TakeStock
Well-known member
Ok, this is what I remember of the whole surgery. My memories are very hazy as the general anesthesia really wiped me out for several days. I arrived with my wife at 5am and went back for the usual hookups and the shaving. The shaved my legs and chest, not my back and not my arms. It was a woman shaving too, which seemed strange -- a man shaved me for the angio. Anyway, they use an electric shave that shaves quickly but they don't try to be too neat about it. As a result, when pulling off my chest stickies today, it was a lot more unpleasant than it needed to be. If there's a next time, and despite being told not to, I might shave myself just to do a more even job.
Surgery started at 7am. I remember being carted into the cold, large theater for the operation and noticing they had diagrams of a human heart, like the kind you see in schools. You know, that didn't instill me with confidence.
I remember getting some meds in my IV in my hand -- the only one I had at the time -- and then, nothing. I opened my eyes around 2pm to hear my wife say it was a successful repair. I motioned to write, and I wrote down "what time was it" and "dehydrated". I don't remember it, but my wife claims I made a finger typing motion indicating I wanted the laptop! Hmmm. Anyway, I would wake up again about once an hour for several hours. "Ask" for the time, and "ask" how much longer. They apparently had trouble with me stopping breathing while I was asleep, so I wasn't cleared for extubation. Apparently, at some point they decided to tie my hands down again, I had to motion-spell words with my hands at my sides. At some point they left the tube in and turned the ventilator off so I was breathing on my own, and could hear my breath going in and out. I believe I had oxygen through my nose and could breathe through my nose, although I was so spaced out I'm not exactly sure. Finally, they unhooked me and started feeding my ice chips by spoonful. My mouth was so try I still couldn't talk so I had to keep spelling things out for a few more minutes. I believe I was able to stay awake for a little while but they kept the nose-oxygen in for a while and gradually reduced the amount of air. My oxygen levels (measured by the finger attachment) never got below 94% the whole time I was there even without any extra oxygen.
The first night I don't remember anything but dozing a lot. They had put a ball that dispenses pain relief to my incision so all the pain came from the chest tubes, mainly to my shoulder blades. I could never get comfortable in that bed. I occassionally had small fevers, but it was controlled by the vicidin and percocet. I switched between the two because both seemed to fall short around the 4 hr mark, but eventually settled on the vicidin. They had wrapped a compress around both feet to circulate my blood while I stayed in bed to avoid blood clots. That was the noisest machine ever invented, and it made it impossible without a sleeping aid to sleep more than 5-10 mins at a time. They offered me a xantax but I didn't want to try something that made me too tired to stay awake while I was helplessly in discomfort. I started to get very uncomfortable by the second night. They had planned to pull my chest tubes in the morning but I complained so much about the pain, they went ahead and pulled them out that night. It hurt a little, but compared to the tube pain, I could live with a brief kick of pain. They probably should have waited for the vicidin to kick in -- both pain relievers seemed to take about an hour to take effect. At one point on the first night I took a shot of morphine while waiting for the percocet to work, which seemed like a good combination but the relief was immediate. Anyway, once the tubes were gone, they pain was very manageable and it was easy to keep up with the pain in the 4 hrs between doses plus one hour to kick in. In fact, at 4pm today I went ahead with extra strength tylenol and so far the pain isn't too bad. I'll probably switch back to vicidin at bed time.
After the tubes were out, I took out my sound machine to drown out the leg compressors and that helped a little and let me get some sleep the second night. The third day (day 2 as they count it, post-op) was a lot more walking and sitting and working on the spirometer. I could get up to about 1500 when I left which is about what they're looking for. While being stuck sitting I couldn't do a whole lot except talk to my wife and read magazines -- I had the nurse bring me some. I used the laptop occassionally but it was hard to focus and after about 30 mins sitting I would feel like dozing again.
I think the same night they took the chest tubes out they removed the IV in my neck and later, my pacing wires. The neck IV was not the kind most people get because they were unable to get it hooked up during the operation, so they went in through my chest near my shoulder. I'm not sure what the neck IV was ever used for, but the failed neck attempts resulted in two holes in my neck that look like vampire bites. The pacing wires didn't hurt coming out but felt really strange, like someone pulling a string out of your chest.
The last day was just about getting the bowel movement I had to have before they let me go. With IBS, bowel movements are unpredictable, even without tons of medication and antibiotics. Fortunately, I "passed" the last test and I was free to go once the instructor came to my room for discharge class. Also on the last day, they replaced my leg compressor with tight stockings (really just very tight socks) which I'm to wear for the next couple weeks. I'm not sure if other hospitals are so concerned about leg blood clots, but Bethesda North spends a lot of time on this.
There's probably a bunch of other things I'm forgetting, but if anyone has questions about what they might expect, feel free to ask. Overall, I would never want to do it again, but I can see a pathway through the hospital stay that would be relatively painless: an anesthesia that's not too strong and doesn't linger for days, no IBS or have it well controlled, having leg compressors that are quiet, getting lucky with chest tube pain. Eliminate those problems and this would have been a very tolerable experience. Hope future OHS patients have such an experience.
Surgery started at 7am. I remember being carted into the cold, large theater for the operation and noticing they had diagrams of a human heart, like the kind you see in schools. You know, that didn't instill me with confidence.
I remember getting some meds in my IV in my hand -- the only one I had at the time -- and then, nothing. I opened my eyes around 2pm to hear my wife say it was a successful repair. I motioned to write, and I wrote down "what time was it" and "dehydrated". I don't remember it, but my wife claims I made a finger typing motion indicating I wanted the laptop! Hmmm. Anyway, I would wake up again about once an hour for several hours. "Ask" for the time, and "ask" how much longer. They apparently had trouble with me stopping breathing while I was asleep, so I wasn't cleared for extubation. Apparently, at some point they decided to tie my hands down again, I had to motion-spell words with my hands at my sides. At some point they left the tube in and turned the ventilator off so I was breathing on my own, and could hear my breath going in and out. I believe I had oxygen through my nose and could breathe through my nose, although I was so spaced out I'm not exactly sure. Finally, they unhooked me and started feeding my ice chips by spoonful. My mouth was so try I still couldn't talk so I had to keep spelling things out for a few more minutes. I believe I was able to stay awake for a little while but they kept the nose-oxygen in for a while and gradually reduced the amount of air. My oxygen levels (measured by the finger attachment) never got below 94% the whole time I was there even without any extra oxygen.The first night I don't remember anything but dozing a lot. They had put a ball that dispenses pain relief to my incision so all the pain came from the chest tubes, mainly to my shoulder blades. I could never get comfortable in that bed. I occassionally had small fevers, but it was controlled by the vicidin and percocet. I switched between the two because both seemed to fall short around the 4 hr mark, but eventually settled on the vicidin. They had wrapped a compress around both feet to circulate my blood while I stayed in bed to avoid blood clots. That was the noisest machine ever invented, and it made it impossible without a sleeping aid to sleep more than 5-10 mins at a time. They offered me a xantax but I didn't want to try something that made me too tired to stay awake while I was helplessly in discomfort. I started to get very uncomfortable by the second night. They had planned to pull my chest tubes in the morning but I complained so much about the pain, they went ahead and pulled them out that night. It hurt a little, but compared to the tube pain, I could live with a brief kick of pain. They probably should have waited for the vicidin to kick in -- both pain relievers seemed to take about an hour to take effect. At one point on the first night I took a shot of morphine while waiting for the percocet to work, which seemed like a good combination but the relief was immediate. Anyway, once the tubes were gone, they pain was very manageable and it was easy to keep up with the pain in the 4 hrs between doses plus one hour to kick in. In fact, at 4pm today I went ahead with extra strength tylenol and so far the pain isn't too bad. I'll probably switch back to vicidin at bed time.
After the tubes were out, I took out my sound machine to drown out the leg compressors and that helped a little and let me get some sleep the second night. The third day (day 2 as they count it, post-op) was a lot more walking and sitting and working on the spirometer. I could get up to about 1500 when I left which is about what they're looking for. While being stuck sitting I couldn't do a whole lot except talk to my wife and read magazines -- I had the nurse bring me some. I used the laptop occassionally but it was hard to focus and after about 30 mins sitting I would feel like dozing again.
I think the same night they took the chest tubes out they removed the IV in my neck and later, my pacing wires. The neck IV was not the kind most people get because they were unable to get it hooked up during the operation, so they went in through my chest near my shoulder. I'm not sure what the neck IV was ever used for, but the failed neck attempts resulted in two holes in my neck that look like vampire bites. The pacing wires didn't hurt coming out but felt really strange, like someone pulling a string out of your chest.
The last day was just about getting the bowel movement I had to have before they let me go. With IBS, bowel movements are unpredictable, even without tons of medication and antibiotics. Fortunately, I "passed" the last test and I was free to go once the instructor came to my room for discharge class. Also on the last day, they replaced my leg compressor with tight stockings (really just very tight socks) which I'm to wear for the next couple weeks. I'm not sure if other hospitals are so concerned about leg blood clots, but Bethesda North spends a lot of time on this.
There's probably a bunch of other things I'm forgetting, but if anyone has questions about what they might expect, feel free to ask. Overall, I would never want to do it again, but I can see a pathway through the hospital stay that would be relatively painless: an anesthesia that's not too strong and doesn't linger for days, no IBS or have it well controlled, having leg compressors that are quiet, getting lucky with chest tube pain. Eliminate those problems and this would have been a very tolerable experience. Hope future OHS patients have such an experience.
