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DaveEM

VR.org Supporter
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2008
Messages
86
Location
Kensington, MD
Hi All, as I wait for my AVR on 10 December I'm finding my nervousness increasing. One thing I seem to be obsessing on is the pain I'll feel from the incision and sternum healing. I know it fades fairly quickly, but thinking about those first few days and week or so has me scared. So, folks, give me your thoughts on the initial days after surgery and how much discomfort one feels. On a scale of one to ten, with one being a cut finger and ten being a severe ear ache (perhaps one of you will come up with a better example of a ten -- luckily I haven't experienced anything traumatic like this AVR). Thanks!!

Dave
 
Dave,
Relax and ease your fears.
Personally for me a cut finger would be a lot more painful.
The meds they give you will ease just any and all pain.
I was 58 when I had my surgery. The afternoon of the second day I was walking the halls of the hospital. The only bad thing I remember is falling asleep a number of times when I had visitors due to the pain meds, it was embarrasing.
Rich
 
Dave, not being the patient and only the wife, I can only tell you what Dick expressed after his surgery. He never complained of sternum pain, only back and shoulder pain which kept him up at night but was helped by Tylenol PM and massage. His only other complaints in the early weeks were a lack of appetite and constipation from the meds. He pushed himself to walk and daily inceased the mileage and by six weeks he was pretty much back to normal and feeling well enough to make our yearly winter trek to FL for the winter. On a scale of one to ten, his sternum pain was a 1.
 
Honestly, my AVR incision was not nearly as painful as I'd envisioned...I'd put it at a 4 or 5. However, I've been well conditioned from a lifetime of migraine headaches...
 
Dave, I don't know that this thread is going to help you much because I think you will very quickly see that all of us have experienced varying degree of pain or discomfort.

I was very lucky. I would describe my true "pain" from my sternum to be a 1 or less. I was caused much more discomfort from my three chest tubes which had to stay in for a week. Once those were out, I was immediately able to lie on my sides and even my stomach without any pain. Rolling over however, did cause momentary pain which quickly subsided. I also didn't have the pain most people associate with sneezing and coughing.

The first couple of days afterward, you will be so drugged you really won't remember much. I think the first days out on the regular cardiac floor were my worst. It wasn't a picnic, but it is certainly something you can get through.

I'm sure you'll do fine and afterwards you will probably realize, like most of us do, that all of the anxiety beforehand, in many ways, is really much worse.

I wish you the best.

Kim
 
My personal experience.....I was absolutely astounded at how little pain I felt. I expected the worse and it wasn't even close to what I expected. Those pain meds did a great job.
 
Pain is not good for healing, so it is in everyone's interest to keep your pain well managed. You will not have any pain, unless you refuse the meds. Once they stop giving you IV pain meds, you could have pain if you don't take the pills before the pain comes back, that is, you have to anticipate the pain, and if you do, you won't have any.
 
I had a severe ear ache about 5 years ago, and it was much much worse! I wanted to scream and/or cut my head off! The pain that I had from pericarditis when it was at its greatest was also worse that the surgical pain. And of course, having a 6 minute long titanic contraction that caused me to dilate from 3 to 10 was horrendous compared to heart surgery pain.

The secret to the pain is to stay on top of it with the pain medicine. Don't wait until you start to hurt because by the time the medicine works, you could be in a great deal of pain. If they say you can take it every 4 hours, take it every 4 hours, at least in the beginning. That said, I took very little pain medicine once I left the hospital on the 6th day. I was feeling much better and really only needed it to help me sleep.
 
Regarding surgery:
I told my surgeon I wasn't afraid of death but I was
afraid of pain afterwards.
He said, "not to worry. There's no pain after death!"
I think my phrasing may have been wrong.
:D:D:D
 
you won't have that much true pain. what you will have is soreness. I found raising myself up from lying down in bed was something I had to learn to do. Sneezing was the worst pain I felt and that happened weeks after surgery - do NOT do it if you can stop it. If you take pain meds, you will find that you will have lots less trouble with pain. Be sure to take one before sleeping for the night so that when you move/turn in bed/chair it won't hurt much and maybe you won't even wake up. As for pain of the actual surgery, I only had that mostly while still in the hospital. Getting out of bed and walking, breathing in the thingy, and doing their exercises will help you to heal quicker. I was 68 at the time of surgery.
 
I can only speak for myself, but when I got home (after 5 days) I didn't even take Tylenol (which is what I was told to take for pain). Naturally, things like coughing and especially sneezing are painful, but just walking, sitting, etc. was probably a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. Basically, it was sore, but I would not call it pain. In the hospital, they make sure to give you pain meds even if you say you don't need them. Anyhow, I think you will be pleasantly surprised about the pain aspect.
 
the incision was a no brainer to be honest, pain meds took care of that. When I was in ICU for the first day and then in the stepdown unit afterwards the first question the nurse would ask is "How is your pain ? Rate it 1 to 10". I honestly don't remember it ever going above 3, maybe 4 once because they were a bit late with the meds. The vast majority of the time I can say the incision was less than 1. The only real discomfort I had was trying to get in and out of bed. Using those core muscles was pretty delicate. But even that only lasted for a second or two.
 
khawkk said:
Regarding surgery:
I told my surgeon I wasn't afraid of death but I was
afraid of pain afterwards.
He said, "not to worry. There's no pain after death!"
I think my phrasing may have been wrong.
:D:D:D
Click to expand...

:D:D:p

I believe after surgery pain cannot be compared to a toothache or an earache, both of which are far worse than after surgery.
 
They will keep you well medicated for as long as you need it. Be sure your asking and getting the meds before the pain starts too bad. All in all, I'd give it a 5 on the scale. It's not so much the split sternum as it is rolling on you side, coughing, sneezing (God forbid, you think your coming apart) etc,.
 
This is great

This is great

Dan, best of luck!! I'm loving this thread as well, it's really helped me. I've been suspicious that people haven't been talking about the immediate post op period out of some conspiracy. Now, I see it's really because it isn't a big deal (I hope!!). Let me ask another dumb question I'm obsessing about: I sleep on my back with one or both arms over my head over a pillow I put on top of my head (I don't know how to describe it, but it's not as weird as it sounds). Anyway, I'm afraid I will naturally in the middle of the night attempt to put my arms over my head to sleep the way I usually do. Is this out of the question for first weeks post op?

Dave
 
Im a side/stomach sleeper so the first 6 weeks or so I was in a recliner. Getting completely vertical right after surgery sucks and trying to get up is even worse. The recliner was my best buddy, along with the heating pad. Seems that if I slept on my back I would get discomfort between my shoulder blades. Nothing bad but enough to be a bother. I was off the pain meds after about 3 weeks and while the Tylenol helped, there was still some discomfort.

As far as putting your arms over your head, I can't say ! But I don't think its gonna be an issue.
 
DaveEM said:
Dan, best of luck!! I'm loving this thread as well, it's really helped me. I've been suspicious that people haven't been talking about the immediate post op period out of some conspiracy. Now, I see it's really because it isn't a big deal (I hope!!). Let me ask another dumb question I'm obsessing about: I sleep on my back with one or both arms over my head over a pillow I put on top of my head (I don't know how to describe it, but it's not as weird as it sounds). Anyway, I'm afraid I will naturally in the middle of the night attempt to put my arms over my head to sleep the way I usually do. Is this out of the question for first weeks post op?

Dave
Click to expand...


Hi Dave, addressing yuour first posted issue, I was exactly like you and all the others so afraid of the pain after the surgery, not the surgery itself, and how would I sleep after the surgeryy...I am not a back sleeper and I can only sleep on my side. The second day of my surgery, I was feeling real great and all doctors and visitors were even surprised as how I was sitting up and talking with full mental awareness--all that was due to the pain killers!!:D So, do not worry about the pain, but make sure you tell them when you start feeling it...in my case, they had to change the pain killer after two days, as it was not working -- yet, I managed.

As for sleep, do not worry as you shall fall asleep due to the medications and trauma your body went through before realizing you needed to raise your hands up:D or whaterver. I slept with the bed head upward and when I put it down falt and wanted to sleep on my side, the nurse supported my side with pillows as they did not want me flat on my back.
Feeling better and improving will be faster than you realize.

Good luck and dwell on the good outcome and healthier you.:)

With my pryaers
 
Everyone is different where pain is concerned but I don't really remember having pain. I would classify it more as discomfort. As others have said, the key is to stay on top of your pain management and not try to stretch out the pain meds, especially during the first few days after your surgery. I was off of pain meds fairly soon after I got home from the hospital.
 
I never experienced debilitating pain after both of my heart surgeries but I was not pain free. The nurses told me they consider pain control as important as temperature and blood pressure.... another vital sign. They controlled my pain consistently and dependably. Every time I requested pain medication, it was promptly administered.

I am a back sleeper so I was okay in that regard. My first surgery, I could not go on my side for about a month. My second surgery, I could turn on my side after about 2 weeks.

We all worry about pain; no one wants to suffer but for almost all of us, we are kept comfortable and our pain (if we have any) is well managed.

They sent me home from the hospital both times with Rx for the meds I had been on they knew worked for me.
 
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