The 6 week freakout!

[jake]

So as I read the postings out here I start to see those who are coming up who had surgery after me and think "not to worry, that happened to me too!"

Well, I guess I need a little cheerleading myself because I am starting to notice some things this far out and thinking "I wonder if I should be feeling like this."

So my shoulders, and upper back still hurt a bit at times but when I take a deep breath, my right side still hurts pretty good! Probably a 3-4 out of 10. It’s about mid rid rib cage and around the front to the sternum. It’s like a dull stabbing pain, don’t feel it at all when I cough.

It’s far more pronounced when I yawn.

I have also that my rib cage seems more pushed out on my bottom left side than my right side. I can’t say I noticed that before but I notice it now.

I was pushing hard to try to go back to light duty work at 8 weeks, but am I just pipe dreaming?

Have I reached the 6 week freak out?

 

[ShezaGirlie]

If I remember correctly, my "freakout" was around 8 weeks. So you're warming up to it...and completely normal.:thumbup:

 

[Mentu]

Jake, as I suggested to others, you might think of surgery as a kind of benevolent earthquake. You are still feel the "aftershocks" and some of those can appear months later. Are you going to participate in Cardiac Rehab? My surgeon recommended that I start at 6 weeks. CR turned out to be a great place to compare experiences with other patients of my own surgeon and the physiologists who run the programs are good sources of information. They can help answer a lot of the "should this be happening" or "is this normal" questions.

I would say that the aches you describe are probably still the aftershocks from having one's ribs spread apart but that should be improving now. I think it is a good indicator that you are not having pain when you breath. If these aches are not getting better, you should draw them to the attention of your family doctor if for no other reason than to set your mind at ease.

Larry

 

[Michelle D]

I was a mental wreck once the pain meds were gone. My doctors had to load me up on the anti-anxiety meds because I was calling them about every little thing and many folks on here can attest I was very vocal about ever minor detail of my recovery. I'm almost at six months, and the bottom left rib cage seems to stick out more, it is very noticeable when I feel them but not visually noticeable. I had pains for about three months, nothing severe maybe a 4 on the 1-10 scale, on both sides of my sternum near where my ribs met my sternum and in my back and shoulders. I think I had a pinched nerve and often would have to lay on an ice pack every evening for a while. It hurt to yawn for a while. If you are really concerned get a check up, you want to make sure you don't have any fluid around your lungs like I did. But you would know, a medium size breath will feel like an 8 on the 1-10 scale. Also when you are having these pains check your temp each day to make sure you aren't having too strong of an inflammation.

 

[Bina]

At 6 weeks post op I still had a home nurse to care for my incision and reassure me that I wasn't going to die.
Anxiety was my close companion 24 hours a day, and I threw in a couple of trips to the ER for good measure.
It DOES get better, albeit very slowly for some of us. My rib cage seems a bit off center as well.

 

[Michelle D]

I was right there with Bina but w/o a home nurse. I went to the ER week 3, week 4 (2x), week 6, and then week 12 (3x). My cardiologist said I never ever do this but this is what you need to recover and handed me a script for xanax. I was a nervous wreck. I really thought I was going to lose my mind. It gets better, I think week 8 was a big turning point for me, nevermind my week 12 ER visits that was for chest wall inflammation and all I needed for that was some motrin. I also called my cardiologist almost daily, really I did, and that is why I love her and not go to any other, she was very patient with me. Your being was just violated. Having heart surgery is very existential, you can really get into a funk of fight or flight crazy anxiety session and then really blue and crying and weepy. I think our subconsious still isn't assured that our body is okay. But things will get better, and I was the last person to take that advice, I thought I was mentally scarred for life, but I'm fine now and it hasn't been all that long.

 

[Philip B]

Freakout?

Freakout?

OHS is a major trauma. My recovery and engagement in rehab work was much easier than many others report, but things still hurt. The surgery typically requires that bones be flexed in directions they aren't designed to be bent in... that's not a trauma one's body forgets for awhile after surgery.

Massage with a good therapist helped me a lot with the aches and pains. I recovered and rehabbed pretty quickly, but still encountered a serious problem with post-traumatic stress syndrome. Watch out for that issue... it's literally the worse downer I've ever experienced in my entire life... you don't want to go there.

-Philip