S'posed to get my biggest heart valve replaced

[FinsnFur]

Survived the surgery. It's a miserable ordeal,

I cant even imagine.Thanks for the update. Glad to hear things are looking good.
I hope I never ever have to go through this.

[KySongDog]

Great news and prayers sent for a speedy recovery. 

[Okanagan]

Am awake and trying out my computer for about the first time, so will update this saga for those who have prayed for me and cared enough to follow. 

They let me out of the hospital one day early, either healing well or tired of putting up with me. They have a good team of confident, competent people in the cardiac surgery, with good morale and it always shows.  I go back for my first follow-up exam tomorrow.  Have been looking forward to hitting a good BBQ joint near the hospital, but am just not up to it yet.

LOTS of procedures and protocols, four walks per day, myriad home tests of blood pressure, glucose, etc. to measure and write into a log, etc. etc. Full time tiring job to get it all done.

For anyone considering similar, herewith a few changes I have made to their after-surgery instructions, which I consider improvements.  First, my power lift/recliner chair eliminates the most painful, incision stressing  problem, which is getting into and out of bed. I painlessly get up and lie down. I sleep in it, with no twisting nor turning, rolling,

Second, putting on clothes.  This young physical therapy fellow spent a lot of time showing me how to put on a T-shirt etc.without damaging the wound. I looked at him without a word and did the excecise, but I thought "If I have to spend 5 minutes of painful conortions doing a Klingon Tea Ceremony to put on a T-shirt, I just won't wear a T-shirt."  I don't.  I have to put on a freshly washed shirt after each daily special shower.  I bought a half dozen men's short sleeved shirts from Goodwill in size 3x or larger, powered laundered them and put them on backward, with buttons down the back.  That puts a fresh clean shirt covering the wound.  It's an easy and painless way to acheive the same goal. I usually don't button or will have my wife button one on the back.  I'm home in my house and have asked for no visitors for awhile.  Who cares what I look like?

We dredged up a stadium blanket, simply arm sleeves in a big flat fleece blanket, and I flop that over me for warmth and stylish modesty when sitting or reclining in my power chair.

Y'all come visit and bring some whitetail tenderloin... but not for awhile yet

[nastygunz]

Survive adapt overcome! It seems like you have things under control sir!

[Hawks Feather]

Great news that you got out a day early and I am sure that it was because of the progress you made. Thanks for the tip on the chair. I don't need it yet, but probably will in time. I also like the shirt idea.

[HuntnCarve]

That's great news Clyde!  Won't be long before you'll be able to handle some outdoor adventures (at your own pace).  Heal up, and listen to the doctors.  We'll keep you in our prayers.

[Todd Rahm]

Glad to hear you're back in action!!!

[nastygunz]

I always suspected he was tougher than boiled shoe leather  🇺🇸

[FinsnFur]

You had me at Stylish Modesty 

[Okanagan]

Saw the surgeon yesterday, for the first time since the operation.  This awful fatigue is normal and I'm doing pretty good. Took all day today to recover from a trip to the doctor yesterday.

They split the breastbone (sternum) from top end to bottom, gullet to gizzard.  My wife says my chest looks like someone filleted a fish and did a poor job of it. 

They pulled the sides of the split bone together and wired them together with stainless steel twist ties.  Did I mention that it hurts a little sometimes?    Actually my pain is less than I expected and considerly less than the docs projected for me.  I'm still taking some Tylenol but haven't needed the Oxycontin (SP) since I got home from the hospital, though I keep it handy.

[remrogers]

Glad to her you are doing better. Keep up the healing and enjoy the sunshine, while we still have it.

[KySongDog]

Glad to hear you came out the other side in one piece. I've always heard getting old ain't for sissies.   

[HaMeR]

So happy youre doing better!! Always loved your stories.

[Okanagan]

Always loved your stories.

Not sure I like the past tense of your compliment!

An having my best morning since surgery, FWIW.  Don't feel good but don't feel as bad as usual.  I suspect it is the deflated lungs that are making me so tired for so long, getting them back to full function.  Talking on the phone tires me more than a half hour walk, and I'm guessing because it makes the lungs work more to talk.

[Hawks Feather]

Just remember that you are taking Baby Steps on the road to getting back to 100%.

[Okanagan]

A progress report and cautions, especially for anyone who has to go through this.

Between 35 and 40 days after the aortic valve surgery, I turned a corner on healing, or at least improving.  My chest still hurts most of the time (today makes 46 days since the operation), but it is like a big bruise localized on my chest rather than discomfort and misery all over.  The awful fatigue and brain fog is lessening, almost gone for a few hours sometimes.  I wake up quite a bit at night but for the second time since surgery, I woke up this morning feeling rested.  The weird dreams have dropped off quite a bit.

Any movement or position that uses upper body or chest muscles hurts.  It is amazing how many normal motions etc. use upper body and/or chest muscles. A good and safe rule is:  if it hurts, DON'T DO IT! Don't risk injuring the incision. Legs muscles and leg strength are fine.

FWIW, my mistakes that could have seriously injured my incision.    Things in my house that hurt too much to do:  flushing the toilet.  The little flipper flush lever takes too much force.  Pulling on a pull/push faucet in our bathroom takes too much force.  Did not use that sink till day 43 after surgery.  Lifting a mug of coffee into our overhead mounted micro-wave.  Opening the hatch back on our car.  Lifting a bowl of anything from fridge.  Groceries.  Etc. Etc.

Pulling on store doors to open them caused my biggest risk.  About day 28 I tried to open the door to a Wendy's hamburger shop.  I pulled on the heavy door, which way exceeded my five pounds of force limit.  As I pulled harder, I realized it was too much and stopped pulling a split second too late.  A lightening pain shot the full length of my sternum incision.  I was afraid that I had split the bone apart where it was trying to heal back together.  It hurt extra for the next 20 hours.  My temperature went up 1 ½ degree for the next 24 hours (which I think indicates some kind of injury and focused healing going on), and I slept all day the following day.

The incision seems to be OK now, but I simply do not try to open most doors.  There are a lot of them.  A couple of times I have waited outside till someone else came along or someone saw me and came to open the door.  Now If I'm alone I give a gentle tug with both hands, using almost no force, and if it does not swing right open enough to use my foot and leg, I give up. 

My first time to drive a car was about day 28 after surgery.  A young doc told me on day 21 that I was doing so well they were releasing me to drive then instead of holding me back for the usual 30 days.  I looked at him and replied "I would not let me drive."  

[Hawks Feather]

Thanks for the update and I am glad to hear things are still headed in the right direction. It is hard to imagine how many things that you just take for granted that need to be rethought.

I had a friend that had heart surgery (like you) and his biggest complaint was that he was not allowed to fire a rifle or pistol. On the day that he got permission to fire a light recoil rifle we went out to the range and I set up a heavy weight .22LR in a rest with a couple of sand bags so it wouldn't move at all and he shot 'free' recoil and was really happy.