http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2008/02/02/recliner-after-heart-surgery/#comment-3286 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:40:32 +0000 http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2008/02/02/recliner-after-heart-surgery/#comment-3286 Greetings to everyone from Leslie - it is Sunday February 10, and I am 17 days post surgery. I had a mitral valve repair done at UCLA Med Center using the da Vinci robot. This was a full on-the-pump bypass surgery which lasted many hours. Of course the robot did not act alone - there was a team of a dozen or more people, including my marvelous surgeon Dr. Richard Shemin. I cannot compare my experience to sternotomy patients, as my incision is about 2 1/2 inches long and hidden under my right breast. I have had tightness and soreness on the right side of my chest and have had to work to stretch and relax that area. That lung was also collapsed for the surgery. But I would have to say at this point in my recovery, I am able to walk twice a day for about 12-14 minutes each, do 2 sets of stretching exercises, 2 sets of strength building exercises a day, and am pretty much up and out of bed most of the day. I go out for rides and even into stores for small errands (not alone yet!) My pain medications consist of Darvocet, which I take a HALF of perhaps twice a day. (I do not like feeling zoned out.) I have good mobility, take my own showers, was my hair, dress by myself, fiddle in the kitchen, and even helped transplant a small cactus yesterday. :) I am visiting Dr. Shemin at UCLA this coming Wednesday and will share what he has to say with me. I am also taking other meds including the anti arrythmic Amiodarone, not my favorite, but it did convert me back to sinus rhythm after I fell out of it into afib on my second day in the hospital. Afib after open heart surgery is very common. Dr. Shemin says I will take it a total of 6 weeks then stop and at that time I can also stop the Coumadin. I wish you all the best of health and thank Adam again for his great blog. I will continue to "check in" and if anyone has any questions I can answer I will be happy to do so. By the way I do follow Adam's advice (and everyone else!) and make myself "take it easy." It is a habit to always be "doing," and a hard one to break. Hugs from Leslie Greetings to everyone from Leslie - it is Sunday February 10, and I am 17 days post surgery. I had a mitral valve repair done at UCLA Med Center using the da Vinci robot. This was a full on-the-pump bypass surgery which lasted many hours. Of course the robot did not act alone - there was a team of a dozen or more people, including my marvelous surgeon Dr. Richard Shemin. I cannot compare my experience to sternotomy patients, as my incision is about 2 1/2 inches long and hidden under my right breast. I have had tightness and soreness on the right side of my chest and have had to work to stretch and relax that area. That lung was also collapsed for the surgery. But I would have to say at this point in my recovery, I am able to walk twice a day for about 12-14 minutes each, do 2 sets of stretching exercises, 2 sets of strength building exercises a day, and am pretty much up and out of bed most of the day. I go out for rides and even into stores for small errands (not alone yet!) My pain medications consist of Darvocet, which I take a HALF of perhaps twice a day. (I do not like feeling zoned out.) I have good mobility, take my own showers, was my hair, dress by myself, fiddle in the kitchen, and even helped transplant a small cactus yesterday. I am visiting Dr. Shemin at UCLA this coming Wednesday and will share what he has to say with me. I am also taking other meds including the anti arrythmic Amiodarone, not my favorite, but it did convert me back to sinus rhythm after I fell out of it into afib on my second day in the hospital. Afib after open heart surgery is very common. Dr. Shemin says I will take it a total of 6 weeks then stop and at that time I can also stop the Coumadin. I wish you all the best of health and thank Adam again for his great blog. I will continue to “check in” and if anyone has any questions I can answer I will be happy to do so. By the way I do follow Adam’s advice (and everyone else!) and make myself “take it easy.” It is a habit to always be “doing,” and a hard one to break.
Hugs from Leslie

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