Eric's Guestbook

Eric Rovin  Hi Brian,

I am sorry to hear that you are having similar symptoms as I have been having. Thank you for the response especially since it lets me know I am not alone with this experience. I would highly suggest going to the doctor so they can help provide you some relief. I have found it odd how I have read multiple self-reports describing the increase in symptoms and intensity at night yet non of the doctors I have spoken with appear to find that bit of information relevant. Most doctors only want to hear th 'rub' when they listen to your heart. My heart has given yet to 'rub' for an audience.

Good luck to you as your head to the doctor. I am sure this is just a hurdle on our path to full recovery.

Eric

Eric Rovin  Hi Julia,

Thank you for your response and encouragement, it is greatly appreciated! To answer your questions, while this is not directly caused by my OHS, it is the OHS that has put me at risk for this. It is all about risk benefit analysis and I would rather have had OHS and being alive today instead of not having OHS which means I would not have the concern I have today.

It is important that as valve surgery patients we are not only away of the side effects that may be cause directly by our OHS, but also the long term complications that we now have increased risk to encounter even outside the 'medically defined' window of association.

In my case, my cardiologist is working very hard to better understand my symptoms and the cause of my symptoms. This I am very thankful for and appreciate that my doctor not only wants to treat my condition, but also wants to understand it to a point he may be able to provide guidance on how to prevent future occurrences.

I am not looking to assign blame for the symptoms I have been enduring, but I am highly disappointed with how the medical centers have gone about their treatment and explanation of my symptoms (other than my cardiologist).

Eric Rovin  Hi Alex,

I did fine leaving the house. I think I was just ready to get everything over with already. It was much harder for my family to leave for the hospital. I was also distracted by my dog who was being dropped off for surgery also. I was more worried for him than for myself (he is recovering well also), at that point in time.

Hang in there, use the nerves to motivate and energize yourself as if you were facing an athletic challenge. I have you in my thoughts and know you will be recovering soon.

Eric Rovin

Eric Rovin  Hi Alex,

I am glad you are following me and asking questions. I would agree that we have many similarities which may make our journey similar.

Are you able to do most of the things you need and want to do without fatigue? - At about week 3 I was able to do most things I wanted to do without fatigue with the exception of anything that involved lifted, pulling, or pushing over 10 lbs. Sometimes I would forget I was not supposed to lift any weight, but the moment I try I feel my chest hurt and I will stop instantly. Let me clarify 'fatigue' you from my own experience. The first couple weeks I was genuinely tired plus my lung capacty (ability to exhale) was limited. Talking on the phone or talking for extended periods of time became laborious and reminded me of the asthma attacks I had as a child. Once I stopped talking and would remember to breath in through my mouth nose and out through my mouth I would recover. At some point in time, fatigue took on a new mean that was unfamiliar to me. My brain was energized and so were my muscles, but my heart would get tired which was felt through a change in breathing. My breathing would become more labored as if I ran a mile. After week two, I felt comfortable caring for myself and being alone for most of the day. During the first couple weeks, you will most likely find getting dressed and showering to be very tiring especially if there is a lot of steam in the shower to inhibit your breathing. I just gave myself a lot of extra time to get ready. I would say the hardest and most uncomfortable part of my day was going from a seated position to standing and the standing to sitting transitions. This still gives me some discomfort, but it is much better.

Also why have you not started rehab I thought this started as early as week 3? -According to my cardiologist, I need to wait until the sternum is about 80% healed which is weeks 4-6 before he will prescribe cardio rehab. As you will learn, everything comes down to when you have appointments with the doctors since they want to see test results before they prescribe and you also have to have the appointment for them to write the script and do an in person exam. Some doctors make this process easier than others.

Do you have an estimate on getting yourself back to work? - I will be at week 5.5 when I go back to work. This decision is based on your releasing doctor, your profession, your progress and when you have appointments. I have selected a cardiologist that is very thorough and has a conservative approach. I do not like doctors that do anything I ask just to keep me as a client. Rather, I prefer doctors that will discuss issues with me and tell me their true opinion. I talked to him about going back to work and he took the decision very seriously. He was upfront and said if he releases me to go back to work just because I feel good and then something happens, he would be liable to both my employer and me. He would prefer to wait until my sterum is 80% healed before I go back for safety reasons also. I happen to have an appointment to see him on January 16th which should be right around when he will release me assuming the x-rays and other tests come back clear. My cardiologist is of the mind that I should recover over the first 4-6 weeks with minimal stress.

On the other hand, my uncle had a four way bypass a decade or more ago and he went back to work four days after surgery. He continues to have heart problems to this day. I can't say it was because he went back to work right away, but it is a possibility along with family genetics. I also mentally felt like I could go back to work in the moment, but in hindsight I am glad I have had the time to recover.

Advice- Different things work for different people. I used a lot of self-imagery, learning, and talking to others to calm my nerves. I found the more I shared and talked to people around me, the more normal my brain felt things were. The other turning point for my nerves was when I decided I read as much as I could and it was time to focus on my recovery. As an athlete, I went into training mode and viewed my recovery as training. In fact, if you look back in my posts you will see I referred to post-op days as training days just after surgery. I started mentally prepping myself for the recover which is something I felt would be under my control. I fully believe you should not worry about things you cannot control. In my case, I would sleep through the surgery which meant it was out of my control. On the other hand, I did have some control over my recovery so I switched my mental efforts to that phase. I know, this is easier said than done. If you talked to people aounf me before surgery they would probably say I was still nervouse, but ready.

For my recovery, we made sure the house was accessible post-op. In fact, I would go around the house envisioning myself in a wheelchair (thankfully I never needed one) and reorganized things so I could be independent and mobile. In addition, I made sure we had a recliner out for me to sleep in plus I had purchased a wedge system from Relax the Back that was ready to be put on the bed to replicate the benefits of a recliner. I used the recliner to sleep for 3 nights and then was able to sleep in bed using the wedge system for the next 7 nights. After that I was able to sleep on my back without extra pillows except for one under my knees. I think by the end of week two I could partially sleep on my sides.

My incisions has always been a source of discomfort. I found that wearing a t-shirt under everything helped the most. I think I was lucky to have a mini stern which I believe has made a huge difference in my recovery. Had they split the whole stern I think things would be a lot less comfortable.

Number one piece of advice!!! Do not let the pain get ahead of you. Do not be a hero and limit your pain med intake (unless you have previously been addicted). I had an IV with pain killer medicine in it that I had control over using a button. I was allowed to hit the button every 6 minutes for a dosage. I was told I hit that button every 6 minutes and then some and even used it to express my feelings towards people by lifting it in front of their face and hitting the button if they caused discomfort. Eventually I took oral pain meds and then they were discontinued last week. When I stopped taking them I had one night it was hard to sleep and then everything went back to normal. Of course you know your own history with pain meds better than I do so this is something you would need to discuss with your doctor and self.

I am roting for you and look forward to reading your entries as you go through this experience. Keep asking questions even after your surgery as I am sure there are things I have already forgotten or just have not included.

Eric Rovin

Eric Rovin  Hey Alex,

It sounds like Dr. Roselli has decided that your aorta needs repair and that is why he is talking about the 'David Procedure'. In my case, I did not need anything done to my aorta so they just repaired my aortic valve via a mini stern. In my discussions with the CCF surgeon, I was told that if the aorta needed repair they may do a full stern depending on the location of the aorta repair. The mini stern does not allow much of a visual for the surgeons.

As far as what the surgeons talked about with me was kind of open ended. They listed a number of possible ways to fix my BAVD and told me the type of incision each would require. I was told they always attempt a repair first, but there was only a 30% chance this would be the solution. If that did not work, then they would give a tissue valve. Both of those had 85% chance of being mini stern. If my aorta needed repair then there was a higher chance if an open stern. They would not promise one over the other, but the did promise no mechanical valve since I did not want it.

I found it helpful to ask how many mini sterns a doctor has done and what the hospital preference was. Some surgeons will tell you they only do open sterns.

Hope this helps,
Eric Rovin