My AVR Experience

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pgammo

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Messages
100
Location
San Diego, California.
Hello everyone,

I received an AVR last Monday (June 4th, 2012) and I chose an On-X mechanical valve (I'm 25 years old). I wanted to write a short entry regarding my experience and hopefully encourage some of you about to go through the procedure.


The surgery went smooth and I was in ICU after a few hours. The first two days were a blur, as I don't remember much; I was heavily medicated. I had an extremely difficult time with the spirometer and nobody could figure out why; I thought I was just too weak for it. For the first four days, I suffered from EXCRUCIATING back spasms. They were so painful that I couldn't breathe; my family and friends could not stand the sight. Again, doctors didn't know why and credited to the uncomfortable operating room bed.

I developed an air pocket in my lungs, so my chest tubes stayed in two extra days.

Then, on Thursday, I choked while drinking water and went into a short coughing session, which sucked. BUT this was a major turning point.

Afterwards, an x-ray revealed that the air pocket was closing up, so the doctors decided to pull my chest tubes. Once pulled, my back spasms were gone and my lung capacity grew considerably. All the issues were credited to the chest tubes.

By Friday, the only problem I had was a resting heart rate of 130bpm, and for this, they refused to discharge me. They fed me 100mg of metropolol per day to attempt to control it; it didn't work - did not even drop my bpm by a single beat. So, by Saturday, *I* requested Atenelol (sp?) and within 30 minutes, my heart rate dropped to the mid-80's. It was amazing.

I was discharged a few hours later (Saturday).

I went to church the following day (yesterday). Yea, I might be dumb for exposing myself to illness, but I really needed the fellowship, as this week as played a huge toll on me mentally. It was pretty funny though. The entire church looked at me as if I was a zombie - 5 days post op and all.

Today, I feel GREAT. I have a lot of energy. In fact, I just finished cleaning my home and plan on running some errands later. My only advice is to listen to your body. When my body gets tired, I don't push it; rather, I just try to relax and start again when I'm able.

My experience may sound like a bad one, but I am hear to tell you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Yea, the recovery sucks, but it's not that bad. Keep yourself busy and you will be just fine.

For me, I could not do any of this without the Lord my God. The Master Surgeon has guided me with His divine Hand, and there has been no greater comfort for me.

God bless you all and thank you for reading!

(Sorry if I'm a bit incoherent; I'm exhausted from cleaning)
 
Great post. I had the same problem with back pain from one of the chest tubes. I was at my son's baseball practice 8 days post op and got some of the same looks. We did go to church on post op day 5 although I could have. My wife just wasn't ready to deal with the millions of questions.
 
Good news. Good to hear the chest tube removal was such a big help -- having them removed was a painful, yet great milesone for me in that it made me a lot more comfortable and one step closer to going home. I also had the elevated heart rate after surgery, but the Metoprolol worked fine for me.

Good luck on a continued recovery.

Dan
 
Sorry to hear the misery the chest tubes caused you but happy all resolved when they were removed.

Do you mind if I ask if you had open sternum, robotic or what style opening?

Hope you continue with a great recovery.
 
Good to hear that you're doing well Peter! I agree, those chest tubes are really a pain!!!

Hope the rest of your recovery goes well!

Rachel
 
Great story. i am glad you are doing better. And here I thought that my 6" chest incision was small. 4" sternal incision - amazing!!!!
 
Glad to see you posting Peter. Take it slow, remember its okay to be in recovery mode for awhile. Personally for me this whole experience made me truly realize how precious health is. Keep on ticking.
 
DanielB,

The Sharp team was incredible! Dembitsky (Adamson's partner) was amazing. He was fast and efficient; in fact, today, I found my Dr. Dembitsky only spent 52 minutes on "chest time." WOW! I was on the bypass machine for less than 30 minutes. All of this and he was able to give me a 4 inch incision - that was a surprise when I woke up.
 
Peter, Thanks for the update on your experience with the Sharp Memorial Hospital Team. It sounds like you had just as good an experience with them as I did. Dr. Dembitski and Adamson are quite a team -- I realized later whenever I saw one of them in the hospital, the other was at his side conferring. They also seem to have such a calm, caring, yet confident air about them that I found very comforting. I think we're fortunate to have such good caretakers here in San Diego, a place that is so often overshadowed by Los Angeles. Great to be on 'the other side' isn't it? I hope you continue to have a 'bump free' recovery.
 
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