I can drive!

[weekycat]

Hi everyone,

I had my 4wk appt with my surgeon today, and the only restriction he gave me was to continue not to lift anything more than 5-10lbs for another 2 months, (he's always said not more than 10lbs before). I haven't tried driving yet, and I don't think I want to go too far, but it sure will be nice to be able to drive to the grocery store or drive myself to cardiac rehab etc.

I was a little dissapointed in the short visit I had with him today though, it's over an hour's drive there and we were in the parking ramp less than 20 minutes (free), so you know I didn't spend much time with the doc. He basically just asked a couple of questions, listened to my heart, took a look at my incision and said, " that repair should last you a life time, now get out of here and I don't ever want to see you again". Now, he said this with a on his face and I know he just meant that he didn't want me to have anymore problems and have to see him again, but I felt sort of cheated.

I still have soooo many questions. I don't know why, but it seems to me that so many of you know so much more about the procedure that was done to you, how long you were on the heart-lung machine etc. I'm not sure why I want to know the answers to these questions, but I do.

My pcp is taking care of the whole coumadin thing, and I only have to be on it another month as far as I know, but I'm not even sure if I have to have anymore check-ups with a cardiologist, when or if they'll take me off of Lisinopril, ( I don't have high blood pressure, never have).

I guess what bugs me is, he was in and out of there so fast, I didn't even get a chance to think about what questions I wanted answered. Has anyone else had this type of experience?

Jean

 

[Granbonny]

Same thing for me

Same thing for me

Hey Jean, I saw my Card 3 weeks after my surgery..In and out..said they (meaning office) will call you in 3 months.. He scratch off all medicines except Hyzaar. (BP)..Of course, I had to call them and get the appointment...For July 10th..That is why I adore this website..You can find out answers to your questions faster here...and I have my own Protime now..I will have some questions written down when I go July 10th...I also find that my clinical nurses at Card's office are really nice. Of courseI have to leave voice mail and they will call back after office closes. Doctors are only allowed 15 minutes to see their patients. Don't try to drive too soon..You are not healed at 4 weeks. Bonnie

 

[Christina]

Hi Jean,

Doctors are very busy people these days and simply cannot spend quality time with a patient. I also craved more attention than I received, but never got it. I saw the surgeon twice after my surgery. The second time the staples were taken out . He never said that he released me or anything, so I had to assume that this was it.
They are so matter of fact, and many times it sounded he had just worked on my car. LOL!!!
What I did was request a copy of the report (a nurse at the hospital told me about that) and you can call the hospital for that. You might have to pay for this as mine was not free, but I was very curious to know what happened in the operating room the second time around. (see my story why I had two AVR's)
You will find all the information in the report like how long you were on the heart/lung machine etc, plus it was readable! YEAH!!! And just tell them to send you the MOST important pages. If you request all of it, it could cost you a bundle. Mine would have been over $250.00, but I ended up paying $25.00
I just had my 20 month echocardiogram and am still waiting for the cardio to call me with his explanation on the numbers. They faxed the report to me yesterday, but I don't know what it all means. So you see, they take their sweet time in getting back to us patients. Last year it took him over three weeks. But I assume that if anything were seriously wrong again, he would have gotten back with me already.
What you can do if you have more questions to FAX them to the doctor, and ask him to FAX the answers back to you.

Hope I helped you!

Christina
Congenital Aortic Stenosis
AVR's 8/7/00 & 8/18/00
St.Jude's Mechanical

 

[Nancy]

Hi Jean-

As long as you don't have any problems, there's really not much more the surgeon can do. If you have questions, they'll answer them. It's too late for me to tell you now, but you should always go with a typed or written list so you won't forget what you wanted to ask.

Surgeons are for the OR and fixing you up and your related hospitalization. Your cardiologist is for aftercare. That is unless you develop a surgical related problem, but at this stage in your healing, that's probably a remote thing.

Joe's aftercare appts. were brief also because he just needed a final checkup, nothing infected, nothing hurting, so out you go. That's all there is to it.

I'm sure if you want to see your surgical report, your cardiologist could help you out. They usually get a summary of what happened.

Congratulations on being able to drive. It's a big step and makes you finally feel free.

 

[Johnny Stephens]

Congrats!!!

Congrats!!!

You've got wheels! Isn't that a great feeling? I understand your wish to not drive yet, but at least you have the option. Another milestone passed!

Short followup meeting with my surgeon? Try NO followup meeting. My surgeon has a large (and excellent) staff that "interfaces" with the patients, including a fantastic assistant. For a while, she was calling me daily after release to make sure I was doing well, fixed some prescription mixups, ordered an echo at my merely suggesting I had edema, etc.

Don't get me wrong, my surgeon is a great, warm person, but is in extremely high demand as the chief of cardiac surgery at a major University. He stopped by to see me several times in ICU when I was having my pulmonary complications.

I went into this with my eyes wide open, not expecting lots of personal attention from him, as long as I got it in the OR. I have no complaints...

I'm already handed off to my cardiologist, and go for my 2nd visit in 3 weeks.

Again, congrats on the milestone!!

 

[weekycat]

Thanks guys!

Thanks guys!

I think I will check into that report. My pcp said something about some problems the first couple of days in the hospital, and then the surgeon said something today about my long stay in there, (8 days). The thing is, while I was there it seemed like they were keeping me in the dark about what was going on with my own body and I still don't know exactly what the problems were. I know there was a problem with my heart rythmn or something, I was on a pacemaker for at least a couple of days, and was also on oxygen for a few days.

I was initially told it would be a 4-5 day stay in the hospital, and was told after about 3 days that I needed to get off the oxygen, have a bm and get to cardiac rehab a couple of times. After I had jumped through those three hoops, they were still telling me "another day or two"....and after a day or two........."another day or two"! I found it very frustrating, as did my family, especially my 5 yr old daughter. I kept telling her I'd be home soon, and then couldn't keep my promise. She was crying on the phone and said she "just couldn't wait another day", ( ok, so she's a drama queen), but she had me in tears.

I would'nt mind being turned over to the cardiologist, but no one even said anything about making an appt with him, so I'm not sure where I'm at. I saw one cardiologist last fall, and two different ones in April, once each. It was decided at that time that it was time to do the repair, and I've had no contact with any of them since I was turned over to the surgeon.

Okay, I'm done with my rant now...thanks for listening, Jean

 

[Nancy]

Hi Jean-

Just some thoughts. Perhaps you should give your PCP a call and have him refer you to a good cardiologist. You should be seen by one, probably a couple of times a year. Or maybe you were happy with the last ones you saw, and could get a referral for one of them. If no one else makes the first move, do it yourself. Take the bull by the horns and ask about it. Maybe it's just one of those things where everybody thinks the other guy did it.

You mentioned that you will be on Coumadin for a while. Getting to a therapeutic INR level after surgery caused some extended stays for my husband. It just took forever, and they did like they did with you, saying probably tomorrow you'll go home, but the promises just kept coming and he had to stay for a while. With some folks it's just difficult to get the INR up. He always pitched a fit at having to stay.

If your oxygen level is not up to speed, they will keep you on oxygen until it gets there, that's not unusual, plus it has to be sustainable after mild exercising like walking, if it drops too much after walking, they will keep you on oxygen longer. Not everyone's lungs fully expand for a time after surgery, that's why they push the spirometer so much. It's important to get those lungs "puffed up".

Irregular heart beats are also not unusual. My husband already has a permanent pacemaker, so he didn't need to have a temporary one. But I think I remember a few people on this board saying they were on a temp. one for a time.

I'm not sure that any of the above are what happened to you, but I bet you'll find many people saying they experienced the same type of things. Not everyone can whiz in and out. It's very individual. The most important thing is that you're feeling better. That counts the most.

Take care,

 

[weekycat]

You're right Nancy

You're right Nancy

I did have problems with my oxygen level dropping with exercise etc, but I know I was off the oxygen by the 3rd day for sure.

And yes, the Coumadin level was a problem the last couple of days, but it wasn't explained to me very well. I guess what I didn't like was the fact that no one mentioned that I would be on Coumadin at all, unless they were unable to fix my own valve and had to use a mechanical one. I was SO not prepared for an 8 day stay!!

All in all, I think they could have done a better job of informing me about what could happen. I had my surgery early in the morning and assumed I would be able to see my husband that afternoon or evening at least. Well, I really didn't come to until 12 hours after the surgery was over! It was 2am when I awoke and asked where my husband was. I was devastated when they told me he'd gone home to bed! I can't believe they suggested he go home, instead of offering him a place to stay near me. I told him that he was the first person I wanted to see when I opened my eyes! He had seen me and even kissed me goodbye, but I had no idea he was even there.
I guess I wasn't quite done ranting.............. Jean

 

[Nancy]

I totally agree with you about having your husband or wife there as much as possible. Different hospitals have different rules and some are extremely rigid. I never thought that was a good idea. The person the patient most wants to see is the one they love. But I do understand that in some of the rooms in the ICU, there's so much machinery that there isn't any room for anything else, plus there is very close monitoring and with another individual in the room, it can impede the working room for the doctors and nurses.

Also lots of patients' family members are unnecessarily worried about some of the dramatic things which are completely normal for this type of surgery.

It probably has nothing to do with your husband, but I'm just talking in general.

It's all behind you now. The important thing is that you're fine now. When you can, maybe you should have a talk with the hospital ombudsman, or person who takes care of these things, and express your feelings. Maybe it will help the hospital in the future to be more cconcerned about the emotional care of the patients. It really does help with healing and a sense of well being. When patients feel they are "out of the loop", they worry about things that might just be within the norm. Having a loved one there as much as possible is very, very important.

By the way, my husband's last surgery for gallbladder was supposed to be a less than 24 hour stay. He ended up staying 12 days, due to complications. Talk about being unprepared.

Take care,

 

[JimL]

My surgeon has a reputation for not spending much time with his patients, and my after surgery visit to him was in line with that -- I thought he was unusual in that regard! I left his office with a few questions answered, and many more waiting for answers.
While I was still in the hospital, I know that on more than one occasion they told me various things I needed to do. Unfortunately, they expected me to remember what I was told, which I didn't. Some things were written down, which I could refer back to repeatedly. I think that I learned from all of this that I had many more questions than I could realistically expect to be answered, or even understood by me at first.

 

[Scottie]

Jean

Jean

I'm very happy that you have come through you op. and are now well on the way to recovery ..take it easy though ..it will take your body and mind quite a time to recover fully. You should feel free to rant , or to get out any questions or things that you were not pleased about ...talk them over with people ,as often as you need too. Seriously I mean this ...if you need to talk about what happened to you ...even if you feel that other might feel you are making a mountain out of a mole hill ...then you should . Do NOT bottle things up ...
I know this from experience ...I had a lot of surgery as a child and never asked any questions ..or moaned ..mostly so as not to upset my parents who were so worried and because the staff in children's wards many yrs ago did not talk to children the same way as they do today . The result of this is that I have many issues that if they had been dealt with at the time might not have developed to be so big for me. The big problem for me is I as facing surgery again but have a deep distrust of hospitals and Drs.
Anyway you rant away Dear
Take care Scottie

 

[joy]

Hi Jean, Iam sorry that yourhusband wan't there when you opened your eyes, but neither was mine. I was still on the respirator, and could hear what Kevin was saying, and respond by nodding my head and shaking my head, so when he asked me if I thought he should go home and get some rest, I nodded yes. He couldn't do anything for me and there is really no reason for him to stay there especially since he'd been up since 3AM. There's no room in the ICU for husbands to sleep, but he did come and stay with me the night before I got to go home. I also thought that since my poor mom was at my house alone with my two kids(stuck with no car) that he should help her and spend time with the kids. They just wanted to take the right precautions to keep you healthy and alive. I agree however, that they should have kept you more informed. My surgeon's assistant was WONDERFUL about explaining the whole healing process. My surgeon came and saw me three-four times. It was funny, the doc who delivered Erik also came to visit me too! I hope the rest of your recovery goes well, and congratulations on driving!

 

[ALCapshaw]

Hi Jean,

You can pretty much count on the surgeon NOT being around to answer many questions or do much patient education. If you are lucky, his nurse or physician's assistant will handle your questions.

I keep a 5X7 spiral notebook of my medical appointments. For each visit, I list my questions which I show the doctor and that helps to expedite getting answers, especially for the simple / quick questions.

After my bypass surgery, I went to the hospital records office and read the entire surgical report. They wanted some exhorbinant copy fee but let me read everything in the office. Another approach would be to have them send a copy to your Primary Care Physician or Cardiologist (which they do for FREE) and get that Doctor to let your read the report in their office. They may also want a fee for copies but at least you can select only the pages you really need to keep.

There were a LOT of differences between the recovery from my Bypass Surgery and my Valve Replacement Surgery. I suspect the doctors don't want to list ALL of the possible outcomes because there are so many possibilities. I think they prefer to just deal with what comes up, not to mention that they might scare you off if they told your everything that could happen !

Good luck getting the information / answers you want / need.

Best wishes, 'AL'

 

[McCln]

Jean

Jean

The person you should see for questions now is the cardio doctor. The surgeon has done his job. Now to move on. The cardio can answer question on the heart problems. The Surgeon did the surgery. You will be fine. Just hang in there. And if there are any questions you have now, ask here. We will try to help you. Take care and no heavy duty work for awhile yet. Be careful.

Caroline
09-13-01
aortic valve repalcement
St. Jude's valve