Newbie to Valve Repair

[sparkle]

Had my surgery the first part of November. Was lucky enough to be able to have the Cleveland Clinic and an amazing physician. I had robotic minimally invasive mitral valve repair. Of course that is nothing compared to having your sternum cracked and I keep all of you in my prayers. I have been reading the forum for awhile and decided to join for a little advice.

I sound like a whiner, I'm sure compared to the open chest, but would like anyone's input. I was suppose to be in the hospital about 4-5 days and ended up in 10 due to CHF after surgery, a pneumothroax and rapid heart rate. By-products of surgery as again I had a wonderful hospital, physician and nursing care.

Since I have been home I am still on Metoporal for the rapid heart beat. It was around 122 and is now in the 80's and 90's. Had a cough that seemed would never go away. Finally got some relief from that. My shoulders have been so sore, I guess from the position of the surgery. I also have harrrington rods in my back.

Am feeling much better and back at work for the past couple of weeks, but I still have soreness in the middle of my chest toward my right side. Kind of like nerve tingles or something. How long does it last? It is not unbearable or anything but I am just curious if I should be over this by now.

Just wondering if anyone has any comments on the soreness or rapid heart rate. I had an echo, ekg and chest xray. Echo is fine, and chest xray showed infiltrates which they think is from all the after surgery complications. They did put me on antibiotics again just to make sure no infection.

Thanks and you all are amazing at what you have been through!! Lots of prayers to everyone!! It really helped me reading all of this the past couple of weeks.

 

[OldGeezerWNC]

Hey there, I'll just relate some of my stuff to ya. Always ask your doc. I'm on Metoprolol 50mg right now. For the same thing as you. Over this past summer when it was hot my heart rate would get up there in the 120 and I'd get sick and dizzy. I was taking the Metoprolol morning and evening. 50 Mg. And I flat out could not handle it. When I went into the hospital Dec 15th the doubled the dose and I went bananas on it. I finally told them to cut it back. They cut it to one a day now and I'm 100% better. As for the cough, are you on Lisinopril? I take 20mg. one of the side effects from the lisinoprol is a dry cough. My wife was taking it also for high blood pressure and it cough was driving her crazy. They changed her to to just Hydrochlorothiazide and that helped. As for the pains and aches, I can stay on my side only for about 10-15 minutes. And that ruff cause I loved sleeping on my right side. I had my first quintuple bypass in 2003 and was finally able to sleep on my side in Jan of last year. The one big difference was I stayed in my recliner for almost 7 months before I could get back into the bed. I had A-Valve Replacement Dec 16th and went home for good on Dec 27th. I tried the bed on Jan 3rd and made it to 4am. After a couple more days I was sleeping through the night (5am). Both of my OHS were crack open style. Everyone is different. Hope this helps a little Rick

 

[Lionheart]

Sparkle,
We have similar experiences in more ways than one.
Same hospital
Same valve
same after surgery problems: pneumothroax, rapid HR, painful shoulders
difference is I had my sternum cracked open vs your minimally invasive

Here are my suggestions:
I had a hospital room-mate who had Minimally invasive surgery and he seemed to be in more pain than me. He and I kept in contact and he had minor pains at the insertion sites for a while after discharge.

The insertion of the tube to vent (drain?) the pneumothorax was one of the most painful things I endured during my stay. Yuk!

Rapid HR is a result of surgery and it usually it treated with meds and often eventually resolves and goes away.

The painful shoulders are probably the result of being spread out on the table and will take a while to heal, but a good, gentle, professional massage did wonders for me.
Take care,
John

 

[sparkle]

Thanks So Much

Thanks So Much

Appreciate the input. I think this site is awesome. It helps to know other people are out there that have had similar experiences. I feel very blessed to be able to have the minimally invasive, although I think I tend to forget I still had heart lung machine, opened on the side and they went through my ribs and it was heart surgery. Before surgery I tried to concentrated on the fact it was minimally invasive and I thought I would be back to 100% in a couple weeks.

After they took out the chest tube I had a leak several days later thru the incision and it freaked me out. Again, a normal complication but it scared me.

Even though I did not have my chest cracked I still have soreness in my chest. I realize it all just takes time and for the most part I am doing great.

When I returned home my cardiologist thought I had a heart attack after I had a EKG in the office and after ultrasound it turned out to be artifact. Another scare.

Would go to Cleveland again, they are awesome.

Again appreciate everyone's input!

 

[hall]

I had rapid heartbeat before and after surgery until I had my ablation so I am not a lot of help. But I wanted to say hello and welcome! Best of luck to you.

 

[debster913]

Sparkle,

I also had minimally invasive mitral repair four years ago this June. Mine was not robotic, but rather the surgeon cut me directly under the right breast.

Please don't downplay the severity of your surgery simply because it was minimally invasive. Heart surgery is still heart surgery, no matter if it's OHS or minimally invasive. It took me several months to feel 100% after valve surgery--actually, more like a year. I had other "cardiac adventures" and personal issues arise within the year after my surgery that impacted my recovery. I'm still dealing with heart issues even as I type this--right now I'm wearing an event monitor to check for a-fib, which has recently developed.

As others here will tell you, recovery is different for everyone, even if you'd had minimally invasive surgery, and I know for you, you have also had issues that have arisen. The soreness is normal--my right arm hurt for months following my surgery.

I hope you feel better soon, and welcome! Feel free to voice your concerns/problems, etc. We all have been there and done that!

Best,

 

[Smiley2000]

Sparkle,

I had my 2nd OHS on the 9th of Nov. last year (long story) but this time around they didn't have to put me on bypass and didn't stop my heart for 5 hours...

The 1st time around, my resting HR was 130+ and I was on Lanoxin for that but it lasted for 3 months, then one morning I woke up and my HR was normal again! I also had some trouble with my left arm that was weak and numb at times, but that also took a few months and then it was normal again.

The 2nd time they didn't have to put my heart and lungs on bypass and this time I don't have issues with fast HR post-op.

They definitely stopped your heart and had you on bypass machines, even though they had a "Robot" working on you. Right?

The fast HR is normal for us. Our heart's way of protesting for being shunt around but you have to check yourself and make sure that you don't retain fluids and go into CHF. Then you need to go back to Cardio and get this treated.

I am glad you have found us and welcome to the VR-family!

 

[Bear72]

I would say you'll probably continue to feel the numbness for quite a while after the surgery. Sensation is slow to come back, but it does. I had the exact same surgery, at the Cleveland Clinic in September of 2009, and I still have numbness in my right pectoral. I feel about 90% now and just ran three miles in 22:31 this week. I continue to take Toprol 50mg daily.

Give it some time. OHS recovery is not a sprint, it's a marathon.

 

[DarrinDNelson]

I also had my mitral valve repaired robotically, however I was at the Mayo Clinic (8.28.09). Even though it was done minimially invasively, there was still some discomfort post op:
1. Pain near entry wounds that would escalate whenever I sat up, coughed, sneezed, etc...it was managable and I took X Strength Tylenol and Motrin for a week or 2 after surgery. It improved every day. I was able to sleep on my stomach again 4 weeks post op.
2. Nerve sensations definitely made their presence known in weeks 2-7 post op. I suspect it was while nerves were healing. But they would tingle, and have some kind of burning sensation in some instances, and in some places there was some numbness (ie. near entry wounds and believe it or not on my right wrist). Around week 8, they began to subside, and by week 12 had subsided almost completely.

10 weeks post op I was back on the soccer field playing some recreational soccer. 14 weeks started playing a bit more competitively, and felt some discomfort when doing a chest trap.

I am now 4.5 months post op and have almost no discomfort at all. I am playing soccer twice/week and back in the weight room twice/week (lighter weights now though). Other than not quite having my wind totally back yet (ie. I can only sprint short soccer shifts right now before needing a sub...but it seems to continue to get better each week), I think I am pretty close to 100%

I feel very fortunate, and hope the hardest parts remain in the rearview mirror.

 

[SMS]

I also had my mitral valve robotically repaired at Cleveland. When I woke up, the pain was considerable. The ICU nurse told me that while the surgery is less invasive, the actual procedure cuts through more muscle and pushes things around more than a sternotomy, so it hurts. I also had a rapid heartbeat and had to up the atenolol dosage, but things calmed down after a while and now I am back to only 25 mg a day.
After the surgery, I was numb under my right arm but that is nearly gone now. Dr. Gillinov said this is normal and should go away. When I push on the main scar now,(I have 5) I can feel a hole in my pectoral muscle. My surgery was 7 months ago, and I am fine now. I'm sure you will recover rapidly.

Steve

 

[sparkle]

SMS, thanks for the update. When my local surgeon referred me to Cleveland he said that the less invasive can sometimes be worse for the same reasons. Again I was pretty naive about minimally invasive. I have some of the same stuff. Thanks again!

 

[Sharlea]

mitral valve repair

mitral valve repair

I too had MVR minimally invasive with the robot. My surg. was Oct.20,09. I am doing great! I returned to my normal routine at 6 weeks. That seemed like the magic time that I started feeling really better. I think that everyone thinks because the surg. is minimally invasive that it is a breeze. I too am so glad that I didn't have to have OHS, but this to is a major surgery.
I had mine at the Meth. Hospital in Hstn. with Dr. Gerald Lawrey. He was wonderful. I was in the hospital for 6 days. I had a terrible, nagging cough into Dec. I went to the Dr. and he thought it might be esopageal reflux and gave me Nexium. It really seemed to work. It got rid of the nagging feeling in my throat, and the feeling my throat was swollen. Did yours feel that way? They had told me at the hospital that for some reason after heart surgery patients have trouble with acid reflux. I also, had a tender spot in the middle of my chest ..It is better now. Now, I just have some areas that seem numb. I had 8 very small lncisions, the largest where the chest tube was. So,I think the numb areas are where some nerves were cut and is normal after surgery.
Sorry this is so long. It is nice to compare experiences with someone that had the same surg.
I feel truly blessed. I feel so good now. All my symtoms are gone and my quality of life is so much better. It is a miracle to me!
Good Luck to You!

sharlea
MVR with the Divinci Robot Oct.20, 2009

 

[ryen0]

Hi sparkle.
Another robot repaired mitral valve here
I had unbelieveable chest wall pain at times right after surgery. my heart rate stayed pretty high too. most people here will tell you that it takes a complete year or even more to get over heart surgery both physically and mentally. that was pretty true in my case. it gets better i promise.

 

[RalphD]

Hi Sparkle,

I am four months out of the same minimally invasive robotic surgery. Regardless, it is major heart surgery that accompanies major complications. My surgery took 12 hours. Dr. Hemp had to go back in a second time, after they restarted my heart only to discover that their was still some leakage,regurgitation of the mitral valve repair. When I awoke in ICU, I had to endure a breathing tube down my throat for another day or so. That was the worst. I coughed up gunk for about three months stripping my vocal chords, lost my voice, and am now just starting to talk normally again. I still have some soreness in my left shoulder, numbness around my inner, uppper right groin area where an incision was made and numbness around the incisions where the rods were inserted. I find this to be tolerable and only noticeable when I touch these areas. I feel this is secondary compared to the overall relief I am now feeling. I sleep restfully throughout the night, and I no longer have that dreaded "I feel like I am dying" sensation from the regurgitation. I am back at the gym, running on the treadmill, riding the bike and the stair mill, four times a week. I am more mindful of what eat and how much I consume at one time. I cut out salt to keep my blood psi under control and the excercise is great for this too. I use a trigger point cane to soften up and relieve the knots that form on the left side of upper back, shoulder and trapezius. This tool is a wonderful and I use it daily. http://www.bodyback.com/vmchk/Massa...s/Body-Back-Buddy-Trigger-Point-Massager.html
Stay as relaxed as you can, keep your stress levels to a minimum, breath deeply and enjoy life.

Ralph

9-23-09 Mitral Valve Repair-Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery-DaVinci Robot. Surgeon Dr. James R. Hemp with Scripps in San Diego
2009-Severe Mitral Valve Regurgitation, Ruptured/Torn Chordae, 2000-Dialated Cardiomyopathy, Hypertension

 

[ponytaila1a]

I was scheduled for the robot, but had the incision under the breast after a CT showed some problems that may have had to be repaired while "he was in there". Dr Gillinov told me pre-surgery that the reapir would be done the safest way ......to be decided the day of the surgery. I have to say I had no pain. I did "sleep" for a couple days after the surgery...so may have missed it. The numbness took some time to wear off....but can say I never took a pill or injection for pain following whatever was given in ICU the first two days.