Don't Sneeze...

[JeffF]

Tomorrow will be 5 weeks since my AVR and root replacement surgery, and I have been lucky enough to have fought off sneezing thus far. Unfortunately, I lost the no sneezing battle about 30 minutes ago and quickly realized why everyone has said not to sneeze. WOW the pain is crazy.

So I figured I would echo what others have told me...

"Don't Sneeze"

 

[bradvo]

Every stinkin time I use Listerine mint flavor mouth wash I sneeze or go into that reaction to sneeze , all my defenses come to play to avoid it and I'm at 11 weeks. No pain like 5 weeks however, so light is at the end of the tunnel.

 

[joanie]

My first sneeze took me by surprise while I was still in the hospital. No time to grab my heart pillow. All I can say is OUCH! I thought my chest was going to explode! I don't know how you can avoid it, but if you can . . . don't sneeze!

 

[escargome]

Or cough. I thought I had completely ripped my incision open when I was unfortunate enough to have swallowed some food to quickly and proceeded to cough uncontrollably for at least 3 minutes having just been just 5 days post-op. Holy Cow!! it hurt.

 

[chaconne]

I avoided sneezing for 4 weeks post AVR by plugging my nose or blowing it. Given the soreness that coughing or blowing my nose caused, I knew I didn't want to do it, especially in the first 2-3 weeks. After 4 weeks I could tolerate it. At 6 weeks, I got a cold and was violently sneezing several times a day. This let to some extra soreness in the sternum, but it didn't get out of hand. Thank God I didn't have this cold right after AVR!

 

[Julian]

The pain I experienced at about 4 weeks post was strange, my paranoid mind thought I messed up the sewing job on the heart but wben J did sneeze a few times it wasnt the worst pain ever but a scary kind of pain I cant describe. Yikes.

 

[jordan]

I sneezed many times over the last 4 weeks and the pain has gotten better over that month. Similar to that, I watched a Top Gear marathon on BBC America during my first week home. Laughed so much and it hurt.

 

[Boston Tiger]

The good news is that sneezing will get better in time, but those first few are tough! The strangest thing about my first sneeze was that my body stopped the entire sneeze reflex halfway through the sneeze. My next sneeze was probably a week later, and the groan from that one brought some people down to my office to see if I was OK.

 

[Herburban1]

They should hand out a "Sneezing sucks" T shirt with the pillows.