mattwisconsin
Well-known member
I guess I am going to take the easy way out of this and just focus on some of the highlights of my surgery and post-surgery hospital stay. So if you have any questions concerning things that I did not list here please ask. Even so, this looks like it is going to be a long one.
So everything started a little off because I sprained my ankle on Monday, April 13. I went to the hospital on Tuesday to make sure it was not broken and confirm surgery could still continue. The ankle did not hurt at all by the time I was walking. So I arrived on Wednesday morning, April 15. They checked me in and got an IV started and asked me questions about allergies and such. I was able to talk to my mother, sister, and girlfriend. before going in. This is the last thing that I remember until Wednesday night, maybe Thursday.
The following account is pieced together from what the doctors and family have told me. I am planning on requesting the surgery report when I go for my follow up visit in a couple of weeks so that I know what actually happened. I had gone in for an aortic valve and root replacement and a Maze because there was what looked like it could be an abscess on my TEE. So they did what they set out to do and I got a bileaflet valve, gore-tex root and a Maze. Apparently the scar tissue was pretty intense; the entire surgery took 11 hours. The tissue around the valve was scarred from the infection, the abscess seemed empty, and some of the tissue was discolored. Luckily, nothing grew from any part that they took out. The doctors have still decided to place me on four weeks of Ceftriaxone just in case there is some bit of the infection left. And because they could not take out all of the damaged tissue, so they tried to clean up what was staying in. I also know that I was hit with the paddles at some point. I still need to ask about this, but I remember the doctors thinking that possibly some air got into my system and caused my heart to stop. So I have two nice paddle marks, one on my side and one on my back.
I don't really remember much until Wednesday night when I was in the ICU. I woke up 5-10 times, once I saw my girlfriend. The other few were the nurse or my mother. At this point I still had the tube in my mouth and was strapped to the bed. I remember being really annoyed because when I woke up, my mother told me things went well. What I really wanted to know is what they did and if there were complications. It wasn't until about a day later when the tube came out that I was able to ask that. I knew it wasn't her fault but it was annoying not to be able to ask. They started to give me ice chips and then some water. This was great. The rest of Thursday and most of Friday were a blur. Different people came in to talk to me and me knowing that I was not really all there. I will admit the Morphine made me hallucinate in an awesome way. I know why people do that stuff now. My last surgery it caused my heart to slow to a stop and made me really nauseous. Friday is when I first noticed that my leg was numb. On Saturday they made me stand and sit in a chair for the first time. This caused my leg to feel like it was on fire. After some speculation and a much later a visit from the Neurology team, it was determined that they probably nicked a nerve in my leg with the small incision down there. Unfortunately this has caused me five times the pain that anything in my chest has. At first making it impossible to walk, but it gets better everyday and now I am able to sit down without yelping. After surgery I also found out that they put me on Amiodarone after I asked them not to. My mother broke the news to me so I am pretty sure that she agreed to it while I was under. Although a little upset at first, I grew to be accepting since it will only be for three months. All the doctors agreed that I would be off of it at that point and agreed that if I needed more medication after that they would try switching me to Sotolol.
On Saturday night they moved me to the step down unit, where I stayed until Thursday night when I was discharged. Other than that things were pretty standard for the step down unit. They required me to do a little more each day with washing myself and moving around, which was extremely painful because of my leg. Some of the other memorable things from this were the fact that I had low sodium, which seemed to cause people to debate what to do. They limited my water. Some people told me to drink as much of anything else I wanted, juice, soda, and some wanted to limit my fluid intake completely. I ended up drinking cases of Gatorade. Apparently no one asks for it there so I fear I will be known as the Gatorade guy in the future. Also the combination of pain meds and antibiotics did not even out my bowels but created each of their own problems for an interesting combination. There was also a huge hassle for me to get a vegetarian menu for my meals. I was also a little disappointed to find out that they leave the chest wires in on a redo like mine because it they have a tendency to get embedded in the scar tissue. I also gained about 15-20 lbs with the surgery. This seems to be coming off slowly but hopefully will continue even after my lasix are done. Other than that it was a normal recovery with everything working the way it should as far as I can tell. If you have questions about something you think I left out please ask.
Ultimately this leg problem is a complete pain and is affecting how much I walk now. However, I am still very happy with my doctors and nurses. I thought all did a great job. And I am accepting of the leg problems at this point because it was a complicated surgery and everything with my heart went great and the leg gets a little better everyday.
I am currently staying with my sister and her husband in Milwaukee. This is working out well. She is a home health care nurse and can answer my crazy, paranoid, germaphobe questions. They also had a big Lazy Boy recliner that they were not using along with a guest bedroom. So they dragged the chair into the bedroom and I can't think of a more comfortable place to sleep other than the hospital bed.
So everything started a little off because I sprained my ankle on Monday, April 13. I went to the hospital on Tuesday to make sure it was not broken and confirm surgery could still continue. The ankle did not hurt at all by the time I was walking. So I arrived on Wednesday morning, April 15. They checked me in and got an IV started and asked me questions about allergies and such. I was able to talk to my mother, sister, and girlfriend. before going in. This is the last thing that I remember until Wednesday night, maybe Thursday.
The following account is pieced together from what the doctors and family have told me. I am planning on requesting the surgery report when I go for my follow up visit in a couple of weeks so that I know what actually happened. I had gone in for an aortic valve and root replacement and a Maze because there was what looked like it could be an abscess on my TEE. So they did what they set out to do and I got a bileaflet valve, gore-tex root and a Maze. Apparently the scar tissue was pretty intense; the entire surgery took 11 hours. The tissue around the valve was scarred from the infection, the abscess seemed empty, and some of the tissue was discolored. Luckily, nothing grew from any part that they took out. The doctors have still decided to place me on four weeks of Ceftriaxone just in case there is some bit of the infection left. And because they could not take out all of the damaged tissue, so they tried to clean up what was staying in. I also know that I was hit with the paddles at some point. I still need to ask about this, but I remember the doctors thinking that possibly some air got into my system and caused my heart to stop. So I have two nice paddle marks, one on my side and one on my back.
I don't really remember much until Wednesday night when I was in the ICU. I woke up 5-10 times, once I saw my girlfriend. The other few were the nurse or my mother. At this point I still had the tube in my mouth and was strapped to the bed. I remember being really annoyed because when I woke up, my mother told me things went well. What I really wanted to know is what they did and if there were complications. It wasn't until about a day later when the tube came out that I was able to ask that. I knew it wasn't her fault but it was annoying not to be able to ask. They started to give me ice chips and then some water. This was great. The rest of Thursday and most of Friday were a blur. Different people came in to talk to me and me knowing that I was not really all there. I will admit the Morphine made me hallucinate in an awesome way. I know why people do that stuff now. My last surgery it caused my heart to slow to a stop and made me really nauseous. Friday is when I first noticed that my leg was numb. On Saturday they made me stand and sit in a chair for the first time. This caused my leg to feel like it was on fire. After some speculation and a much later a visit from the Neurology team, it was determined that they probably nicked a nerve in my leg with the small incision down there. Unfortunately this has caused me five times the pain that anything in my chest has. At first making it impossible to walk, but it gets better everyday and now I am able to sit down without yelping. After surgery I also found out that they put me on Amiodarone after I asked them not to. My mother broke the news to me so I am pretty sure that she agreed to it while I was under. Although a little upset at first, I grew to be accepting since it will only be for three months. All the doctors agreed that I would be off of it at that point and agreed that if I needed more medication after that they would try switching me to Sotolol.
On Saturday night they moved me to the step down unit, where I stayed until Thursday night when I was discharged. Other than that things were pretty standard for the step down unit. They required me to do a little more each day with washing myself and moving around, which was extremely painful because of my leg. Some of the other memorable things from this were the fact that I had low sodium, which seemed to cause people to debate what to do. They limited my water. Some people told me to drink as much of anything else I wanted, juice, soda, and some wanted to limit my fluid intake completely. I ended up drinking cases of Gatorade. Apparently no one asks for it there so I fear I will be known as the Gatorade guy in the future. Also the combination of pain meds and antibiotics did not even out my bowels but created each of their own problems for an interesting combination. There was also a huge hassle for me to get a vegetarian menu for my meals. I was also a little disappointed to find out that they leave the chest wires in on a redo like mine because it they have a tendency to get embedded in the scar tissue. I also gained about 15-20 lbs with the surgery. This seems to be coming off slowly but hopefully will continue even after my lasix are done. Other than that it was a normal recovery with everything working the way it should as far as I can tell. If you have questions about something you think I left out please ask.
Ultimately this leg problem is a complete pain and is affecting how much I walk now. However, I am still very happy with my doctors and nurses. I thought all did a great job. And I am accepting of the leg problems at this point because it was a complicated surgery and everything with my heart went great and the leg gets a little better everyday.
I am currently staying with my sister and her husband in Milwaukee. This is working out well. She is a home health care nurse and can answer my crazy, paranoid, germaphobe questions. They also had a big Lazy Boy recliner that they were not using along with a guest bedroom. So they dragged the chair into the bedroom and I can't think of a more comfortable place to sleep other than the hospital bed.
