Just Got Home, Surgery May 26

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Fiddler's Green

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
24
Location
Miami, FL United States
They let me out today. On May 26, I had aortic valve replacement with a 27 mm ATS mechanical valve and a dacron graft.

The my surgeon also found a fairly large aneurysm that hadn't been picked up on the scans. Fortunately it hadn't burst, but it was there.

I am 29 years old and in relatively good shape.

I'm finding that pain wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. When I woke up soon after the surgery (2 hours after), they had heavily sedate me since I was pissed about the breathing tube still being there. They gave me so much verset and fetnyl that they just couldn't give me anymore. I was kicking and trying to open my eyes.

I was also surprised how difficult it was to urinate after they took out the catheter.
 
Congratulations! The worst part is over.I didnt like the vent tube either but, its over now.
 
You must be doing well as they kicked you out fairly early. Nice big valve you got there. Enjoy! I sure lucked out - zero pain, the tube was gone when i woke up, and the Foley catheter never bothered me at all during or after. But i might have traded that for the gastric paresis I experienced.

Glad to hear you are well.
 
Welcome to this side of the mountain!

We can all (well almost all of us) relate to the waking up with the vent tube. Maybe the worst part of the whole expernience for many of us.

Keep us posted on your progress.
 
Fiddler's Green said:
The my surgeon also found a fairly large aneurysm that hadn't been picked up on the scans.
Fortunately it hadn't burst, but it was there.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, did your Surgeon say anything about having BAV (BiCuspid Aortic Valve)?

Aortic Aneurisms are not uncommon with BAV and/or Connective Tissue Disorders.

Your experience is the reason I always encourage BAV / CTD patients to have their Aortas checked for signs of aneurisms with a Chest CT or MRI Before Surgery.

'AL Capshaw'
 
I cannot count how many times people have undergone surgery and found aneurysms to be much larger then they apprear in diagnostics. Consider yourself lucky! I wasn't one of them.
 
Wow! Quick hospital stay. By the time I was aware of my surroundings (about a day and a half) after surgery, I didn't have the breathing tube. No throat pain either. However, I did have to stay an extra 3 days to get my INR up so they would release me.

Scott
 
All of the doctors diagnosed me with a severely regurgitating BAV. I had one Chest CT and one CT Angioplasty, along with many other tests, but no MRIs. They said it was the positioning of the aneurysm that caused it not to show up on the battery of tests I went through.


ALCapshaw2 said:
Out of curiosity, did your Surgeon say anything about having BAV (BiCuspid Aortic Valve)?

Aortic Aneurisms are not uncommon with BAV and/or Connective Tissue Disorders.

Your experience is the reason I always encourage BAV / CTD patients to have their Aortas checked for signs of aneurisms with a Chest CT or MRI Before Surgery.

'AL Capshaw'
Click to expand...

On another note, thanks for all the kind wishes guys. I appreciate it.
 
a4wanman said:
Wow! Quick hospital stay. By the time I was aware of my surroundings (about a day and a half) after surgery, I didn't have the breathing tube. No throat pain either. However, I did have to stay an extra 3 days to get my INR up so they would release me.

Scott
Click to expand...

I was originally suppose to stay for five days if things went perfect, but they needed to get my INR up as well so I spent an extra 36 hours on IV heparin until the level was right.
 
Welcome to the other side Fiddler's Green.

the 1st 24-48 hours post surgery were the absolute worst for me as well and my biggest bother were the drain tubes/catheter, which are pretty much the last to be removed, about 40 hours post surgery. You likely found that once tubes and connections are removed and that you regained mobility, that recovery is very fast, from day 3+.

Am one week ahead of you and my stamina is way up and am healing very rapidly, walking on average 4-6 Km+ in last few days

What is working best for me, since arriving home has been, resuming my average 18 hour day, any daytime rest is sitting/not lying and I am up and walking as much as I can. Am 56 and was only reasonably fit pre-surgery, so you may well recover even faster than i am.

So I hope it can be encouraging for the up and comers to surgery, that 2 weeks post op, I have had no setback days yet and I feel as if my stamina is getting so much closer to being on par with pre-surgery status and am now down to 2 meds, metropolol and Coumadin. My morale is very good and cannot wait to regain driving privileges/full autonomy.

life is good

Gil
 
Awsome news Fiddler. Agree about the breathing tube - same thing happened to me. I woke up pretty quick (couple hrs after surgery) and was fighting the tube. They finally decided to just take it out an hr or so later (maybe sooner - wasn't watching the clock). It was a huge relief when they took it out. That bladder catheter smarted a little coming out, and the first few times I urinated afterwards weren't much fun. I'm about a week and a half ahead of Gil (Luckyguy), about 3 weeks ahead of you (my surgery was 5/5). For me the first two wks were an absolute breeze, very similar to Gil. Maybe too good in fact. I might have started overdoing it a little (going out with friends, not getting enough sleep, etc.). I don't know if overdoing it caused this next issue, but especially the lack of sleep might have. I had a little setback in week 3. Started having irregular beats and a-fib. My understanding is it's not uncommon for that to happen (maybe 1/3 or so get it) and it's not life-threatening (as long as you're properly anti-coagulated), but it's still not fun. It's still driving me nuts a week later, but hopefully will go away in the coming weeks. Point is, there can still be bumps in the road, so don't get too cocky and overdo it too early! Don't lift too much, get plenty of sleep, which may be challenging (has been for several so I've heard, including me), do those breath exercices (that's hugely important) and the walks (as silly as they may sound) really do work wonders as Gil mentioned. Oh, and watch out for that first sneeze!!! Put pressure right below your nose to prevent it (a tip I got from someone on here that works like a charm) because if you do sneeze, ouchie-muchachie, it'll bring tears to your eyes, hurts like a SOB (although my understanding is it doesn't really cause any 'harm' other than the pain). Otherwise, keep up the great recovery and keep giving updates - I think it helps those that are in the waiting room to hear that things usually go smoother than they're probably fearing.
 
PS - no fair, you got your heperin through an IV??? Damn, I got gipped! The worst part for me (other than the breathing tube) were the heperin shots. That might be the one thing I'd do different if I had it to do over - ask if they can do it by IV instead of shots in the stomach! Those things hurt, although Ross says if they wait for the alcohol to dry, it's painless. And I did have one of the shots be painless (which was a very pleasant surprise) so maybe that's the key if you can't get an IV, tell 'em to wait till the alcohol drys. Of course, the next, next worse thing were the damn IV's - I don't like needles and they have trouble finding veins in me - but since you have to have one anyway, and once they're in they're not bad (unless they close up on ya, which sucks bigtime) I say it's worth asking if they can do the heperin by IV.
 
ARGreenMN said:
Awsome news Fiddler. Agree about the breathing tube - same thing happened to me. I woke up pretty quick (couple hrs after surgery) and was fighting the tube. They finally decided to just take it out an hr or so later (maybe sooner - wasn't watching the clock). It was a huge relief when they took it out. That bladder catheter smarted a little coming out, and the first few times I urinated afterwards weren't much fun. I'm about a week and a half ahead of Gil (Luckyguy), about 3 weeks ahead of you (my surgery was 5/5). For me the first two wks were an absolute breeze, very similar to Gil. Maybe too good in fact. I might have started overdoing it a little (going out with friends, not getting enough sleep, etc.). I don't know if overdoing it caused this next issue, but especially the lack of sleep might have. I had a little setback in week 3. Started having irregular beats and a-fib. My understanding is it's not uncommon for that to happen (maybe 1/3 or so get it) and it's not life-threatening (as long as you're properly anti-coagulated), but it's still not fun. It's still driving me nuts a week later, but hopefully will go away in the coming weeks. Point is, there can still be bumps in the road, so don't get too cocky and overdo it too early! Don't lift too much, get plenty of sleep, which may be challenging (has been for several so I've heard, including me), do those breath exercices (that's hugely important) and the walks (as silly as they may sound) really do work wonders as Gil mentioned. Oh, and watch out for that first sneeze!!! Put pressure right below your nose to prevent it (a tip I got from someone on here that works like a charm) because if you do sneeze, ouchie-muchachie, it'll bring tears to your eyes, hurts like a SOB (although my understanding is it doesn't really cause any 'harm' other than the pain). Otherwise, keep up the great recovery and keep giving updates - I think it helps those that are in the waiting room to hear that things usually go smoother than they're probably fearing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the advice guys. I've got my wife with me at all times looking out for me, so whenever I suggest things that are too much, she sets me straight. Yesterday I walked for an hour and ten minutes, cut into three periods. It was overcast yesterday here in Miami, so I was able to take an extra walk at noon. Today, I'm just going to have to make the night walk longer since it is too hot.
 
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