David 's Journal

I had my mitral valve replacement and 3 CABGs on 12/6/23 performed by Dr. Marc Gerdisch at Greenwood Indiana’s Franciscan hospital.
Today, 1/5/24, 4 weeks and 2 days later, I played tennis! Admittedly, I got winded after only 30 minutes of hitting and took a breather, but it’s progress!
Thanks Dr. Gerdisch, and Cindy and the rest of his staff.

 12/6, surgery day: mitral valve replacement and 3 CABGs; procedure started at noon-ish; valve needed replacement instead of repaired because of rheumatic fever effects I must have incurred in my youth; wife and adult daughter saw me briefly in ICU recovery that night; not awake; thankfully breathing tube was able to be removed before while still in OR; my wife said that my daughter turned green seeing me with breathing mask and so many tubes, IVs, equipment in and around me. 12/7, recovery day 1: awake! Wife relieved to see me sitting up in bed talking. Began so many pills, jabs, and other sleep interruptions. Great ICU RNs! Either my wife or daughter stayed at my bedside during visiting hours, but I was mostly sleeping with intermittent awake conversation times.12/9, Sat, recovery day 3: moved to step-down unit (a day later because none had been available); only wanted to eat applesauce but worked on a couple of bites of other things; very tired of drinking protein “shakes.” One of two drainage tube removed, so it stopped poking me on my left side whenever I used the breathing incentive spirometer (“torture device” as I so named it). Moved from bed to recliner, seemed more comfortable. Never had had trouble swallowing pills but started resenting those horse-sized potassium pills even when broken in two; “stop with the pills already!”; late day intestinal cramping and diarrhea (discovered later that my digestive tract does not cope well with lettuce since having surgery). Always painful to cough, and needed to cough several times. Painful to blow nose, too.

12/10, Sun, recovery day 4: intestines feeling much better, I’m feeling much better. Respiratory, physical and occupational therapists all give the okay for discharge; surgeon gives the green light and orders second tube removed and portable pace maker wires removed and neck tube removed—free at last! Alas, no meds-to-beds on Sundays so discharge is moved to Monday. 12/11, Mon, recovery day 5:  Dr. Gerdisch and crew visits one last time during morning rounds—he tore me apart and put me back together again and I’m a mess, but I love him for his unmatched competence, his comprehensive treatment plan, and his remarkable team he’s put together! (I can’t say that enough! Fantastic!) Was discharged; wife and daughter checked out of hotel; I slept during the 2-hour drive to home. 12/12, Tue, recovery day 6, home day 2: my darling wife had ordered a shower stool and it felt great to just sit in the shower; slept a lot, all comfortably in a recliner, without being woken up to be jabbed, poked, vitals taken, respiratory therapied, physical therapied, occupational therapied—it was great to have moved on from that! Yet there were still the pills, pills, and pills. Walking around a very little bit using the walker. I was surprised to see my left thigh so thoroughly black and blue because of the vein harvesting. 12/13, Wed, recovery day 7, home day 3: home health visiting RN visited with orders from Dr. Gerdisch’s team to check vitals, pain management, and ask mental health questions—all doing well. Scheduled home health RN for following week visit to do the same and to remove stitches. 12/16, Sat, recovery day 10, home day 6: about 4 hours of feeling lucid and human again like I might be back to being me, starting at 5am and ending about 9am. Walking a bit more around the house with the walker. Have been reading and streaming when awake. “When will this end?!”; meals have become appealing. My wife is an angel! 12/17, Sun, recovery day 11, home day 7: severe intestinal cramps and diarrhea; discovered it was eating lettuce that triggered it; my digestive system was not yet ready for lettuce. A miserable day. 12/18, Mon, recovery day 12, home day 8: pain has been managed throughout with medications and Tylenol, so no issues there for the most part. Feeling so much better. Ditched the walker. Started 10-minute daily walks outside but had to stop 4 times to catch my breath. Sleeping enough and in recliner. Video medical follow-up reviewed condition and meds; reduced a couple (sorry I can’t remember which ones). Actually WANT, for a few minutes anyway, to do things as some vitality was restored, but I napped a lot. 12/20, Wed, recovery day 14, home day 9: home health RN checked vitals and pain, and removed stitches. One or two fewer pills—my wife was tracking that so I don’t know which ones. But I still took and am still taking Tylenol, a muscle relaxant and nerve medication neurontin to manage pain. Really feeling much more like myself; walked outside for 15 minutes. Hungry enough that no sodium (or very little) and no sugars (except fruits) was no problem. 12/21, Thu, recovery day 15, home day 10: walked outside for 45 minutes stopping only 4 times to rest a minute. Wife drove me to the shopping mall to get a Christmas gift, and I walked from parking lot into the mall—a miracle, not because of my condition but rather because it’s a shopping mall. Feeling so much better. Still sleeping in the comfy recliner. Worked on website; paid bills; made my own breakfast, put away clean dishes, chased down a spider, set table, vacuum a very little bit (hurt some) then napped for 2 hours from the exertion. The area around the center of my chest is numb, which is a new sensation. I’ve reduced my diuretic. Weight has stabilized. My left thigh’s, the vein harvest area’s, black-and-blueness has reduced; and it weeps whatever clear fluid. It’s still painful to cough or blow my nose. I tire very quickly. 22/22, Fri, TODAY, recovery day 16, home day 11: ambitious enough to write all these my prattlings. I slept 6 straight hours last night without bathroom break interruptions. I’m really feeling positive, stronger, more like me. Hope for an even better day springs eternal! 

Day 2
Still in ICU because no step-down bed available.
Walked 30 yards. Fatigued. 
One of the chest tubes painful at bottom of exhale. 
Entire chest aches, so medicine give that relieved some pain.
Catheter out. Dieretic caused a lot of peeing into urnal jar.
Ace bandages from vein harvesting leg removed.
11:00pm walked 50 yards or so to step-down bed.
Sleeping periodically. Respiratory exercise get better results.
Coughing up phlegm occasionally, and it’s painful to do so.
Progress!

Went from pre-op to wheels in the OR at 12:15-ish. A mutual valve replacement and 3 CABGs and a Lima later, out into IC U at 7:15. Slept (without airway tube in throat) a lot and woke intermittently for them to check on me. At 6:15 am I was moved to chair and in a reclining position. Still with oxygen in my nostrils. My mouth was so dry it was difficult to, but I now drank a high protein drink with an ice water chaser. I’m a bit dizzy any my chest aches ever slightly. It was difficult to type this so I hope it makes sense.

Because my pulse rate is on the slow side I apparently have a higher possibility of post-operative fibrillation. To help prevent it, I been taking 200mg of amiodarone 3 times a day prior to my procedure.

Hi, this is Marianne. I’m David’s wife. Does anyone have any advice on caregiving and support through this? What was helpful to you during your recovery?