Walter - 11 days after AVR surgery

[wweir]

Bill.

Sorry for the delay in posting.

I am doing pretty well. Met with my regular doctor yesterday. As of now:

? Lost the 12 lbs of fluid I gained during the surgery.
? Still have a little fluid in my left lung. Dr took an X-Ray and it is not pneumonia but just some left over fluid. They have me on Lasix and levofloxacin to deal with it.
? Blood pressure in his office was 132/78
? INR reading is 2.0. I was on just 5mg per day but now I am going to 7.5 on Tuesday and Thursday, 5mg on the other days. They want me at 2.5
? I cannot hear the valve at all.
? Still on pain pills (Lortab ? now changed to ? Norco) due to the pain I experience when I cough. This cough was a side effect of my blood pressure med... I use to be on Diovan HCT but my Dr in the hospital changed me to Altace. Based on the cough, a real pain if you know what I mean, they switched me back to Diovan HTC. I noticed the difference already.
? They want me to add an Iron pill to get my hemoglobin up. Apparently I am a bit low. They say this is due to the surgery.

Wife and I are now walking 20 minutes each time we walk around the neighborhood. Issue is not speed but rather time.

The stairs in the house are still an issue. I feel that I could zoom up them but Linda keeps me at 4 steps at a time.

I sign up for re-hab on Thursday, just go in and fill out all the paperwork.

My Surgeon, Dr. Jex, called me at home after I came back form my regular Dr visit to see how I was doing... We went over everything that happened at the Dr's visit and he is pleased. I see him on the 13th of Sept.

So overall all is well. I have no back pain, sleep in spurts, that is I sometimes feel tired so I take a nap for 1-2 hours. Then I am ready to go for 4-6 hours and nap again. I feel like the cat and I now understand each other. I can now sleep on my side, favorite position, I am eating regular but cutting back to loose some weight.

I started doing some work from home. E-mails, writing papers, passing out work assignments and getting back in the flow of things.

Linda is taking very good care of me. She is a real angel.

Well that?s the latest. Next blood work in two weeks, and next regular Dr. visit in four weeks.

If there is a downside to all this it's the terrible daytime TV I have to endure. What mindless drivel. Divorce court, Texas justice, Maury, Soaps - the real pits, do any of these people work? They just get married, divorced and hang around the reception center, Judge judy, cops. Thank goodness for blockbluster.

Walter

 

[ILoVeNY25]

Hi Walter, Sounds like everything's going pretty smoothly for you, Everything you mentioned seems very normal. I was on Iron pills, fought a little fluid in the lungs, walking, sleeping and even the daytime TV. LOL. Glad to hear you're starting rehab, I think it's a great thing and a very big help. I'm glad to hear everything's going well and wish you only the best for your continuing recovery.

 

[wlaldridge]

Thanks for the update. I was really starting to worry that no news was NOT a good thing. It sounds like things are really going well. The sleeping situation/recliner/pillows have been some concern to me, but I will deal with that if I have to.

I share your concern for the wasteland of tv. Can't really say thank heavens for BLOCKBUSTER since I am a small competitor of Big Blue as they are known in our trade. Actually, I had two stores till the day of your surgery when I sold one to a liquidation company and the other to one of my managers. Could have gotten more than pennies on the dollar if I had posponed the surgery. I just didn't want to face it with the problems of running two retail stores especially if things should go poorly. Now I just need to face the heart stopping surgery, recovery, and unemployment. One side benefit of the exit from that business is that I have a personal collection of about 300 DVD's to choose from during my R&R but some of them are drivel, too. I love comedy but fear I will not want to laugh a lot for a while, so will select a good number of drama and action. Initially, at least.

On the movie front, I recommend "We were soldiers" our youngest son is a paratrooper with the 82nd stationed in Korea now and we have avoided most military and war films for obvious reasons, but knowing (now)General Hal Moore to be a religious, family oriented top notch battlefield commander, I had to watch his story of that first great battle of the Vietnam War. It's moving and treats all fairly the combatants from both sides and the families left back at Ft. Benning. I know your local Blockbuster will have hundreds of copies should you be inclined.

Again, thanks for the briefing. You don't know what a comfort it is to follow the progress of you and others here. Your sharing is very helpful.

 

[Ron K]

Good news

Good news

Hi Walter,

It's good to hear that you're progressing steadily in your recovery. Most of the things you complained about will improve considerably within the next few weeks as your body continues to heal and the new medicines do their stuff. You'll be sleeping longer and more confortably, your chest pains will decrease as the sturnum begins to knit, and your excercise tolerance will increase steadily. .Just give it time and don't try to rush it.

However, the daytime TV will not get any better, so maybe you better try to find a few good books or magizines to suppliment the video rentals.

Just think...by Thanksgiving and Christmas time you'll be fully recovered and probably thinking about flying out to visit your daughters, if they aren't coming to vist you for the holidays. (I think I remember you mentioning that they lived in California, right?)

Keep posting and sharing your progress.

Ron K

 

[EVELYN]

Hi Walter and Linda


So nice to hear from you and know that you're doing well!! Was getting a bit worried. Tell Linda that she's doing exactly the right thing keeping you in tow....DON'T try to do too much. Yep, I know it's a "man thing" but it just isn't worth the chance.

You sound great and it certainly seems that you're moving right along.....so good to hear that!! Have missed you on the list.

We're getting ready to take our fifthwheel up to Maine for a week to celebrate my retirement from teaching and Tyce's successful surgery and recuperation....can't wait!!! As we speak he's outside waxing the beast---yep, I know, another "man thing!"

Anyway, take good care of yourself. Please tell your wife and Amanda and Pamela I was asking for them. They've done and are doing a great job.

Evelyn

 

[Nancy]

Hi Walter-

You sound right on schedule for your post-op time. No major glitches, just the usual little nagging and sometimes hurtie things. All will get better. And it's so nice to have it done and behind you.

Take care

 

[Scottie]

Hey Walter

Hey Walter

Delighted to hear all is going to plan ...although let me tell you that British Daytime TV is not any better LOL....you keep up those walks and continue to take care ..Thanks for posting ...keep in touch . Best wishes for a continued recovery.
Scottie

 

[sylviayasgur]

hi walter!
so glad to hear that all seems to be going as it should. i'm so happy for you and linda and the rest of your family.
isn't it amazing how wonderful life can be??
wishing you a continued easy and smooth recovery.
all the best, sylvia

 

[Mb]

Dear Walter:

Sounds like things are going pretty well for you! I know the relief of finally having it over with. Can't speak too much about daytime TV, but I do know that thehubbie is clicking that cliker (aling with his ticker clicking), all of the time. (even during the evenings)....Can you imagine having this surgery and no TV at all!!!!

Good going Walter!

Marybeth