Post-surgery & house projects?

[Guest]

I should have picked winter as the time of year to do this surgery - spring reminds me of all the outside house projects I'm not going to get to until I've healed...

I'm 3 weeks out from PVR surgery (almost) & have heard guidance indicating not to over-extend myself before 6 months and obviously there's the 6 week mark for the sternum to fuse. I had the surgery due to a congenital defect, going in I was healthy, and now that I'm out, well... I'm bored...

Let's say you wanted to install a wood floor, rip up carpet, etc put trees in the ground, etc. general house projects that I wouldn't try until post 6+ weeks. Just wondering what duration of 'project on pause' did you subject yourself to before going back at those activities - did you wait 6 months? How long before you were able to start/finish general house projects?

Thanks!

 

[honeybunny]

I don't do projects like the ones you describe but I will tell you this. I passed the 6-week mark for sternum healing but at some point after that was dealing again with minor pain, esp. when I coughed or sneezed. I didn't do anything more that normal stuff around the house and pull myself up into my pickup. I picked up a 15-lb bag or two of dog food, probably other stuff I didn't give much thought to. I don't recall ever having a specific twinge from an activity; I just started feeling sore again. I've since babied myself a bit more and am more careful when lifting, even bags of groceries. Guess my advice would be to take it slow and monitor yourself to make sure you are not overdoing it.

 

[dick0236]

. I'm bored...

.....Let's say you wanted to install a wood floor, rip up carpet, etc put trees in the ground, etc. general house projects that I wouldn't try until post 6+ weeks.

Thanks!

I can understand the "bored" feeling but the tasks you've outlined ain't easy......I've done them all post op but I would not attempt any of them only 6 weeks out of surgery.....remember the old saying, "only sweat the big deals....and remember there are NO big deals. The heavy duty "honey do" projects can wait.

 

[Seeker]

I had my AVR surgery on February 23rd. The first 4 weeks I just went for walks and made sure not to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. Most of my sternum aches began to subside at 5 weeks. I got a little over confident and like an idiot I felt like I could push myself a little farther. Thinking I could mow my lawn was a mistake. For a while I thought I may have damaged my sternum by over lifting and moving my body in the same ways I could before my surgery. Your surgery site will "speak" to you and remind you that you are not ready and still need time to heal. At the 8 week mark I managed to install a car stereo in my pick-up without much problem. I was able to contort my body under the dash, operate small power tools, and for the most part move my body as before. Again my sternum gave me a little reminder to take it easy and I took some Tylenol at the end of the day. I'm at 9 weeks out now and from time to time I still get little twinges of light pain around my incision site. My surgeon told me it will take up to 6 months to heal 100%. My house projects can wait.

 

[Ryan CA]

At about 6 or 7 weeks, I decided to dig out an old sprinkler line in my yard that I had wanted to get out for a while. I was bored, like you mentioned so I figured I would give it a shot. The sternum was ok as long as I held the shovel at the right angle.....but what really got me, was my heart was apparently not ready for that level of activity. All the next day I had a way elevated amount of PVCs. Like 3 or 4 per minute. Pretty uncomfortable. I called the doctor and he suggested I take an extra dose of metroprolol. That helped, but still, my heart was a little upset with me for a couple days. I waited a few more weeks before I attempted any projects around the house after that.

 

[almost_hectic]

I had my AVR surgery on February 23rd. The first 4 weeks I just went for walks and made sure not to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. Most of my sternum aches began to subside at 5 weeks. I got a little over confident and like an idiot I felt like I could push myself a little farther. Thinking I could mow my lawn was a mistake. For a while I thought I may have damaged my sternum by over lifting and moving my body in the same ways I could before my surgery. Your surgery site will "speak" to you and remind you that you are not ready and still need time to heal. At the 8 week mark I managed to install a car stereo in my pick-up without much problem. I was able to contort my body under the dash, operate small power tools, and for the most part move my body as before. Again my sternum gave me a little reminder to take it easy and I took some Tylenol at the end of the day. I'm at 9 weeks out now and from time to time I still get little twinges of light pain around my incision site. My surgeon told me it will take up to 6 months to heal 100%. My house projects can wait.

I can vouch for your surgeons 6 month comment. It's taken me about that long. Pain went away long before that but trying to lift or do physical things would result in my finding out that hard way it was too much too soon. Only course of action was to give it time. Now I'm at 8 months and feel really god and ready to build my strength back up

 

[cldlhd]

At around the 6 week mark I started stripping paint off a fireplace to reveal the old brick.The scraping back and forth seemed to be the kind of motion that could irritate the sternum area but probably not cause a major problem as no heavy lifting involved. I figured if I felt it a bit I'd just take a break. I can understand where you're coming from as I was getting eager to get back at it but the time will fly and I wouldn't recommend planting trees at 6 weeks.I'm 14 months out and I spent yesterday digging a 45 foot long trench running drain pipe to get water from a downspout where I wanted and other than some old age (47) aches and pains this morning I felt just fine.

 

[epstns]

I would suggest that you think about how strenuous the work you plan will be. I did not undertake any home projects for quite a while after surgery, but before surgery I was a dedicated gym rat. I badly wanted to get back to my routine, including jogging and exercises like push-ups.

Well, the jogging never happened (due to now having a pacemaker and taking beta blocker, along with knee arthritis), but I can tell you for sure that my sternum was most definitely NOT ready for the stress of push-ups for a long time. For me, it was not comfortable to put it under that much pressure until almost 6 months post-op. It wasn't that I couldn't do it. . . it was that it was so uncomfortable that I didn't want to do it.

Listen to your body. Try the tasks for short duration, then see how you feel during activity and the next day. Once you know what you can tolerate, do that much and just a little bit more. It will come back, but you cannot rush it.