I?m now 3 wks and 2 days post-op and the past couple days I would say I actually felt ?good?. Other than back pain when sitting in my desk chair for a few hours, I?m feeling very close to my pre-surgery self. Although my HR goes up a bit more than usual when climbing stairs, I?m not having SOB and rarely even notice my HR. It seems to stay in the 60-80 range for most of the day now. The dizziness and nausea has completely disappeared lately and except when my sinuses act up (been doing that for years) I?m not having trouble anymore reading and focusing. So this will probably be my last status update unless my conditions drastically change.
I?ve cut my vicodin usage to half-pills every 6 or so hours and a whole one at night, about 2.5 total per day. I plan to switch to Tylenol+ibuprofen this weekend. The back/neck/shoulder pain is tolerable for the most part and goes away when I relax in the recliner. Sitting in my desk chair is the only time I notice the discomfort. I don?t know if I mentioned this before but I?m ?back to work? as of last week. Of course, since I work from home behind a computer for 4-6 hrs a day, going back to work did not require much of a sacrifice. In fact, my typical day right now is very close to a pre-surgery day with an extra nap or two thrown in. Here?s the things different today versus 4 weeks ago, in order of most significant:
(1) Sleep ? I?ve gotten used to sleeping in a recliner and I?ll miss it when it?s gone. I usually sleep through the night ok. I?ll take a nap or two during the day as I tend to get tired every 6 hours or so.
(2) Back pain ? no chest pain at all, but back feels stiff all the time especially around the right shoulder. I?ll wear a jacket to keep my back warm, but I?ve not bothered with a heating pad very often as the pain goes away just by lying still in my recliner as well as taking pain medication. Incidently, I had similar back discomfort pre-surgery when sitting in my desk chair for many hours.
(3) Drugs ? not as much a hassle now that I?m down to just 4 different pills but something I hate having to keep track of.
(4) Physical limitations (driving,lifting,etc) ? pretty much the same limitations I had for 4 wks with my IV antibiotics for endocarditis and several days after my angiogram. This is more a burden for my wife ? I don?t mind getting out of doing chores although I really miss being able to play with the kids.
(5) Exercise ? I?ll keep exercising in the future but I?ve not in the past done as much daily walking. I?m keeping my HR at 120bpm walking 1 mile+ each day.
And that?s essentially the only difference 23 days post-op from what my ?normal? life was like. I expect in about 3 weeks all of the issues above will be gone, except exercise, and I?ll be completely back to normal. Unfortunately that?ll mean going back to running errands and giving up my recliner. Oh well.
Overall, recovery from OHS has gone much better than I anticipated and I was fairly optimistic from the start. If I had to do it over again, I would push back more on what medications I was given ? most of my problems, starting with waking up from the anesthesia, would have been avoided with different medications or no medications at all. My cardiologist told me the other day that surgeons like to dump every type of drug on their patients even though most won?t affect the patient?s recovery. It?s just that surgeons prefer to err on the side of too much medication and rely on the patients to let them know what?s not working. So my main piece of advice: DO NOT HESITATE TO LET YOUR SURGEON KNOW IF YOU?RE NOT FEELING WELL. It?s probably one or more of the drugs you?re on and if your surgeon is like mine, they won?t hesitate to change dosage or get your completely off it. I think also exercising (walking or at least just moving around) and eating/drinking will help flush out the medications faster and get you feeling normal again. And you will feel normal again, though right after surgery you?ll think you?ll never get there. Future OHS patients: good luck and stay optimistic ? your recovery will probably go much better than you?ll expect.
