Melinda's Guestbook

Melinda Hacker  Thanks Christine. I realize cardiac rehab is different for everyone. I go for my evaluation tomorrow.

Melinda Hacker  Thanks Mary. I'm going to see about getting started with rehab. I'm anxious to see what it entails.

Cheryl Batzing  Been thinking of all 3 of you, Joan, Tammy, and Melinda....I've watched your journey and am coming up on mine in about 2 weeks. yikes!

Tammy Pilcher  Cheryl, you're going to do great! Read Ken Obermeyer's post this morning to Darrell Thomas. It really says it perfectly. Best wishes, Tammy

Tammy Pilcher  Joan, I want to thank you for reminding me of the wedge pillow. I woke up a few nights ago with anew pain in my lower back. I decided to give the wedge another try, but this time with only one pillow. Before, I had piled several on it and was too inclined I guess. The wedge with one firm pillow under my head was the best angle yet! Best sleep I've had!

Melinda Hacker  Y'all are all so sweet! I'm doing wonderful. Yesterday was 6 weeks post op! I feel awesome. I'm back to work full time now. It's like the whole experience was just a speed bump in life. I'm rolling along great now. I still have a little bit of the lump above my incision but it's going down each day. Woo hoo❤️

Joan Napier  Wow that is wonderful news,Melinda! I am hoping to go back to work at 8 -9 weeks. You give me hope! I'm 3 1/2 weeks post op and still not feeling that great yet.

Joan Napier  Tammy, so glad to hear you gave the wedge another try and it's working for you. I've tried several options and this one seems to give me the most comfortable position for sleep

Joan Napier  Cheryl, we're all here to support you, pray and cheer you on. The toughest time is the waiting and anticipation of surgery that you're going through right now. Tammy is right that you're going to do great! Prayers for you.

Melinda Hacker  I slept in a recliner for about the first 3 weeks. Then moved to the sofa for another 1 1/2 weeks. Then to my bed finally. The recliner and sofa helped me stay still and on my back. In my bed I can sleep comfortably on my side and stomach. I started sleeping on my stomach just a few nights ago. So nice to get all comfy now. M

Joan Napier  I agree Tammy! Monday I asked my cardiologist when I could start sleeping on my side. He chuckled and said that it depends on when it felt comfortable for me. Said the sternum is generally healed at 4 weeks. I think its going to be several more weeks for me :(

Melinda Hacker  When I'm on my side i hug a really soft pillow crunched up against my chest to give support. So much better than sleeping on my back. 😴

Melinda Hacker  Cheryl, you will do fine. If I can answer any questions you may have, ask away. I'm happy to share my experience in hopes of encouraging others who are about to go through this too.

Tammy Pilcher  I think it's going to be several more weeks for me too, Joan. Whenever I try to lay on my side I don't even make it half way before it's hurting. So I just give up. I'm thinking if it hurts then I better not do it. I think I'm 10 days behind Melinda so maybe it won't be long.

Cheryl Batzing  Melinda, Joan & Tammy...thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. I had a second opinion appointment today and I liked him even better than my first...and he had an opening Dec. 17...so I booked him and moved my surgery up 2 days. Processing it all now. He said the first 2 days would "not be a walk in the park," but should do great after get tubes out. I'll just pray for good drugs during the first 2 days and no a fib.

Tammy Pilcher  Cheryl, that is so good that you found a surgeon that you feel really confident in. Even better that he can get to you sooner! He is right that the first couple of days can be difficult, but the drugs will help so much! I remember when I retained 10 lbs. In fluid and was having a hard time breathing I just wanted to stay asleep because that was a relief. The ICU nurses would ask me if I wanted more pain meds every time they came in and I was awake. I said yes and they gave it to me. By the next morning, I had lost the fluid thanks to Lasix and could breath normally. This was Sunday after surgery on Friday. It got better every day after that.

Tammy Pilcher  I left out that I wasn't taking the pain meds because I was in pain. I was taking them because they would make me go back to sleep. That way I was able to sleep most of the day Saturday which was my worst day.

Melinda Hacker  Hi mark! Yes, I'm very pleased and am doing well. Tammy and I had the same exact surgery by the same surgeon just 10 days apart. Tomorrow is 4 weeks post op for me. I am the proud owner of a pericardial bovine valve. The surgery also included an aortic root enlargement. The surgeon did a hemisternomy and my incision is a lot smaller than I anticipated. I wish you the best with your decisions you have to make. I'm always happy to answer any other questions.

Tammy Pilcher  Hey Melinda, I'm glad you're still doing well. I am too. I'm going Friday to see my cardiologist up here for the first time since surgery. I think he will be surprised how great my incision looks. When you come back to your hometown for a visit, call me. I would love to meet you in person. Thanks sister!

Melinda Hacker  Tammy, I would love to meet you too. Normally, we travel up that way around the holidays, but this year due to my surgery and no more vacation days this year, we are staying here in Tampa. I will most likely head up there after the first of the year. I have family in Spanish Fort, AL as well as PC so I'm definitely familiar with the path in between☺️I'm confident we will meet one if these days❤️

Melinda Hacker  Hey Tammy! First, let me just say, I love Dr. Accola! He did an amazing job and is such a gem. The follow up appointment went great. I'm cleared to drive short distances. He says I should keep up my walking as I'm doing. The only medication I have is a daily baby aspirin. He says it takes 6-8 weeks to get back to feeling normal. I have swelling at the top of my incision which looks like a vertical lump. This lump has gone down in size since surgery. Dr. Accola says it's normal and will continue to go down in size. He also cleared me to return to work on Wed. I work as a Commercial Credit Analyst, working from home. Since I have a desk job at home, he says it's fine to get back to my regular routine. So, I'll be working half days through Nov. Starting Dec. 1, I'll be working full time again! Dec. 16 is 8 weeks post op. Yours will be right at Christmas. What perfect timing for a terrific Christmas for the both of us! Dr. Accola said that I'm cleared and will not be required to return. This seems strange to me. It just seems like I would have to keep following up but he says not. I told him I may come visit anyway😊.

I will add that this past Friday I developed a bad pain on the upper left side of my back. I couldn't tell if it was related to my heart, lungs, or could be muscular. I described this continuing pain to the nurse today and she says it is muscular. She sees this all this time from surgery patients. She says it's from sleeping in odd positions for the past 2+ weeks. I was relieved to find out it's all muscular. I hope this doesn't happen to you, but it may.

How is your recovery coming along?

Tammy Pilcher  Hey Melinda, I'm so glad you're doing so good. I am doing good too. The only pain I've had is a little back pain on my right side under my shoulder blade and a strange pain deep inside my lower right side close to where the tube was. Neither of these pains are constant. Mostly at the end of the day and all I've had to take is a couple of Tylenol to help. I was wondering if they gave you Metoprolol to take in the hospital and when you came home. It is a beta blocker and is 25mg. I half it and take half in the morning and half at night. I'm also taking the low dose baby aspirin. I've never taken anything other than an inhaler for asthma. My blood pressure has always been low and still is. I hope this beta blocker isn't going to be a long term thing. I feel the same way about Dr. Accola. He is the nicest doctor I've ever been to. And people can't believe how small my scar is. I had the hemisternotomy. He was so proud of his work! He kept saying "Look how small that incision is!". He told us since we live so far away that we didn't have to come back down for the post-op visit even though we told him we would. He said that was just too far to come for that and we could just do it over the phone. Again, always being considerate!

Melinda Hacker  Your back pain sounds like what I have, right around the shoulder blade. We should be fine when we can sleep comfortably again in a few weeks. I'm so happy for you that you feel so much better. You mentioned you like hiking. We love to go camping. In Aug. we were in the Smoky Mountains. We hiked to the top of Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the SM National Park. I was so winded going up to the peak. I can't wait to go there again and see how I do.

Tammy Pilcher  We love the Smokies! We go at least twice a year and hike. We've been to Clingman's Dome too. We've been to the summit of Mount LeConte 3 times. Depending on which trail you take, it is 11 or 13 miles round trip. We did this as a day hike, so it took the whole day. The trails are very steep and can be scary in some places, but the views are worth it! We've done a lot of the trails in the park, but always love to go again! I can't wait to go with my new heart! The last time we went was this past June and I would only do a 4 or 5 mile, can't remember exactly, hike because I had a really hard time the year before going back up to LeConte. This was before we knew about my valve. My husband said he couldn't believe I had done the recent hikes we've done when we found out.

Melinda Hacker  Yes, Father God has been watching over us and will comtinue😇. I have a photo I would like to send you but I can't seem to figure out how to do that on this site. I will post it in my photos and you can see it. It will bring comfort to you my dear friend.