What would happen if...

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S

SB42

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 17, 2011
Messages
161
Location
No.VA
My wife and I were discussing this the other night. I have young children (6, 4 & 17 mo.). This time of year is obviously cold / flu season. As we all know, coughing (usually due to common fluid build up in the lungs) and especially sneezing is very painful during post-op. My question is, what would happen if you happened to come down with the flu bug, which we all know what that means without having to say it. Do you think the doctors would bring you back to the hospital for I.V. to reduce the flu symptoms, especially the one that is, as I could only imagine, a million times worse than coughing and sneezing? I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, but wondered if anyone unfortunately experienced that or know what to do "just in case."

Thanks,

Scott
 
Scott, it could happen but so could a lot of other things. I would encourage you to let the future take care of itself with respect to these kinds of speculation. I think it unlikely that anyone would be readmitted to the hospital unless the symptoms indicated there were serious complications.

The one thing you know you can do to reduce the possibility of complications or at least their intensity is to work at being as healthy as you can. After surgery, this means eating thoughtfully (some have suggested increasing protein intake), being well rested and walking as much as you can. The walking will help restore your lung function which will leave you better able to deal with bacterial or viral infections. In the event you do get an infection, you need to report it to your doctor. Anti-virals such as Valtrex are available which can be a big help. Antibiotics are important to avoid endocarditis. With a mechanical valve or tissue valve, endocarditis can damage the sites of the incisions or tissue leaflets.

It is only normal to worry about the probable possibles. What you can do, however, is be alert and work with your family doctor to be as healthy as you can and to address issues quickly to avoid them becoming worse. Before my AVR, I spoke with my family doctor about how we would work together after surgery to deal with problems. I found it very helpful and since my AVR, she has responded very promptly to my concerns. With health care divided as it is today, you must weave your own web and insure your doctors are communicating. For example, if your cardiologist makes a change in medication, ask that a note be sent to your family doctor. I've made it a point in such circumstances to also send a FAX to be certain that the information gets there. You must be your own advocate and monitor, Scott.

Larry
 
Before my surgery I asked one favour of my family, (husband and two children aged 8 and 11). That was to get a winter flu jab, and obviously I had one too. In the UK, only over 65's and people in at risk groups qualify for a flu jab. My 11 year old is an at risk group, so getting her done was easy. My husband was able to be vaccinated at a pharmacy, but they will not treat children, so I paid for my 8 year old to be done by a private GP.

As I have recovered from my surgery, I have been very fortunate to avoid colds. The week I came home, my husband came down with a really bad cold, but somehow I didn't catch it. He was so poorly with it, but he had to carry on with caring for me and the children, plus doing all the Christmas preparations. I think the fact that his immune system struggled to deal with the cold taught me a lot about the strain that OHS has on family members.

I don't know what would happen if you came down with a bad flu. I expect that you would be monitored closely, and a decision would be made based on how well you were coping, and whether there was a chest infection.
 
Hey Larry,

I know "a lot of other things could happen" - I get that, thank you - and I am sorry if the "speculative" question offended you. I would say there is a lot of information gathering (or in your words, speculation) on this board. I am actually not worried about it, but thanks for your concern. As you know, our questions are posed to gain information and proactively share information - information is power, since we all have been through a similar experience - but at the end of the day, I believe no matter what we read on this site, we are all smart enough to tap our personal medical resources. I think you didn't understand my question, which could have been my fault for not being direct, but I was hopeful that people could read between the lines (coughing pain; sneezing pain; vomiting pain) . So before I ramble on, my apologies to you and anyone that didn't understand the question.

My own advocate and monitor,

Scott
 
Scott,

Seeing as many people vomit post op from anesthesia and all the meds we get during surgery, vomiting is something the body manages to cope with. It is not uncommon to read people have had terrible bouts of vomit immediately post op so I would think weeks later, vomiting from flu illness would be manageable. Painful, probably; deadly, probably not.
 
Jkm7, thanks for the simple and extremely informative reply. I didn't realize people vomit post-op from anesthesia because it didn't happen to me, see I just learned something new - thank you! I never thought deadly, but I have heard of others sneezing at 6 weeks and still very painful. Wasn't sure, and I would contact my medical resources as Larry noted above, if there were measures in place to manage the pain in addition to our pain meds (hospital I.V., etc).
 
By all means, if a OHS post op patient got the flu weeks after surgery and was at all troubled by any symptoms, they should contact their doctor. Most people will feel rotten if they get flu during the early weeks of recovery from OHS but given good care and advice from their physicians, they should do fine.

I'm fortunate and handle anesthesia from surgeries with no problem. I've had general anesthesia four times in my life ( 2 OHS) and never had nausea from any. Sneezing post OHS...... oh yes, that is painful. Sneezes should be avoided in any way you can find to head it off.
 
my worst pain early on was the coughing due to the fluid buildup in my lungs after OHS...i successfully did everything to cut off any sneeze that was about to be released. Just over one month post-op, I can cough with relatively low pain and I had my first half-sneeze this past Friday...again, with not as much pain as I thought I would have - whew :)

Cheers,

Scott
 
I'm another one confused by your question, so this is probably more questions than answers, but are you talking about actually getting the 'flu" or any random "Bugs" you can catch this time of year that can cause coughing, sneezing vomitting etc? I can't imagine (and from our experiences) they would admit someone post op, for pain control caused by coughing etc. BUt depending what causes the symptons they might admit you if there are other problems, like fluid losss from alot of vomitting, or maybe IF they diagnosed the Flu in the short time period anti viral meds could help they might admit for somethig like that.
But just because you are coughing or vomitting and it is painful I dont think you would be admitted if that is what you are asking
 
Hi, Scott, you need not worry as there is no way you could offend me. This must be a place where we can say what we think and talk about what concerns us. I think it is prudent to take what precautions one can to avoid problems. I do worry, however, that some may get caught up worrying about issues that are unlikely or unavoidable and fail to concentrate on the practical things they can do for themselves.

It is a part of us all to play the "what would happen if", especially, at the approach of something as personally momentus as heart surgery. It may be routine for the surgeons but it is not routine for us. One way or another, it is going to change our lives and how can we not speculate about what that may mean to us.

Larry
 
Thanks, Lynlw...strictly a question on how to manage vomiting pain...couging spouts were bad enough and thankfully prevented myself from sneezing, but I couldn't imagine the pain level with vomiting. coughing comes and goes and sneezes can happen from time to time, but typically when one has the flew, constant vomiting is very likable to happen and I can't image the pressure that puts on the sternum...i guess my curiosity gets me in trouble from time to time...sorry all - LOL

So, even thought I am not a fan, what about them New York Giants? - LOL

Look, squirrel!!!

Best intentions,

Scott
 
I had my surgery during flu season and was worried about that,too. Plus aneasthesia as always made me queasy--another worry.

RE/ anesthesia-- Hospital managed it very well with medications and I did not hurl once. I warned them advance so they were ready.

RE/ Flu/stomach bugs -- I got a flu shot prior to surgery. I did not allow ANYONE feeling poorly or who was exposed to sick children visit me during the first month of recovery (there were a couple of folks who had to just call me to wish me well during that time because they were sick or their children were sick). I explained why, and everyone understood. If I went out in public, I just washed my hands a lot.
 
I have had the same fear...Like you, I can't voi small children because I have one of my own. I asked my primary physician about prevention (since I DON'T want to delay due to a old or flu) and he said, frequent hand washing and keep possibly contaminated hands out of your mouth, nose and eyes.

For me the fear is vomiting from anesthesia and/or pain meds. Learned all about that when I was given codeine after having my wisdom teeth out and morphine after a c-section. Neither of those were particularly fun either.

I can tell you that when I had a recent bout of he flu, they were able to give me anti-nausea meds that worked pretty well.
 
I vomited a couple of times en route from ICU to step-down the evening of my surgery. I don't remember any pain resulting during it. At least nothing even close to a cough or sneeze. I remember thinking it was going to hurt though; maybe it did and i just can't remember. The nausea for the next day and a half was horrible, but I don't remember vomiting hurting much.
 
SB42 said:
Thanks, Lynlw...strictly a question on how to manage vomiting pain...couging spouts were bad enough and thankfully prevented myself from sneezing, but I couldn't imagine the pain level with vomiting. coughing comes and goes and sneezes can happen from time to time, but typically when one has the flew, constant vomiting is very likable to happen and I can't image the pressure that puts on the sternum...i guess my curiosity gets me in trouble from time to time...sorry all - LOL

So, even thought I am not a fan, what about them New York Giants? - LOL

Look, squirrel!!!

Best intentions,

Scott
Click to expand...

The reason I asked if you specifically were asking about the flu or other things that can cause alot of coughing/sneezing and or vomitting, is because while we didnt have flu problems post oP, Justin did have alot of other problems after a couple of his surgeries, that were taken care of at home and readmitted time to time. He was in and out of the hospital for 6 months after his 2nd heart surgery for a few things, one of them was RSV virus, that he most likely caught in the ER when he was being admitted for one of his pericardial fluids that was bad enough to need drained again. He also is one of the "lucky" ones that tends to vomit from anesthesia and even vomitted while still on the vent, right after the nurse assured him it might feel like he has to vomit, but he wont since he is on the vent..

He never was admitted to help with the pain caused by coughing or vomitting, Actually even when he was admitted to treat the other symptons, since we lived so close they would try to get him out of the hospital ASAP to try and avoid any other bugs going around. So he'd be admitted to replace fluid, balance electrolytes from vomitting or feeling crappy so not eating/drinking enough or drain the pericardial fluid when it was filling back up type things and send him home.

At time IF they didnt diagnosis RSV in I think it was 48 hours, they didnt give the antiviral meds for it because it was considerred too late, so it really stunk being admited on a friday night thru the ER.. I think now for things like RSV or the flu they will give it later even tho it doesnt work as well, it still helps a little in making it last short.

and then of course there is the problem that alot of pain meds, make people even more nauseus.
 
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so sorry to hear that, lyn....i appreciate you wanting to understand my question better in a respectful manner...thanks for sharing as you have provided me with priceless info that I may never need again, but I have it in the tool belt now! Thank you!!! next time I just need to be more specific with my question....was trying to keep it as clean as possible, but hey, we are mostly adults here.
 
No need to apologize, I have yet to have my surgery and knew exactly what you were asking..which is a first, I'm usually the one shaking my head wondering what is going on.

You were curious, you asked a question that not everyone got the first time around, being curious is never something you apologize for.
 
Scott,

I had some vomiting post op -- could've been from anesthesia or from the morphine but I was pretty out of it so I'm not sure if it was painful. If you do happen to start coughing or sneezing though, try holding a pillow on your chest. It will support your sternum and hopefully stop some of the pain.
Hope I helped a little.

Jessica.
 
@Ovie - much appreciated...continued success as you deal with your personal condition!

@Jessica Marie, glad to hear you do not remember it...and by the looks of your signature, you are mature beyond your years ;) Your pillow advice is spot on...I received a free (okay, so it wasn't free after seeing my bill - LOL), oversized heart shape pillow while in the hospital to use specifically as you stated above....definitely helps...when I don't have it near me and start coughing, my two daughters (6 & 4) race to get me the nearest pillow - so cute :biggrin2:

Warmest regards,

Scott
 
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