Patty's Posts

When you are trying to heal, there just isn't alot of time to write in a journal! Sorry to be errant! It has been 3 weeks of healing.....sleeping, taking walks daily to build up my stamina, trying to build my appetite (which refuses to build!), more sleeping. Meds are a constant problem. I went off the painkillers at 10 days after surgery. Percoset.....a wonderful drug that also makes you go a little loopy. Been recuperating on Advil only, which makes for some sore days. But, my head is clearer, and I like that feeling better. I am very restricted on use of my hands/arms because they split open my sternum. That really adds difficulty to life. But, in another 3 weeks, the sternum will be healed and I will be so happy. I can not lift anything heavier than a milk jug, can't lift or push or pull anything more than 7 lbs. Argh....what a pain. But, I want that sternum to heal well so I am taking the precautions. No driving....now that is a restriction that is hard to live with! Why no driving? if I was in a fender bender, the air bag would pop out and smash me right in the sternum which would split open again and that would be the end of me! So, the sternum has to be completely healed before I drive. It's okay. Sometimes I go out for a ride with my husband (I have to ride in the back seat), but it completely exhausts me just to ride, so I need to heed the "no driving" warning and be patient. PATIENCE! That's what I am trying to have. I am trying to give myself permission to just heal for 6 weeks without feeling like I need to get back into things so quickly. It goes against my personality! But, I'm trying! Good news! I did a load of laundry yesterday! Yippee! A feeling of doing something normal! I can't thank my family and friends enough for helping me through this difficult time! This has not been easy! But, I am alive and well.....no complaints.

24 hours of fun after returning home. We were going to have me sleep in a recliner when i got home, but I think my husband wanted to be able to hear me. So, he purchased a bed wedge, made of foam rubber, and put it under the mattress. Also, in the hospital, you are taught how NOT to use your hands for weight bearing, but only for balance. The doctors want to make sure that that the sternum is completely healed before you put more than 10 lbs. weight on it. Another new thing: try getting up out of bed without your hands! They teach you that, too, so that you won't put weight on your sternum. It's called log rolling....you wrap your arms around your upper torso, when roll out of bed with the help of a nurse who is there to put your legs on the floor. Somehow, I forgot that I wasn't in the hospital and I did a log roll right onto the floor. Thud! I was shocked at first, then my husband and I started to laugh. Now, how were we supposed to get me off the floor without using my arms for weight bearing. We remembered a game we had played as kids, and braced our backs together and rose from the ground together. This recuperation is some pretty funny stuff!

We arrived home from the hospital at 3:30 Thursday afternoon. My sweet nurse Beth gave me a Percoset for the drive. Wow, was she right! You don't realize how rough the road is. My hospital stay was one week, that included two surgeries. One was valve replacement surgery and the second was a single bypass. . . But to my brain, it was all one surgery since I didn't come out of the anesthesia. Lori W told me to trust my surgeon, and that is the key to it all. Find yourself a good surgeon, and trust him/her. My surgeon is Dr. Tony Cafferelli.... An amazing surgeon and a genuinely nice man, too! What a dedicated man! Glad to be home!