I had my Aortic Root Replacement (Bentall Procedure) around 4.5 weeks ago. I'm a 28 year old Male and was in reasonably good physical condition prior to my surgery (having an aneurysm limited the type of exercise I could do leading up to my operation, so I just did to power walking in the evenings. In the months leading up to my operation, I started to increase the distance, settling at around 8.5Km which I took me a bit over an hour to complete. The surgery went well with no complications. My first couple of days after the operation were more or less pain free due to the morphine I was on.
I found that the majority of my pain was referred pain around my back, neck and shoulders, which occasionally lead to rather unpleasant headaches. The sternum wound itself only really hurt when I was doing breathing exercises with my Tri-Flow or coughing (and the worst pain I felt in my sternum was while throwing up a couple of days after coming home, not my best day ever). The referred pain was worst when my central line, morphine, and catheter were removed on the 3rd day after my operation (they also started giving me diuretics), I felt absolutely miserable that day, and I also developed a mild fever that night due to some minor fluid build up on my lungs (both had subsided by morning). After taking me off the Morphine, I was given an Indocid suppository twice a day as well as Paracetamol and codeine tablets every 4 hours, and that seemed to take care of the pain. I was also given a fiber supplement to take when i started on the Paracetamol+Codeine tablets called Metamucil. I was taking two tablespoons in the morning, and two again in the evening. It's not the most pleasant thing to drink (In-fact, the quicker you gulp it down after mixing it the better, otherwise it turns into what could only be described as a vaguely orange-flavored sawdust jelly), but it keeps you regular, and is better than taking laxatives. I think it's psyllium husk based?
I continued the paracetamol+codeine tablets for pain management when I returned home, and only took Indocid when I really needed it (usually when I started to develop a splitting headache). Since I didn't have a great deal of meat above my sternum, I guess i'm not feeling as much pain there as others would?
I'm halfway through the 4th week after my operation, and I'm taking the painkillers less and less frequently (although I tried sleeping on my side last night for the first time since the operation, and my sternum was feeling a little tender the next day, this could either be because of the position i was sleeping in, or my decreased painkiller doses). I still have stiffness in my neck and shoulders, but that's because i haven't been doing my stretching exercises as diligently as i should be. I've just started walking ~2.5km in the evenings (I was doing 1km walks in the evenings on the week i returned home).
Wishing you a smooth and swift recovery!!
