Minimal procedure/maximum pain

Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
LLJ

LLJ

VR.org Supporter
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2005
Messages
283
Location
NJ USA
Hey everyone! My mom just had a minimally invasive thoacotomy mitral valve replacement last week. (Thanks for all your advice Mitral man) (Thanks to my marathon teammates for their support) My question is this: I had a sternotomy. It hurt like hell in my thoracic spine for many weeks. The surgeon told my mom (she is 74,but works out every day) she would be "running circle around the sternotomy patients" in a couple days after surgery. Her surgery was successful but her pain is crippling. My mom is not a wuss. She had to return to the hospital 2 days ago (8 days post surgery) intially due to mild increased heart rate, but soon after her pain became unmanageable. She is on delaudin (a strong opiate) and this can control her pain for 3 hours. She is in bad shape with the pain. All other tests are clear.
So my question: Any other minimally invasive surgeries out there? Did you guys have this much pain? She can not take the delaudin outside the hospital as it is injectable only.
I know everyone's pain repsonse is different, I guess I'm just looking for collusion!
LLJ
 
Forgive my ignorance please. Is the thoacotomy a "heart port" procedure?
 
The surgeon goes through the ribs on the right side,collapses the lung and then cuts through the heart to get to the mitral valve. (I know, if that's minimal I hate to see maximal) There is a decent sized cut made and the chest tubes stay in about 3 days.The idea is that no bones need to be cracked so there is better recovery and less pain (NOT) I know Mitral man said his was very painful intiailly,but he improved quickly.
You are certainly not ignorant Karlynn the Wise.
LLJ
 
I've heard they were more painful but Justin was only a couple days old when he had his surgery that way. but from everything i've heard the post op pain is actually worse, but usually by this stage i would be hoping she would be getting better, Lyn
 
LLJ said:
The idea is that no bones need to be cracked so there is better recovery and less pain (NOT) I know Mitral man said his was very painful intiailly,but he improved quickly.
You are certainly not ignorant Karlynn the Wise.
LLJ
Click to expand...

Okay, so this is what I thought you were referring to. I seem to recall what Mitral Man said , that immediate pain is worse, but long term recovery of affected area is fast. BVDR (Betty) had a Heart Port procedure. Hopefully she'll see this thread.

I'm so sorry your Mom is in so much pain. I hope it passes quickly, or that they can arrive at a pain management protocol that works for her.
 
Joe has had this kind of surgery. Yes, it is painful. There isn't bone healing pain, but the soft tissue gets pretty banged up. My husband has also had lung surgery and he thinks that anything cutting into the lung is much more painful that the two sternotomies that he's had. There are also several other small incisions for the instruments used, and they are painful too.

Have her call the surgeon and get everything checked out. But I'm willing to bet it's just soft tissue healing, and time will take care of it.
 
I had this type of procedure

I had this type of procedure

with robotic surgery. From what I understand the incision is more painful than a sternotomy, but for me it was not crippling pain. Just soreness for several weeks and never unbearable from the beginning. My incisions were small, about a 2 inch one, and then a one inch almost next to it and about 4 smaller wounds, like tiny "stabs." I was 55 at the time. I will be thinking about her and keeping her in my prayers to heal quickly. Cindy
 
I've had both a sternotomy and thoracotomy (2 months later). The thoracotomy was markedly more painful than the sternotomy. I don't seem to remember much pain with the sternotomy, but it took awhile for things to get back to normal. I had excruciating pain with the thoracotomy for about a week, but recovered sooner.

If I had to have surgery again, I would have it through the sternum. And I'm no wimp about pain either. ;)

Liza
 
LLJ,
I am sorry to hear that your mom is having difficulties, after an OHS nobody needs that. She will be in our prayers for a quick turnaround.

My experience with a mini thoracotomy was great. Had surgery on Tuesday, May 9th of this year. I have never felt even a minor amount of pain or discomfort due to the thoracotomy.

As an FYI, I had a pacemaker put in on the following Friday which has caused more discomfort (I would not go as far as to say pain), than my surgery. I think it is like yo said, I think everyone is different.

Besh wishes for you and your mom.

Doug
 
Did have pain

Did have pain

I had minimally invasive mitral valve repair which sounds a lot like your mom's procedure. I also had read that the pain was less than sternotomy but was later told it is not true. Because the ribs and connective tissue have to be stretched so far, it is at least as painful if not worse. I had a great deal of pain in the back (scapular area). The pain lessened after about 10 days. I think I stopped the Percocet after a week or less.
Dilaudid is a strong pain killer and does come in pill form but not usually used at home post-op. She should do fine with Percocet or something like it. That is oxycodone combined with Tylenol. She can always cut them in 1/2 as she needs less and then progress to just Tylenol.
Hope she is feeling better very soon. Just tell her for all of us that each day things do get better.
 
Wow, I shouldn't be surprised that I got such a quick and helpful response from VR.com folks! Thank you! They let my mom out of the hospital today with one last injection of the dilaudid. I haven't spoken with my dad in enough detail to find out what they gave her. Unfortunately, percoset and oxycotin make her nauseous and darvocet doesn't touch the pain. I guess we'll see what they come up with. I'm glad to know there are similar experiences. (No, not that you guys had pain,just the usual "you are not alone" kinda thing)
LLJ
 
I'm sorry your Mom is having a rough time. Keep reassuring her that it WILL get better.

I also had minimally invasive MVR, and luckily had very little pain. After about 3 weeks, I didn't take any pain relievers at all, not even Tylenol. I was also driving at 3 weeks, and in rehab at 4 weeks.

I hope your Mom gets some relief soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top