Overdue update

[maxximom]

Hi to all of you
I've been home 2 weeks today and 3 weeks post op tomorrow. I'm still having some vision problems and that is the reason I haven't posted for the past week. I guess that I am doing pretty well. I get the staples out on Thursday and I'm sure that will make me more comfy. The staples in my leg fromharvesting the vein for the bypass seems to bother me more than the staples in my strenum..LOL! I have had very little pain..and for that I am most grateful. They had a physical therapist and a visiting nurse come in a few times..but that is now over. I was getting some palpitations and wore a holter monitor for 48 hours..but won't get the results for another week. I am moving arround the house pretty well and I think I'll try my hand at making some chiccken soup tomorrow. ..Its the only thing that I seem to be able to eat. I have lost about 16 pounds (much needed) I just can't eat at all..everything has a very bitter raste..and absolutly NOTHING appeals to me. They want me to eat..but I just can't..especially breakfast..I do manage a mothful or two at dinner..even some homemade brownies tasted awful..can you believe that? Allan and I wlaked arround our Cul de Sac over the weekend and I had quite a bit of company on Sat. I held up until 11pm..that was really a good day for me.
I get to see the Opthomoligist on Wed..hopefully I'll get some news about my eyes..as of now I don't see all those interesting phychodilic patterns and colors..but my actual reading ability hasn't improved to much.
Just wanted to touch base with all of you. Hope that all are recovering well and wish anyone preparing for surgery good luck.
Joan

 

[Nancy]

Hi Joan-

I hear a lot of positive things in your post. You have a couple of lingering problems, but it looks as if you are putting out the small fires one at a time. You'll soon be almost 100 percent, but for 3 weeks post-op, it sounds as if you're coming along very well.

Continued good recovery!

 

[Peter Easton]

Joan --

Great to hear from you! I agree with Nancy -- sounds like you are doing very well, all in all (Congrats!), and beginning to get by all those foibles that bother us post-surgery for a while. I had some vision problems, too, mentioned earlier and not much appetite for a while. Just beginning to emerge from that now.

I think, though, that the stress of this major surgery causes each of us to break down temporarily in different ways, depending on what our own particular weak points or "fault lines" are. Healing during the weeks after surgery doesn't just involve the "major" or "official" stuff (like the heart resuming more normal rhythms and the sternum beginning to knit together) -- but also involves our whole ship getting back on keel, so to speak, and our organism patching itself up and healing all those sometimes idiosyncratic ways in which the surgery throws us for a loop or gets us out of "sync". Everybody's got their own list, I guess, though there's a lot of overlap in our experience as well.

And the sum total of all those re-adjustments and types of self-repair can be, I guess, what I experience as "the yucks" -- days (and then more like hours) when I just feel pooped or depressed or blah or whatever, interspersed with times when I feel a lot better. It would be something to "graph" all this -- but the best metaphor in my case is a sawtooth progression, sort of like the stock market on a general if slow upswing with a bunch of (temporary) downward slides built in!

We're cheering loud and clear!

Affectionately,

Peter

 

[Jan]

Hi Joan
it is lovley to hear from you , I hope the problems soon vanish and you begin to feel the benefits of your surgery
until then take care
Kind Thoughts
jan

 

[sylviayasgur]

hi joan!
so great to hear from you! wow, you sound like you're coming along well....slowly, but well. i think the key to a lot of this is patience, right? it's so good to have you back and on your way.
isn't it grat to have the hardest part behind you?
keep up the good work and keep on getting better!
-sylvia