Jennie
Well-known member
Hi Folks!
I'm back online here, just checking in to see how everyone's doing! Thanks SO MUCH to all of you who sent me email well-wishes, even from some of you that I haven't really talked to in the past - it was trully encouraging to receive them every day while I was in the hospital! And all my thanks to JenniferO and Mara for keeping you updated as I moved through the surgery scene!
Trully, I must say, it was almost like a party. Except for the pain and all that! As you may recall, my aunt and uncle were suddenly prevented from coming with me to Mayo Clinic. I had gotten to know a couple families in Minnesota during my visits to the Clinic, and when they heard I would be coming alone, they rose to the challenge! One of the women is a nurse on the Pre-Op floor, and happened to be working when I came in, so she grabbed my chart. I was so busy laughing, I hardly had time to think about the surgery! This nurse-friend was there with me in the hospital as much as possible on her time off and during her breaks, she made sure that I was well taken care of. But, really, I think I had only one or two meals throughout my entire stay where I didn't have one or more of these families as visitors. It was wonderful. I also had a good friend pop in from Florida the night before, so he hung out for a few days to make sure I was okay. And the cards and calls and beautiful flowers and meeting people out on my "rounds" about the floor....
The surgery itself went really well, so I am told. I got the CryoLife SynerGraft aortic homograft and aorta conduit as planned, perfect fit, beautiful installation, no leak, gradient of 6. Apparently my valve was so trashed, curled up (I believe they are wondering if it was rheumatic). They said I should have had it done a year ago. This was Dr. Zehr's first aortic CryoValve, and I am signed up to be part of a study for this valve over the next five years (25 people from Mayo Clinic, 25 people from U of Oklahoma). They'll be doing blood tests to measure the antigens (if any) that my body is forming against this valve, plus echos.
So, I crawled on the table at 1:00 last Tuesday (April 23), asked if everyone had eaten, asked if we had some valves in the fridge, and was out like a light. I woke up at 11:00 pm in the ICU, and I must say, that was the longest night of my life. But, it was do-able. The breathing tube was making me gag and feel panicky-nauseous, but that finally came out somewhere between 2:00 and 4:00 am, which was a nasty experience. Then they waited for the morphine to wear off more, so the pain set in, and then they started me on Darvaset, which also made me nauseous. At 9:00 am or so, they started cutting IV's out of me, particularly the big swan IV in my neck. They pulled out the heart line (?) and monitors and such. I'm not sure when the pacemaker wires came out, my guess is that those came out with the chest tubes, about 10:30 am. Those chest tubes were in so tight it took some extra yanks, oh my goodness!!
So they rolled me out to a regular room around 10:45 or so, less than 24 hours after my surgery began! When I got to the room, they ditched my cath, and I was on my own except for an IV, some oxygen, and the external monitors. I tried to get up for a walk at some point that day (Wednesday) but my BP was very low, and I was so dizzy, I wasn't going anywhere. Generally, Wednesday and Thursday were just miserable - I looked "great", but felt lousy. Dizzy, nauseous, and zero appetite. When it takes you an hour to down a little bowl of red Jello, you know something's wrong!! I chucked up a few times, and they switched me to Tylox, and by late Thursday afternoon, I had turned the corner and was feeling so much better.
Anyway, fast-forward. Generally, my heart rate has been quite high, 90 bpm asleep, 100 bpm lying at rest, 110 moving around, 122 when I get back from a walk. I thought I was going home on Monday, but my hemoglobin was at 7.7, and they kept me another day and gave me two units of blood. On Tuesday morning my hemoglobin was up to 9.9, my heart rate seems to have slowed about 10 bpm or so, but my INR was 1.9 (blood a little thin). So, they took some blood and my phone number and let me go! FREEDOM!! Late last night and today I am getting some ectopic beats, probably some PVC's / skipped beats. If this continues, I'll go to the clinic tomorrow to get checked out.
So. I'm BACK! In general, this was not the Big Nasty Experience that I had feared so much. God trully saw me through beautifully, praise his Name! I also have to thank the many people that have been praying on my behalf, all my supportive friends, plus my excellent surgeon and the fantastic nurses. I really sailed through the whole experience, and I am really very grateful for that. I saw so many of the other folks on the floor there, just in sad shape, trying to pull through their rough times, and I am so thankful that my "rough time" was so short. Of course, I have a long road ahead of me, I know that depression will set in at some point, I know that there's a lot here that hasn't really hit me yet.... But, I am trying to have a positive outlook and be thankful for the blessing that have been given to me.
Just a little note, in one of my naps today I dreamt that this surgery stuff was actually some sort of prep for my REAL surgery, and that I was supposed to report this afternoon for the REAL surgery, and it had me quite upset by the time I woke up...!! Glad it wasn't true!
Anyway, I'll be hanging around here a lot now, I hope! Just checking in....
-Jennie
I'm back online here, just checking in to see how everyone's doing! Thanks SO MUCH to all of you who sent me email well-wishes, even from some of you that I haven't really talked to in the past - it was trully encouraging to receive them every day while I was in the hospital! And all my thanks to JenniferO and Mara for keeping you updated as I moved through the surgery scene!
Trully, I must say, it was almost like a party. Except for the pain and all that! As you may recall, my aunt and uncle were suddenly prevented from coming with me to Mayo Clinic. I had gotten to know a couple families in Minnesota during my visits to the Clinic, and when they heard I would be coming alone, they rose to the challenge! One of the women is a nurse on the Pre-Op floor, and happened to be working when I came in, so she grabbed my chart. I was so busy laughing, I hardly had time to think about the surgery! This nurse-friend was there with me in the hospital as much as possible on her time off and during her breaks, she made sure that I was well taken care of. But, really, I think I had only one or two meals throughout my entire stay where I didn't have one or more of these families as visitors. It was wonderful. I also had a good friend pop in from Florida the night before, so he hung out for a few days to make sure I was okay. And the cards and calls and beautiful flowers and meeting people out on my "rounds" about the floor....
The surgery itself went really well, so I am told. I got the CryoLife SynerGraft aortic homograft and aorta conduit as planned, perfect fit, beautiful installation, no leak, gradient of 6. Apparently my valve was so trashed, curled up (I believe they are wondering if it was rheumatic). They said I should have had it done a year ago. This was Dr. Zehr's first aortic CryoValve, and I am signed up to be part of a study for this valve over the next five years (25 people from Mayo Clinic, 25 people from U of Oklahoma). They'll be doing blood tests to measure the antigens (if any) that my body is forming against this valve, plus echos.
So, I crawled on the table at 1:00 last Tuesday (April 23), asked if everyone had eaten, asked if we had some valves in the fridge, and was out like a light. I woke up at 11:00 pm in the ICU, and I must say, that was the longest night of my life. But, it was do-able. The breathing tube was making me gag and feel panicky-nauseous, but that finally came out somewhere between 2:00 and 4:00 am, which was a nasty experience. Then they waited for the morphine to wear off more, so the pain set in, and then they started me on Darvaset, which also made me nauseous. At 9:00 am or so, they started cutting IV's out of me, particularly the big swan IV in my neck. They pulled out the heart line (?) and monitors and such. I'm not sure when the pacemaker wires came out, my guess is that those came out with the chest tubes, about 10:30 am. Those chest tubes were in so tight it took some extra yanks, oh my goodness!!
So they rolled me out to a regular room around 10:45 or so, less than 24 hours after my surgery began! When I got to the room, they ditched my cath, and I was on my own except for an IV, some oxygen, and the external monitors. I tried to get up for a walk at some point that day (Wednesday) but my BP was very low, and I was so dizzy, I wasn't going anywhere. Generally, Wednesday and Thursday were just miserable - I looked "great", but felt lousy. Dizzy, nauseous, and zero appetite. When it takes you an hour to down a little bowl of red Jello, you know something's wrong!! I chucked up a few times, and they switched me to Tylox, and by late Thursday afternoon, I had turned the corner and was feeling so much better.
Anyway, fast-forward. Generally, my heart rate has been quite high, 90 bpm asleep, 100 bpm lying at rest, 110 moving around, 122 when I get back from a walk. I thought I was going home on Monday, but my hemoglobin was at 7.7, and they kept me another day and gave me two units of blood. On Tuesday morning my hemoglobin was up to 9.9, my heart rate seems to have slowed about 10 bpm or so, but my INR was 1.9 (blood a little thin). So, they took some blood and my phone number and let me go! FREEDOM!! Late last night and today I am getting some ectopic beats, probably some PVC's / skipped beats. If this continues, I'll go to the clinic tomorrow to get checked out.
So. I'm BACK! In general, this was not the Big Nasty Experience that I had feared so much. God trully saw me through beautifully, praise his Name! I also have to thank the many people that have been praying on my behalf, all my supportive friends, plus my excellent surgeon and the fantastic nurses. I really sailed through the whole experience, and I am really very grateful for that. I saw so many of the other folks on the floor there, just in sad shape, trying to pull through their rough times, and I am so thankful that my "rough time" was so short. Of course, I have a long road ahead of me, I know that depression will set in at some point, I know that there's a lot here that hasn't really hit me yet.... But, I am trying to have a positive outlook and be thankful for the blessing that have been given to me.
Just a little note, in one of my naps today I dreamt that this surgery stuff was actually some sort of prep for my REAL surgery, and that I was supposed to report this afternoon for the REAL surgery, and it had me quite upset by the time I woke up...!! Glad it wasn't true!
Anyway, I'll be hanging around here a lot now, I hope! Just checking in....
-Jennie
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