Daveb
Member
I had my surgery on December 7th and came home today (Dec 11th). Took a nap on the couch and then got up and ate something.
I had a median sternotomy and the incision is about 3.5" long. All the recovery staff was amazed at how small the incision is. I went into A-fib during the surgery, so the kept me in ICU for an extra 12 hours, but I did not have another episode.
My four take aways:
I don' remember anything from the initial IV insertion until waking up in ICU and being told to relax as they pulled out the incubation tube.
The people were amazing. The surgery was performed at Oregon Heart and Vascular Institute by David Duke. I was totally impressed with the professionalism and compassion from everyone.
The pain isn't; too bad, as long as you stay in front of it. After leaving ICU, I didn't manage my pain very well. I was managing to the static pain level, not to the pain during the breathing exercises. As soon as I started managing the more intense pain, I was able to sleep better, breathe better and the recovery started to happen quicker.
The part of the whole process that I was dreading the most was removal of the Foley Catheter and that wasn't too bad as the RN had me laughing so hard that I couldn't feel in additional pain
It's a lot better view from this side of the surgery.
Again, thanks to all who contribute on the board. You made the process som much easier to handle/
Dave
I had a median sternotomy and the incision is about 3.5" long. All the recovery staff was amazed at how small the incision is. I went into A-fib during the surgery, so the kept me in ICU for an extra 12 hours, but I did not have another episode.
My four take aways:
I don' remember anything from the initial IV insertion until waking up in ICU and being told to relax as they pulled out the incubation tube.
The people were amazing. The surgery was performed at Oregon Heart and Vascular Institute by David Duke. I was totally impressed with the professionalism and compassion from everyone.
The pain isn't; too bad, as long as you stay in front of it. After leaving ICU, I didn't manage my pain very well. I was managing to the static pain level, not to the pain during the breathing exercises. As soon as I started managing the more intense pain, I was able to sleep better, breathe better and the recovery started to happen quicker.
The part of the whole process that I was dreading the most was removal of the Foley Catheter and that wasn't too bad as the RN had me laughing so hard that I couldn't feel in additional pain
It's a lot better view from this side of the surgery.
Again, thanks to all who contribute on the board. You made the process som much easier to handle/
Dave
