makes the body retain water. If you put "ole" Jerr on a salt free diet over the weekend, and I mean cut it to the bone, unsalted butter, no salt in cooking and absolutely no table salt, plus no convenience foods, no canned soup, etc. you may find that Jerry can shed some of the fluid if that's what it is. It might help him to feel better.

Immediately on Monday morning get on the phone with whichever doctor cares to take care of their patient and get him in to be seen. You will of course bring your little weight chart with you. Hopefully you'll see some weight loss signalling fluid leaving the body.

I wish you and Jerry the best. heart problems are serious and need to be monitored carefully.

I hope your doctors will respond with due diligence.

Keep us posted.

 

[csutherland]

Thanks, Nancy. I'll do that. We have been cutting way back on salt ever since the surgery--but not to zero.

I didn't talk to the doctor's offices myself. He called himself, which indicates how terrible he was feeling. You see, last week the cardiologist said he didn't need to see him for 1 year and for his PCP to take care of all meds with the exception of the coumadin. He wanted to stay on top of that himself. As for the PCP, it was late afternoon and their office was packed with sick people. The nurse did take the time to consult with the doctor while Jerry waited on the phone.

By the way, how did you know I call him Ole Jerr?

 

[Nancy]

Must be ESP, LOL

 

[csutherland]

Update on Jerry

Update on Jerry

Where did I leave off? Well, he slept pretty well Fri. night and did a few errands and walked about 1/3 of a mile Sat. Came home exhausted and stayed on the couch till about 4 pm when he decided he needed to go to Urgent Care. He got extremely winded walking from the parking lot, which wasn't far at all. They were super there and really took him seriously. Everything about the heart seemed fine, BP and blood work all good, but x-ray of abdominal area indicated a partial small bowel obstruction! We were stunned to say the least. He was admitted to the hospital immediately and is still there. The abdomen is still bloated. No specialists have been consulted but the internist doesn't think there is a bowel obstruction. His theory is gastrointeritis initially that caused the bloating, pushing up his diaphram, causing the shortness of breath. However, everything I've read on that condition indicates diahrrea & vomiting which he hasn't had. Dr. says the shoulder pain is referred pain.

Now I've been reading Jennifer's thread about back/shoulder pain. I had read it before but it didn't apply to him so I didn't pay much attention because his started 5 wks after surgery. Also, through my own research I'm now wondering if the abdominal problems are the result of taking Lipitor. Guess we'll just have to do our own diagnosis--they can't seem to agree on anything in the medical community except that it isn't anything related to the heart.

AVR 2/12/2002
Springfield MO

 

[Nancy]

Poor Jerry-

I'm so sorry to hear about his abdominal problems. If he hadn't gone to Urgent Care, he might never have found out. Thank goodness he went.

I hope there is a speedy resolution for the condition.

I do agree with you that you have to do your own research. Many things in medicine have no obvious answers and the patients and their families are often the only ones who see the "whole" picture. Doctors are sometimes so extremely busy that symptoms can be missed or overlooked. Even minor symptoms can be indicators which are important and these are the ones the patients and their families observe at home during the course of the day. I have frequently typed up symptom lists for Joe to bring to his appointments so nothing is forgotten.

Tell him that we're thinking of him.

 

[Zazzy]

Oh my! Poor Jerry! The statement you made about getting winded walking though the parking lot sent up a red flag for me! A few weeks after my surgery I got a horrible pain in my chest. I thought that I had broken a wire (I did) and went to see the surgeon. Since said wire was not poking through the skin they sent me home.

On the way home, a 1-1/2 hour drive, I started getting a pain in my side. I attributed this to the fact that I had a burrito for lunch... my first spicy meal since surgery. When I got home, the first thing I did was vomit. Still thought nothing of it.... I laid down on the couch and took a nap. When I woke up I had the most awful pain in my right side, got up and went to the bathroom. When I came back to the couch I found I couldn't lay down! When my husband got home from work at 1 a.m. the pain was worse and I asked to be taken to the ER. I couldn't sit down by this time!

They ran all sorts of tests at the ER, called in the general surgeon here, who concluded that it was appendicitis. He was all set to take the dang thing out (which by this time I was all for btw). This was around 5 a.m. My PCP stopped by the hospital to check on some patients before he went hunting. Nobody had called him to tell him that I was there. Both he and the surgeon came into my room and started arguing over me! He told the surgeon that he had no business operating on me.... that he should ship me over to the hospital in Spokane where I had my surgery. He won, thank God!

I was taken to Spokane by ambulance... a very uncomfortable ride in my current state. Diagnosis was pleural effusion. The sac around my right lung had filled with so much fluid that it had collapsed my lung. This caused pressure on my liver, which was also enlarged. The enlarged liver was pressing on my appendix, causing the pain there!

So you can see... nothing is ever as it seems. BTW, my abdomen was also very bloated.

You might mention this to his cardio. My docs have all concluded that if it is strange and could happen that it WOULD happen to me.

Take care,
Zazzy