Julianne's Guestbook

Julianne Beatty  @PaulWells mine is congenital pulmonary stenosis, so that means primary i think. how long was it until you felt well on the road to recovery?

Julianne Beatty  @PaulWells mine is congenital pulmonary stenosis, so that means primary i think. how long was it until you felt well on the road to recovery?

Paul Wells  I was very unconditioned by the time my Drs decided on surgery. I climbed stars one at a time
It was difficult to walk and talk. My heart was inlarged. I had put on weight
If you go into surgery more conditioned than I was , then I would expect a quicker recovery.
By day 4 I was walking the halls ok ,.I even walked down to the gift shop and pathology.
Dicharged on day 5 friday. Slept in bed not a recliner. Walked inside the next few days. Started walking outside by day 8.
What slowed my recover was the enlarged heart. At 6 months I feel I was 90 % of what I was going to be. But it took a full year to find my maximum recovery. My max recovery was limited to scar tissue, dysthymias. And because of the stenosis, my replacement pulmonary valve was downsized
The sternal wound pain was manageable without meds. I took no pain meds after discharge. I slept well. I ate very little. My Dr put me on beta blockers for a while. But they made me lathorgic.
Cardiac recovery went well. I was up to 4 miles a day on the treadmill by the end.
I did not go back to work till week 9 because my job is so physical. Might have gone back week 6. if I had a sit down job. When I got back to work. I found it hard to concentrate and learn new tasks. Other patients have noticed simular

Julianne Beatty  thanks Priscila :) im home now. today i went for a lengthy walk (20mins) then had a 2 hour nap. exciting times.

Julianne Beatty  hi, how did your surgery go? i had my pulmonary valve replaced with a manufactured bovine valve on Aug. 10. i was discharged on Aug. 13. zero complications so far. i'm staying with my parents for the first 6 weeks. today i went for a lengthy walk, then had a two hour nap. exciting times.