Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

Blog Topics: Preparing For Surgery; What To Bring To The Hospital For Heart Valve Surgery; Ear Plugs; Hospitals; Hearos Ear Plugs

If there is one thing I crave in life… It’s good sleep.

Robyn (my wife) and I love getting a restful 7-9 hours of sleep every night.

That said, when I went into the hospital for my aortic and pulmonary valve replacements, I wanted to make sure I would be able to sleep peacefully as my body started the healing process after my surgery.

If you are not aware, hospitals can be very, very, very noisy.

There are machines bleeping all over the place. Nurses and doctors are constantly coming in-and-out of your room. Plus, there is the chance you will not have your own room. If you are sharing your room, you may have to listen to your neighbor and… your neighbor’s friend and family. Need I say it? More noise.

Because of the noise potential in hospitals and my hunger for sleep, I brought ear plugs to the hospital with me. I have to say “Thank God!” for that choice. It’s hard enough to sleep following surgery given the nightsweats that many patients (including me) experience.

I used an ear plug brand called Hearos. These ear plugs are very comfortable, easy-to-use (no waxie goup), and the ear plugs really filtered out unwanted hospital noise. In my opinion, having ear plugs in the hospital is a must.

Remember, you are going to be spending a good amount of time in the hospital. My recent survey shows that most patients stay in the hospital about five days - more if complications occur. Again, you want to be as comfortable as possible.

For this reason, there is a small list of items you may want to bring with you to the hospital including ear plugs. I write about how to best prepare for surgery in my book. In fact, I have a chapter dedicated to it.

If you would like to learn more about how to best prepare for heart valve surgery, click here.

Keep on tickin,

Adam
 

Adam Pick is the author of The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery, a unique book which integrates the clinical facts of heart valve surgery with the personal experiences of an actual heart valve surgery patient. This special book was designed to minimize patient and caregiver stress and enhance the patient’s recovery. To learn more about Adam’s heart valve surgery book, click here.

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 10:19 am and is filed under Heart Valve Surgery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Print This Post | EMail This Post.