Hospital Stay - The Complete Story

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TheGymGuy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Messages
999
Location
Rockville, MD
My 4 days in the hospital.


I just wanted to say that yours and my friends and family's thoughts, prayers, and positive energy has carried me through this surgery. All I had to do was put forth my best effort. I swear the Universe, God, Positive Energy, and the Surgical team did the rest, and it is amazing what was accomplished. This is my experience which might be shorter than others that you will read, but even though the timeline might be accelerated, the events are still the ones you will go through during your surgery and initial recovery. I want to tell you that you are in control of what is happening most of the time. It is YOU, YOUR BODY, YOUR SUPPORT TEAM, and hospital staff. Go in educated, be prepared to work hard and FIGHT. Have your support team be ready for encouragement. Do not feel bad if you are in pain or feel weak, use that as an opportunity for course corrections. Hospital will provide the needed drugs to stabilize you, always do the most you can do. Do not give up for a second. You made it through your surgery and it is your turn now to take control and win. This is what was going through my mind and I hope that you can adopt some of it and use it as well.


Day 0 (Surgery)

Last seconds with my wife, I became very emotional. Perhaps, more so emotional than I ever remember myself feeling. This moment, in my mind, defined to me my true humanity, I was worried about my baby and my wife, how much I will miss them and how there will be no one here to really love them the way that I do and take care of them. I am not sure that J has ever seen me this way, and in a way I hope she got to know me better than ever at that one moment.

On the table at 7am, in the Room at 2pm. I remember being transfered to an operating table in OR and looking around and seeing all sorts of high-tech gadgets that just made me want to hang out there and look and touch everything. That is the last thing I remember, next thing was around 2pm in my room. The hospital that we chose has 1 room for the patient where you go after your surgery and stay till checkout time. They simply remove equipment that you no longer use as you get more unplugged from the machines, etc. As I opened my eyes, I knew I had a tube in my mouth and I remember JeffF and others telling me that the tube will come out after your lungs are working sufficiently on their own and your blood oxygen is high enough. I knew I was awake, I was not in pain, so the first thing I do is start violently sucking air though the tube and filling my lungs as much as I can. Next thing I hear is that they will be removing tube in 15 minutes, I do not quit, oh no, I will not stop, I keep on sucking air, 10 minutes left, I am told only 5 minutes left, then, take a big breath in and out and the tube is gone!!! I am not sure that I minded the tube, but my fear of it was so high that I wanted it out asap. Later, I was told that I set some record with only having breathing tube for 15 minutes in my room. Or, at least, this is the memory I choose to keep. ;)

2:20pm or so when I arrived to my room my surgeon wanted to give a young lad like myself a boost, so that 1 PINT I donated 2 weeks ago was given to me to enjoy the fresh new RBCs and Plasma. I think this has made me feel better, but do not know for sure. I was given the blood in my room, post-op, but before I was fully awake. See this thread for me trying to make my decision on banking my blood: http://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/showthread.php?39822-Surgery-date-has-been-set-to-03-27-2012 . In retrospect this was a GREAT idea.

2:30pm or so, Anesthesiologist gave me his hand like a handshake or maybe he gave me several fingers and asks me how I am doing, I try to squeeze his hand as hard as I can to show him I am doing well, and respond with an "eh" to his question. This is true, I was feeling "eh", sort of dull discomfort, but not unbearable or anything. I think this guy did a great job. I talked to him about "pump-head" minutes before surgery and he said that he is well aware of the condition, the research around it, and that they re-warm the body slowly. This is the same message I got from the surgeon in our previous talks. My feeling when I woke up was pretty drugged up, dull pain everywhere, and especially in my torso/abdomen. I told him in one word that I could think up how I was doing - "eh".

2:30pm - 6pm I saw my wife and many many members of my family. My advice to you is minimize the traffic in your room, it gets distracting and people can just txt/call your significant other or parents and get same news as they get in person. I was fully awake and was told to go take a nap and lower my blood pressure. I actually felt my heart beating pretty strongly and was very happy about that. At some point, I remember telling my wife, that I was "bored" just laying there. This much drugs in you makes you feel like you could get up and walk.

Rest of the day and night went pretty uneventful. I threw up once as a reaction to some IV pain-killer and it sucked (not the pain-killer the throwing up). Though, since I have not had any food or drink in me the throw up was a bit of water than I had at 6:40am which they had me drink with half a pill of metropolol, a pretty standard procedure before heart surgery.
I was starting to feel some dull aches and asking for more pain killers here and there. I remember telling my brother at some point that I felt like they "were not managing my pain" level properly. This should have been a hint of what was to come (pain management wise) ;)

One more note about day 0. You will have many tubes stuck in you. I saw pictures and videos of people with them and it is pretty scary to an onlooker. From visibility stand point, you will have a neck IV, this one is scary looking and has all sorts of things in there. There is actually a cannula going into your heart from there too. Also, both or one hands IVs and both wrist IVs which are used for pressure measurement purposes. Invisible to your guests will be the catheter, 2-4 chest tubes (most likely 3), and pacemaking wires from your heart. When people/visitors see this stuff they look freaked out, and honestly, the last thing you want is seeing fear and such in your visitor's eyes. Prepare your guests for this sort of thing, so that when they see you, their eyes should not have fear or some other emotion which will get you down. Remember, you can control your guest list. I operate under principle KISS (keep it simple silly), the less complications the better.


Day 1 (Recovery Begins)

Around 4am, it was time to get up and sit in the chair/recliner. Right before this, they got some blood, fluid checks, x-ray in my bed, and I took some pills. 2 hours later I would be taking my very first walk, which everyone would tell you is no easy task. I picked a point away from my room, which I believe was about 30-50 baby steps away. While 2 nurses were supporting me I went there and back and was put back into my recliner. This is the day where most little IV's and other things were removed from me, except for chest tubes, catheter, IV in my left arm, and neck IV (which I know was removed later on that day, but do not remember exactly when). Good news is that after most things are removed, you feel loads more mobile. This day I took 2 more walks. First walk was one whole lap around the unit. It's actually a pretty small lap, but the only lap I could take so I made the most of it. Second walk was later in the evening, and I believe I did 3 laps, though, 3rd lap was a bit much as my body was very very cold and slightly shaky after we finished it. This could also be a reaction to amiodorone, which makes you very cold and just needed time to hit me. After 2 laps I had maybe half a lap, but I pushed through to turn the corner and get back. Nurse held my box with liquids and I walked unassisted.

Right before midnight my catheter was removed. I was well prepared for all the things that people here warned me about, so I tripple made sure they deflated the balloons, but, boy, when the pulled I swear this was worse than chest tubes removal. I went into serious shaking/shuddering and felt like I had to pee for about 5 minutes straight with nothing coming out.

Most important thing I noticed on Day 1 is that my pain management was slowly cut down. I was in level 3-5 out of 10 pain most of the time, and I would get some shot once in 4-6 hours and 2 x oxycodone every 4 hours. Somehow, it was not enough, and they kept on spacing the dozes further and further out through the day. I suppose this is a good thing, though depends on which angle you look at it from. Right now I believe that this is the best thing they could do for me. Keep me medicated, but not enough that I am too groggy to be physically active. It also might be that they gave me all the meds I needed and my body metabolized them really fast. Either way, I was not very comfortable, and it was mostly caused by chest tubes. Also, I spent close to half a day or more in my recliner and not in bed and it is supposed to be better for you to be more upright and not laying down to recover. Most people tell you and I agree that the faster you get anesthesia out of your body the sooner your recovery will start. I learned that exercise increases our metabolic rates for just about anything and as such tried to be as mobile as possible and as active as possible to get my body back asap.


Day 2 (Recovery Continues)

4am, the cycle repeats, blood work, x-ray in my bed, fluid check from your chest tubes, get up, sit-up in recliner, go for a walk (first walk of the day was 1 lap as I was still slightly skittish from last night).

I felt relatively in control on Day 2. All I had left were chest tubes and 1 IV for pain medication and some other drug delivery, though, they eliminated my IV pain meds at this point and only had me on oxycodone, which sucked since I remember being in level 4 pain most of the time. Majority of this pain was from chest tubes, as I remember having issues with deep breath, and even laughing.

I must have taken 4 walks this day. Each walk was longer and longer. Also, I received lots of messages from my friends and one of my good friends and a workout partner stopped by and brought by lunch and cookies his fiance made. My spirits were high and I was very very active. I spent the whole day in my chair and almost no time in my bed until 10pm that night.
This is also the day that they mentioned that they might check me out tomorrow, and that made me nervous as I did not know if I am ready. Whenever you are in the hospital you feel that if something happens they can save you pretty fast, and even though I was very active, the pain that I now know was from chest tubes had me very worried about leaving.


Day 3 (Checkout)

Another crappy night of sleep. 4am cycle repeats again - blood work (they draw by hand), fluid from your chest tubes check, the x-ray in your bed, medicine taking, etc.
I was extremely worried about having too much fluid but they are saying we are ready. I was accumulating around 12.5 ml per hour the day before and they said that around 100ml per day is when tubes can come out. The nurse at night kept on moving fluid from the tubes into the box they are attached to, and I was worried that she made a mistake.

This is very typical paranoia as well as a very classic last day hospital behavior. And, trust me, they will not sign you out if they think you are not ready. Just think to yourself - who on God's earth would want to stay extra time in the hospital. If they think you are ready - you are ready. Be confident, be ready, embrace the recovery in the comfort of your house.

My wife and I took an 8 lap walk, and I simply carried my box with fluids. Actually, I was carrying my box with fluids starting mid-day yesterday, so if I wanted to walk, I did not need nursing staff to help me or anything. That felt very liberating and made me feel that we are on schedule.

Ok, so around 9:30am a NP (nurse practitioner) that I met at my pre-op came to remove my chest tubes. It was nice to see the person that I knew and she seemed to be very friendly and nice, and narrated what she was doing along the way as well as told me stories about her kids. Believe it or not she put me at ease (chest tube removal was a very scary thing for me). She slowly pulled out each tube one at a time. I have to tell ya that it was not pleasant, but it was not near as painful as my catheter. I would breath in and hold my breath for each of the tubes removal. Each tube would take 3-4 seconds to be fully out and there were about 4-6" of each tube in me. Holding my breath or breathing out slowly but forcefully would diminish the pain you will feel. All 3 tubes combined felt less uncomfortable than the catheter for me. Also, once they are out, you can take a full breath, laugh, sit-up and be so much more comfortable I cannot even describe it. One more thing I am adding here is that when they tie up stitches in your 3 holes, it will pinch and pull. You can ask Nurse to place lots of pressure elsewhere on your stomach or body to get you to feel this hole tying slightly less. When the tubes are gone, most people, and I agree, will tell you that you will feel like a million bucks.

At 11:30am the final x-ray was done to check for air or fluid around my lungs, in my chest/abdominal cavity where the chest tubes were. Once that came back clean, they had me out of there with my bags and all within 2 hours.


We got home after 2pm. Unpacked, changed and just hung out for the rest of the day. I had some delicious food brought by my brother-in-law and we had an awesome family lunch with the baby.



This is my story and I also have pictures and videos that I can either add here or in subsequent posts. Here are the pictures, they are pretty graphic. You have been warned: https://picasaweb.google.com/102667...&authkey=Gv1sRgCJyA28Hiw7XDVQ&feat=directlink

EDITED:
1. Post by my wife with play-by-play as she was waiting during the day of the surgery: http://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/showthread.php?39960-TheGymGuy-Updates-3-27-2012
2. My last Pre-op post (I am sure many went through the same feelings): http://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/showthread.php?39943-Had-my-Pre-OP-appointment

Yours truly,
TheGymGuy
 
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An amazing story. You weren't even there 3 days. Less than 2-1/2. Mind boggling.
 
Glad your shared your story gymguy, I don't know how it is with others, but for the first couple of weeks, maybe more I remembered MOST of my hospital stay, nurses faces, what I did, etc. now as I sit here typing, I can't remember almost any of it for the life of me. I really wish I would of wrote my story down anywhere so I remembered. It's good you got it out so quickly.

Thank you for sharing this, and glad to see you seem to be in good spirit.
 
Amazing story! Good for you. I'm left wondering if the catheter thing is worse for guys than girls because for me it was no big deal. I was also surprised to hear that they did your chest tubes slowly. I had two, and two nurses pulled them out QUICKLY at the same time. I didn't even have time to think about if it hurt. The worst part of the tubes coming out for me was when the pulled the stitches tight. It was like a terrible pinch...that was something I hadn't read about (or don't remember reading about).

For everyone reading this who will come after us...
Although This story is very inspiring, don't be too discouraged if you hospital experience isn't quite as rosy. In comparison to GymGuy's story, my hospital stay was rough, but it was over in 5 days, and at 5 weeks it is already becoming a blur.

If anyone thinks that last part should be removed, I will go back and edit the post. I am one of those who would read a post like the one above and become very disheartened by the fact that my recovery wasn't going as smoothly. Maybe it's just my competitive nature :)
 
My story appears easy but I promise it was challenging ;)

The time factor and speed with which things were happening was fast, but I was in pain most if not all of the time. I remember thinking to myself every day and every hour that next hour I will get my doctor and complain about my pain level and maybe they will give me something stronger. I was not comfortable, and sometimes the pain level was not tolerable. I am strong and stubborn, I hate pain but I can take it in small doses. Being the lier that I am (all athletes lie to themselves to get more reps, more time under tension, another 30 seconds of pain, etc), this every hour promise to ask next hour got me through most hours of the day. I did ask several times but results were same as if I did not ask.

@mom2izzy, I should re-write the piece with tube pulling out speed. You made a very good point. There were about 4-6" inches of each tube in me and she pulled them out in 3-4 seconds each. A total of 3 breath holds. I would say that if she pulled really fast I would feel muscular burn, I have dense abs and tubes were stuck in there nice and tight. I will add the seconds and breath holding to that part. How could I forget the tying of the wounds. Yeah, that was memorable and very pinchy/pully. I was on serious high from chest-tubes being pulled out and pinch for each hole was momentary, she also taped my stomach tightly so that when I stand the tape pulls stomach skin together in a vertical motion and that seemed to alleviate lots of pain and just make it a discomfort which I've forgotten about.

Also, I fully agree with your point, we all will have a very unique experience, but the order of things will be just about on par. I think I even put that in the disclaimer in my first paragraph ;)
 
Good job, GymGuy!
Something that I think really helped when I got the chest tubes out.....I was lucky that I was told the NP would be around in about 2 hours to take them out. I asked for a pain pill about an hour later so that it would have time to take effect before they were pulled.
It worked.....I can honestly say I had absolutely no pain with them coming out. I bit of a funny feeling but it was not pain.
I would suggest that if one can get a time frame when they will come out, ask for your pain med around an hour before hand. It can't hurt! ( pun intended :) )
karla
 
Something else I just thought of in regard to pain in general....it is important to realize that unless you have a pain pump that you can control ( give yourself some IV pain med when you need it), the nurses do NOT bring you pain meds on a schedule. You must ask for it when you need it. It is always best to ask for it BEFORE it gets too bad...it is easier to control at that point rather than when it gets really bad.
Just a thought.
karla
 
I agree 100% with the order of things. I'm sorry if it sounded at all like I was trivializing your experience. I guess the speed of things just makes it seem like you must have breezed right through, but I understand that the speed was all due to your ability to FIGHT through it. I'm very impressed!

I think the only major thing that happened to me that I didn't see in your description was the physical therapist's visits. Maybe they didn't bug you as much because you were up walking and fighting through the pain. With me, they were in my room dragging me out of bed to walk when I was so nauseous and dizzy, I didn't even feel like I could sit up. This is completely due to the fact that my body doesn't tolerate drugs or anesthesia well. They kept trying new drugs, but EVERYTHING made me feel crappy. For me the nausea is worse than pain, so finally we gave up the search, and I was taking only Regular Tylenol. I eventually got the doctor to agree that the Physical Therapists and nurse could only nag me about walking for the first two hours after I took the Tylenol, then they had to leave me alone until my next dose (2hours later). In retrospect, It probably worked out for the best...I'm completely off pain meds at this point.
 
It's most interesting to see how rapidly you moved along or were moved along. No one else has ever reported anything like that here, as far as I can recall. So, your story is so, so different from most. However, your experience with pain is far more like most. I had the strangest experience with that - I never had any. Although I was in for 7 days and had other challenegs (stopped breathing once in ICU, fever, moderate renal failure episode, never slept, pounding high heart rate, severe anemia), I totally escaped what challenged you the most. The catheters and pacer lines and chest tubes were totally comfortable and I did not feel them being removed. Zip, and they were out, even though I was on no pain meds after the single Fentanyl dose in the ICU that nearly killed me. The breathing tube was gone before I woke up. I don't remember it at all. In that regard I had it FAR easier than you and most others. I just needed to wait for the other complications to run their course.

I expect the pain from your incisions to recede, your sensations of coldness to improve (although I don't see anything about anemia or iron supplements in your case, I would recommend asking about that, as well as the metoprolol and amiodarone "prophylaxis").
 
Thanks for sharing, Vadim. Your story gives a good overview of post-surgery experiences, thoughts and concerns.

Best wishes for a continued recovery and that the 'glitches' get ironed out.

:)
 
Great overview. Way to go Gymguy, and I hope your recovery full and fast. I really enjoyed what you had to say. Tuly amazing!!:thumbup:
 
I concur with you on the durned tubes hurting. I was miserable from those, everytime my pain meds wore off, after both surgeries. Some people don't have any problems, but I'm not one of them.

I was INSISTENT on getting pain meds as needed. You may need to be aggressive about it, 'cause they don't always offer on a schedule.

Of course I can be a right Be-otch, but the first time they heard me scream (I have a high tolerance for pain but the one tube was awful), they learned right quick that when I say I need meds, I need meds.
 
Glad your shared your story gymguy, I don't know how it is with others, but for the first couple of weeks, maybe more I remembered MOST of my hospital stay, nurses faces, what I did, etc. now as I sit here typing, I can't remember almost any of it for the life of me. I really wish I would of wrote my story down anywhere so I remembered. It's good you got it out so quickly.

Thank you for sharing this, and glad to see you seem to be in good spirit.

Ditto Ovie. I should have written every darned detail down in the hospital. I did remember to write down the names of each and everyone of the wonderful staff and nurses and sent a thank you note to them. But the other details, I passed on, as I was mostly groggy and did not even feel like watching TV for the 5 days I was in the hospital.
 
It's very interesting how people's experiences in recovery can vary so much. I was in for five days, since some heart rhythm issues kept me in ICU for two nights rather than one. The first tubes (after the breathing tube) that were removed from me were my chest tubes, but I can't say for certain if they were removed in the ICU or in the step down room. The only thing I can say about their removal was that it felt gross, and made me think of the scene in Alien where the little baby alien was emerging from the guys chest. The doctor told me to take a deep breath and let it out while the tubes were removed, and that may have been my longest exhale ever!

My pacing wires stayed in until day three or four, and it seemed like I felt a shock when they were pulled. That was followed by the removal of the various IVs and finally the catheter. I was expecting the worst with the latter, but that was nothing compared to the weirdness of the chest tube removal. The best thing about being totally disconnected was being able to go in for that first shower after surgery and start to feel human again.
 
Hi Vadim,

Great photos. It seems really odd seeing the face of the man who lives miles and miles away, but has similar issues to me. Somehow, it makes your posts seem more alive and real. I have a question - do you ever rest?

Thrilled also seems to be going swimmingly. Enjoy the Easter break.


Phil.
 
Hi, its great you wrote everything while it is so clear, since things become a blur much quicker than anyone would guess. thats one of the reasons I also like the sites like caringbridge that you update everyone thru out the day during the hospital stay and first short time home until things get nice and 'boring" Justin has had alot of surgeries OHS and other and FIRST I want to say I think it is terrible you were in so much pain most of the time. There is NO reason for that, many centers and surgeons count pain control as one of the most important jobs they have during the post op period.I would be sure to tell every family memeber who will be there with you to fight for you if they have to to make sure you are not in pain. I also would make sure pain control is discussed buring the preop appts. we never had to bring it up they doctors always did. but was always on my "list"
Some hospitals do things differently, for example Justin had 6 heart surgeries at 2 hospitals over a 20 year periord, so somethings changed over that time, but he has never had the neck IV, also some times he was on the vent thru his nose, not mouth, he found that a little more comfortable. You dont have to work really hard breathing to get off the vent, altho it worked for you, often by just relaxing and breathing with the vent and not fighting it, will get you off it rather quickly If you wake up on it.

It sounds like you had the pretty big thick chest tubes hooked to the plueravac. (Ok I looked at your pictures you did have the pluevac large tubes) Justin's last few OHS they used the much smaller ones (thinner than my pinky) that hook to little bulbs, they make it much easier to walk around with (just safety pin to gown or whatever clothes you are wearing for your laps) and dont seem to be as much of a bother while they are in you. Usually instead of taking all the tubes out at 1 time, often you can slowly lose them one by one. ike Mom wrote, in justin's experience with all the chest tubes he had removed he prefers them pulled quickly , kind of like band aid, and not slowly like Vad's experience. Since his last 2 OHS he was home the 3rd or 4th day, (once surgery tues, home sat, the next surgery tues home that friday) even pulling the tubes seperately he might have 1 pulled in the morning and another that late afternoon. As was mentioned above, they usually (but not always) know they are going to be pulling the tubes, if you want it is a good idea to ask for a little pain meds shortly before.
These are all good things you can ask about what they normally do and any concerns/fears you have during the day of meeting everyone preop. Thats another good thing about detailed posts like this, it makes you think of things you can ask about.

Im glad you are doing so well but it really makes me angry when i hear people having that much pain, knowing there is no reason for it
 
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Here are the pictures of the story above, perhaps I can just add them one by one to the post above - https://picasaweb.google.com/102667...&authkey=Gv1sRgCJyA28Hiw7XDVQ&feat=directlink I will take thoughts on the idea of adding them to the post. It will make it look ginormous, like a long story with pictures.

I also have 2 long videos, 1 with walking and getting up and 1 with breathing exercises.

probaly would leave the pictures with a link like you have now and not put them in the post. i know some peole who have slower internet have trouble if there are alot of pictures and it can even be a pain if you are reading on an ipad phone etc this way it will be quick for everyone, but you can easily check out the photos if you want
 
Hi, its great you wrote everything while it is so clear, since things become a blur much quicker than anyone would guess. thats one of the reasons I also like the sites like caringbridge that you update everyone thru out the day during the hospital stay and first short time home until things get nice and 'boring" Justin has had alot of surgeries OHS and other and FIRST I want to say I think it is terrible you were in so much pain most of the time. There is NO reason for that, many centers and surgeons count pain control as one of the most important jobs they have during the post op period.I would be sure to tell every family memeber who will be there with you to fight for you if they have to to make sure you are not in pain. I also would make sure pain control is discussed buring the preop appts. we never had to bring it up they doctors always did. but was always on my "list"
Some hospitals do things differently, for example Justin had 6 heart surgeries at 2 hospitals over a 20 year periord, so somethings changed over that time, but he has never had the neck IV, also some times he was on the vent thru his nose, not mouth, he found that a little more comfortable. You dont have to work really hard breathing to get off the vent, altho it worked for you, often by just relaxing and breathing with the vent and not fighting it, will get you off it rather quickly If you wake up on it.

It sounds like you had the pretty big thick chest tubes hooked to the plueravac. (Ok I looked at your pictures you did have the pluevac large tubes) Justin's last few OHS they used the much smaller ones (thinner than my pinky) that hook to little bulbs, they make it much easier to walk around with (just safety pin to gown or whatever clothes you are wearing for your laps) and dont seem to be as much of a bother while they are in you. Usually instead of taking all the tubes out at 1 time, often you can slowly lose them one by one. ike Mom wrote, in justin's experience with all the chest tubes he had removed he prefers them pulled quickly , kind of like band aid, and not slowly like Vad's experience. Since his last 2 OHS he was home the 3rd or 4th day, (once surgery tues, home sat, the next surgery tues home that friday) even pulling the tubes seperately he might have 1 pulled in the morning and another that late afternoon. As was mentioned above, they usually (but not always) know they are going to be pulling the tubes, if you want it is a good idea to ask for a little pain meds shortly before.
These are all good things you can ask about what they normally do and any concerns/fears you have during the day of meeting everyone preop. Thats another good thing about detailed posts like this, it makes you think of things you can ask about.

Im glad you are doing so well but it really makes me angry when i hear people having that much pain, knowing there is no reason for it

Hey Lyn, that is some pretty good feedback and advice for those that will be going through this in the future. Believe it or not "pain management" was a huge topic of concern for me. I discussed in detail with most everyone. Surgeon guaranteed that the CTU (cardio thoracic Unit) nurses will keep me as comfortable as possible. Though, there are some confusing things about "pain management". If you are in too much pain, you cannot recover, if you are too medicated you cannot recover, therefore there must be a happy medium. On day 0 for me, when I was in bed, they made sure I was mostly comfortable. When I was in pain, I would wine to my brother, wife or nurse and I was getting shots of Fentanyl (I think) or maybe something else every so often. Issue with being drugged up is that side-effects often make you less productive and more sedentary. Starting with day 1 post-op, I spent every waking minute doing something productive, either using spirometer, or talking to people, or walking around or something. I refused to be stationary. I was not in the mood to sit-down and give-in or give-up. My guess is that I was making lots of progress on day 1 and when they saw the progress they just figured that I am comfortable. I complained and was getting pain killers, but the way they worked out a schedule was time spaced (4 hour intervals). In retrospect this was a very good thing. 2.5 days of medium suffering, from chest tubes mostly, cause once they pulled them out I was pain free and nearly pain killer free.

Thinking back, I could stand the pain and it was just something that I wish I did not have to deal with, however, given the choice of getting my body back faster and less pain, I would chose the get my body back faster route every time. I know that my surgeon and anesthesiologist knew that about me, and perhaps there were some notes somewhere instructing nursing staff as such ;)

Today is day 9 and I am virtually off all pain killers, I still take Tylenol 3 before bed. I think that if they had me drugged down any more that they did my progress would have been limited or at least slightly delayed. Still, I always appreciate your (and others, of course) posts and perspective it gives me a another angle on the situation and gives me things to think about and act on.
 

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