David's Posts

Nearing the 9 month post-op mark. I am feeling so good! Back to work full-time. I've been very busy….my work is quite physical, and Im keeping up quite well. Occassionally, I'll work a little too hard and I feel the stress between my shoulder blades…a strained muscle kinda pain. But I just sit down and rest a bit and it quickly goes away. But that's really the extent of my complaints at this point. My heart feels strong, I can breathe easily, my body seems to be working efficiently….I'm happy to be back to living life!!

Sorry for the long delay folks. Had some minor complications/setbacks after getting home from surgery and ended up back at Brigham & Women's for an additional 9 day stay (more details below), but tomorrow will be my 6 weeks post-op mark and I've seen big improvements over the past week or so….more good days than bad, so that's breaking a huge psychological barrier for me. Fimally feeling like I'm on the mend. So here's a quick update that I wrote at around 4 weeks post-op… The surgery went well on April 17th, left the hospital 4 1/2 days later on Saturday the 21st. After a week at home, had an unexpected bout of double-vision and loss of equilibrium (leaning to the right when I walk) that started Friday night the 27th. On the 28th, no change so cardiologist suggested a visit to local ER (Cape Cod Hospital). After a CAT SCAN and some neurological tests, I was sent back to Brigham & Women's that afternoon and spent the next 9 days there. The double-vision/equilibrium thing turned out to be a tiny stroke, probably caused by a small piece of plaque that had been dislodged during surgery. MRI showed a few "irritated" brain cells…and the problem has slowly been resolving itself. Also, during a routine Echocardiogram that week, they found a "Pericardial effusion", which is a build up of fluid in the Pericardium which surrounds the heart. They performed a procedure to drain the fluid and I spent the remaining 4-5 days under observation until a follow-up Echo showed no reaccumulation and I was finally released on Monday, May 7th. A long and trying 3 weeks! Although every day I'm feeling a tiny bit better and a little bit stronger, I am realizing just how fragile my body still is at almost 4 weeks out. Peace!

Sorry for the delay folks. My daughter had trouble logging in to HVJ from her cell phone. Any way...I'm done! Went into the OR at 8:00 am and out at 11. I had hoped for the minimally invasive3" incision but ended up with the full sternotomy. My aorta had grown from 5.4 icm n Nov and Jan (2 separate echos) to 6 cm at surgery. Breathing tube out 2 hrs out of OR...they say it might be a record here. Left ICU at noon the following day. Lots of pain until evening when they finally got ahead of it...slept about 6 hours. All chest tubes and wires out at 2 pm today. Ate a big turkey sandwich. Doc says if I can move my bowels I could leave tomorrow! That's basically the quick update...more details to come later. Adam...Dr Cohn says hello! Thanks for everyone's support.