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I remember that period - waiting for all the release papers to be filled out and such. Seemed like it took forever! I'm sure they'll get your hemoglobin figured out soon, but sorry you have to go through that hiccup (most of us went through a couple hiccups of some type). Congrats and now the real healing begins! Remember to walk as often as you can (daily, or at least every other day if you can) - it does wonders for the healing process.
 
New Guy said:
I do have one concern, my hemoglobin has been dropping and it's at it's low today of 8.1. I think that's what is making me feel sow low energy and having periods where I feel generally lousy.
Doug
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Doug, dear heart, you've just had a very major serious operation. Low energy and feeling generally lousy are pretty much how everyone feels a few days after this kind of surgery. You just had your surgery on Tuesday. Hemoglobin, shemoglobin, take it easy.
 
Hi Doug Glad to hear things are going so well for you. I hope I will be able to follow in your footsteps in a week. Keep up the good recovery and take it easy. I will be watching for more posts to hear how you are doing. Good Luck. Pat
 
Doug,

Good on you, yes we can all relate to the "where is the Mack truck that hot me feeling"

Let the healing begin, spyro, rest and walking are the next steps, have a good recovery, it will be so much better once you get home

GIl
 
I had a difficult day today. I slept poorly and about 4 AM developed a hangover style headache that seemed to nearly kill me. On a nurses suggestion at 3 pm I had a cup of coffee and the headache was gone in 15 minutes. These headaches started 4 days ago in the hospital but was much worse today. The rest of the day was low energy from feeling so sick from the headache. I feel much better now.

I apparently am addicted to caffeine? I used to drink a cup or two 5 or 6 days a week and have been off the stuff since surgery. I had planned to stay away for a couple months but not any more! I can't wait for the paper and a cup o joe tomorrow morning now.

Doug
 
Thanks Pat, I'll be watching your progress and say a prayer for you too. I think I might feel a lot better in another week, and I feel better than I expected now.

Doug
 
New Guy said:
I had a difficult day today. I slept poorly and about 4 AM developed a hangover style headache that seemed to nearly kill me. On a nurses suggestion at 3 pm I had a cup of coffee and the headache was gone in 15 minutes. These headaches started 4 days ago in the hospital but was much worse today. The rest of the day was low energy from feeling so sick from the headache. I feel much better now.

I apparently am addicted to caffeine? I used to drink a cup or two 5 or 6 days a week and have been off the stuff since surgery. I had planned to stay away for a couple months but not any more! I can't wait for the paper and a cup o joe tomorrow morning now.

Doug
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I'm glad your nurse figured out your headaches might have been because of the lack of caffiene. I am sure your low energy has ALOT to do with your hemoglobin being so low, are they keeping on eye on it? Do you happen to know what your level was pre op? Chances are it was close to 14 so8 is usually the number where people feel a huge difference if they get a unit of blood, but it will probably take a couple weeks to replace the blood lost on your own.
Are you taking iron, or did they tell you thing to eat ect to try and get your levels up?
 
Lynlw said:
I'm glad your nurse figured out your headaches might have been because of the lack of caffiene. I am sure your low energy has ALOT to do with your hemoglobin being so low, are they keeping on eye on it? Do you happen to know what your level was pre op? Chances are it was close to 14 so8 is usually the number where people feel a huge difference if they get a unit of blood, but it will probably take a couple weeks to replace the blood lost on your own.
Are you taking iron, or did they tell you thing to eat ect to try and get your levels up?
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Lynlw,

I did not learn what my pre surgery hemoglobin was but yes I am on an iron supplement. Meats and dark green veggies to help along with a vitamin called vitron-c. I'll be careful with the dark green veggies till I figure out my INR. I have my first post hospital INR check today and a visit to the cardio on Thurs. I did have the headache (mild) this morn but the coffee forced it right away.

Do you think hemoglobin can come up so quickly in only a few weeks?

I found it difficult yesterday dealing with blood testing clinics and getting registered yesterday. One was inadequate IMO due to testing only on Wed and Fri afternoons. Another was rude and disorganized and I still never got approved after 45 mins on the phone with them. The easiest one was a group called Quest Diagnostics. they're close by, have good business hours and I'll see them today.
 
New Guy said:
Lynlw,

I did not learn what my pre surgery hemoglobin was but yes I am on an iron supplement. Meats and dark green veggies to help along with a vitamin called vitron-c. I'll be careful with the dark green veggies till I figure out my INR. I have my first post hospital INR check today and a visit to the cardio on Thurs. I did have the headache (mild) this morn but the coffee forced it right away.

Do you think hemoglobin can come up so quickly in only a few weeks?

I found it difficult yesterday dealing with blood testing clinics and getting registered yesterday. One was inadequate IMO due to testing only on Wed and Fri afternoons. Another was rude and disorganized and I still never got approved after 45 mins on the phone with them. The easiest one was a group called Quest Diagnostics. they're close by, have good business hours and I'll see them today.
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Be careful with the IRON it can cause even more problems with being consitpated ect. It usually takes weeks-month or so to raise your HGB up a few numbers to your normal level if the anemia is because of blood loss and not a medical problem. But even raising it up a few points should make a difference in how much energy you have ect.
Since you are trying to get back to normal, when you go to the doctor i'd ask what it was pre op so you know what your goal is. this is just a a general guide but http://www.anemia.org/patients/faq/
under Treating Anemia
I have been taking the iron supplements my doctor recommended, so why haven’t my symptoms gone away?
In order to correct anemia, your body must manufacture new red blood cells to replace those that were lost. It takes about 5-7 days to start developing red blood cells which should increase hemoglobin levels within 2-3 weeks of starting iron supplementation. Therapeutic doses of iron (50-60 mg of oral elemental iron twice daily) should increase hemoglobin levels by 0.7-1.0 g/dL per week.3 You may need to continue to take an iron supplement for several months in order to build up iron stored in your body and prevent anemia from returning. Therefore, it is important to take pills for as long as your doctor recommends, even if your symptoms have lessened or disappeared.
 
Go Doug go! Sorry that I have not been posting as well. I wrote a post suregery post earlier this week and lost it before posting.

You beat me. I went in arount 7:00am the same day and was not released until Sunday. It took me an extra day to get my INR in line. I was too druged up to remember if my On-x is 23 or 25. My recovery was rough. I suffered from nausea for a couple days due to the pain meds...and then went directly into a low grade fever for a day or so. I was pushing it to walk around, but I did. Sat. I was finally feeling OK.

I have to tell you that I was amazed that the hospital staff seemed surprized that I was not drinking coffee and I was surprized that they delivered it to me in the ICU. I was about a pot a day pre-surgery and have only had that headache once. I am going to try to go as long as possibile without it, but that will be difficulte as it is oh so good.

Keep up the good work.
Scott
 
Hi Scott,

Great to hear from you. I've been thinking of you and hoping you'd not been having a bad time of it. Sorry to learn you did. I still have the headaches. The coffee gives me the only relief I can find, and I get them every day. Now I'm guessing it's some of the meds I'm on. In fact I'm skipping my daily dose of Lasix (used to lose water retained in surgery) I am still about 10 pounds over my pre surgery weight but getting close to fitting into my pants again. I only have 3 doses left so I'm hopeful to lose the headaches this time. I tried going off dairy for a day and that didn't help. Otherwise I'm doing well. I saw my cardio yesterday and he said I'm doing great. We spoke for 40 mins and I was feeling good at the time so I of course forgot to mention the headaches.

I'll give him a call either way next week. He thought I should keep on the Lasix for another couple weeks, but I didn't fill the RX yet.

I love the family picture. I have 3 boys and knew I'd have 4 if we tried again for the elusive girl. We gave up.

I'm not so sure I can claim victory either. I too was released on Sun and didn't get home until about 5pm.

Doug
 
Doug & Scott, glad you're both on the way to recovery! It'll get easier from here on out, but don't be surprised if you have a setback or two along the way. For a while it can seem like two steps forward, one step back, but pretty soon, the good days are way out-numbering the bad days. Keep us posted, and don't forget the scar pics!
 
ARGreenMN said:
Doug & Scott, glad you're both on the way to recovery! It'll get easier from here on out, but don't be surprised if you have a setback or two along the way. For a while it can seem like two steps forward, one step back, but pretty soon, the good days are way out-numbering the bad days. Keep us posted, and don't forget the scar pics!
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Thanks Andy,

I just had one of those 2 steps forward things. My first good nights sleep since surgery. I even slept on my side for a portion of the eve, and I feel great today. Regarding the pics, I can not figure how to post one for my avatar. If I can figure that out I'll consider a zipper pic too. Any advice?

Doug
 
Ross has to change some settings to allow you to post an Avatar pic. I'd suggest shooting him a private msg. As far as posting pics within your post though, you can do that now. Assuming you have the pic somewhere on your hard drive, there's several icons while you're typing in a new post (right above where you type) and one of them is for "Insert Image" (third one from right). Glad you're having a good day! And here's to many, many more!
 
Thanks Andy. I did two 15 minute walks today and looking forward to a step back tomorrow. I figure I will be pretty tired.

I went to a nursing home to attend the Shabbat services which my Wife sings at and my 13 year practiced her Bat Mitzvah at. I am always amazed at the people who think I should be at home in bed...and I am not talking about residents.

Scott
 
I took a step back these last 2 days. As I was out for a walk 2 evenings ago I became badly light headed and needed to sit down twice. Then at home I could not get up the stairs without having the same problem. Yesterday the Doc took me off metoprolol because my heart rate was low 50's and BP was low too. Today my heart rate shot up to 150 and stayed there and although I felt better than when I had the dizziness I still didn't feel good. Off to the Doc's for an EKG to learn I'm in a fibrillation.

Next I'm sent to the emergency room and given some drugs to lower the heart rate but I was still in a-fib. Then they knocked me out and gave me an electrical jump start with a defibrillator and that got the clock ticking properly. I was released 45 mins later and now I'm back on the drugs (metoprolol, but at twice the dosage) that I thought was making me feel so badly earlier. The Doc says I was likely in a-fib for those 2 days and that is why I felt so bad.

I'm hoping he's right because I'm just about to take my next dose.

I'm still here and I'm still smiling though.

Doug
 
Doug,

If the metropolol continues to wipe you out, you might want to ask your Cardio about going on Sotalol (generic form of BetaPace) which supposedly targets A-Fib according to my Doc. The instructions say that you should be hospitalized for a few days while your body adjusts to Sotalol "just in case" you might develop a dangerous arrhythmia during the adjustment period.

'AL Capshaw'
 
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