Artie's Journal

Been a while since I posted, just referred another person to this site and HIGHLY recommended it again for knowledge and support, Thanks to all who ever sent me a kind word or comment along the way, it helps as I know you all know. Well, here it is April and I've just gone through a very rigorous marching season with the NYPD Pipes and Drums, marching everywhere from NYC, to Long Island, Westchester, Pennsylvania, and even Quebec. I kept up, got it done, and had a great time along the way ! all while getting back to my normal crazy gym workouts, numerous other band performances, practices etc and enjoying life. End of February I was in to my cardiologist for my post 6 month Echo and check up. ALL GOOD !!!!!!, don't need to go back for a whole year.

Today is 8 weeks out post op. I returned to work last week, have been going back to the gym 3 times a week and gotten myself back up to 1 hour on the elliptical machine with a 10 minute cool down each time and remaining cognizant of my heart rate keeping in the 137-138 average BPM during those workouts. I still have some residual soreness from time to time in my shoulder, arm, breast area but that is subsiding more and more as time passes. I even managed to do some yard work last weekend consisting of weeding, filling water bags for the pool cover and some brief use of a chainsaw. Mt doctors have said that I can begin to surpass the 20 pound lifting limit in about 2 more weeks or so. My surgeon has cut me loose, reports all is great, and my cardiologist has said that she doesn't need to see me again until February or so. She had said that the murmur was completely gone and that my healing of my sternum and overall progress was fantastic. I still don't feel 100% like the old me, but I'm getting there and I think I'm getting pretty close all things considered. Still get that fear and dread every time there is a twinge or crack or pop or if I even get slightly out of breath (after exertion , of course), but that's just anxiety which is also fading with time. Summarily, I'd say I think I'm happy the way things went and continue to progress.

So yesterday I went for my post op visit with my surgeon, today is officially 5 weeks post op for me. They took an X-ray, she looked it over, asked a few simple questions, answered some of our questions and just like that, she said she doesn't need to see me again, my films looked good, I am doing great and I can return to all normal activities in my life including drive, work and the gym, however; I still must refrain from lifting anything heavy for another 4 weeks. She suggested that I cancel the cardiac rehab I was scheduling as my activity currently is well beyond anything they would be doing for me. The repairs went well and the hope is that I will not require any further surgeries down the road, or IF I ever did, it won't be for a long long time. Follow up with cardiologist and have a great life. Stitches were removed by the PA and I was sent on my way. While this is great news, I'm not sure what to do with it, nor am I ungrateful for it, I am quite pleased with her news actually. I just wasn't expecting that she'd return me to work, and while my reports are good, I'm definitely still healing and suffer from some bouts of discomfort and pain. Also, the cardiac rehab, I was supposed to go to a stress test this week and begin next week but am conflicted as to whether to bother or not, both of my doctors seem to think I'm doing fine on my own and would get no real benefit out of it. So i guess the good news here is i am doing great !, but for some reason, I am left wondering how to proceed,; work is important , God knows we need the money ,and I'm not sure how long they will allow me to stay out anyway as I am new to the agency, so I'll need to work with them on that. Also, IF I did continue with the cardiac rehab, it would interfere with work so not sure what to do there. I am currently walking at least 2-3 miles per day and doing my physical therapy exercises at 5X the suggested sets and ready to go back to gym for cardio, what exactly are they going to do for me at cardiac rehab ? I'm leaning towards just canceling it, going to the gym, and returning to work very soon, how soon will depend on what they will allow. For those of you out there going through this, week 4 into 5 was a marked increase in the way I felt, the pain and discomfort got better for me. Everyone is different so don't freak out if this is not the case for you, but just take it as a message that it will get better. I am still very far off from me being me again, but I am starting to be a functional version of my old self at least.

Just curious as I approach almost 3 weeks post op. Where is everyone's pain ? I really do not feel any pain per-say in the middle of my sternum, that is unless I sneeze or cough hard. My pain and stiffness is concentrated on my right side, shoulder, shoulder-blade, and effects my reach and use of my arm fully. My left side, not so much. I do my exercises that they gave me, use my spirometer regularly, and walk up to 3 miles each day, overall feeling pretty good, but the stiffness can get painful and annoying, i limit my use of pain meds and can often go the entre day without any. Just curious as to if anyone else experienced anything similar, Still 2 weeks away from post op surgeon visit, but PCP and Cardiologist didn't seem to be concerned and thought it normal too the healing process.

Yesterday marked 2 weeks post op for me. Each day continues to be better than the previous for the most part. I keep up on my spirometer and physical therapy. My walks have been longer than the "to the mail box and back" suggestion right from the start and I try to make sure I get in at least 2 walks a day. I've been able to go 20-25 mins each without issue each time. Sleeping is better each night and fairly normal at this point with the exception of being able to roll around from side to side etc. Pain management is going pretty as well too for the most part. Some days I don't have any meds at all during the day, other days I've needed tylenol 2-3 times throughout the day. At bedtime, I've taken advantage of the Oxy as pain in the evening sometimes is worse and after moving around to get my self settled into bed it just helps to relax and go to sleep faster. I have had nights with only tylenol and do my best to avoid Oxy unless needed. Again, each day is better than the previous. For my, my pain is worst on my right side and especially my shoulder blade area. The center sternum pain is usually localized only when I cough hard or sneeze. Ive followed up with my primary care, am seeing my cardiologist on Friday, and have a follow up with my surgeon on 9/18. I devised my own spreadsheet to monitor my stats, i.e. weight, temp, BP, BM, Sprimoter use, Physical Therapy, Pain meds, and notes such as sleep patterns etc., I recommend this as a means to watch your own progress and be able to report these items to your doctors so that they can have a good picture of whats going on during home recovery. FYI, its normal to get those, "why me" ?, "is it really fixed" ?, "am I overdoing it and breaking the fix" ? type of feelings, especially if you have a bad day. The good news is that you WILL have a good day after the bad day. Positive thoughts and hang in there. I must admit that I am feeling the "wholly crap, this is going to take forever !" thoughts, but the restlessness does come and go.

Today marks one week since my surgery. I came home yesterday feeling pretty good and now getting used to the idea that just because I'm home doesn't mean I'm necessarily better. While I am progressing each day, there are symptoms that pop up each day that immediately remind me that I had my chest cut open and that I need to take it easy and mend slowly. As It turns out, my surgery was more complicated than we thought and way longer than we all thought. In total I was out for almost 23 hours and the surgery was about 10 hours. Dr Chikwe is amazing and she never gave up. Not only was my Mitral Valve way more complicated(her words) , but it turns out that while she was in there, my Aortic Valve was also damaged and leaking significantly. While many surgeons would have simply replaced both, she repaired both of my own valves, so I got a two for one deal. As for me, i was asleep so i didn't know any of this until some time later. It added an extra day in the ICU, but other than that, she says I'm doing fantastic. As far as some of the things that were giving me anxiety going in, I'll just comment to give others some piece of mind......maybe. First of all, as a guy, we all worry about that damned Foley catheter. Ends up being no big deal, most guys have probably done worse to themselves during adolescence aggressiveness than this silly thing coming out. Next, the breathing tube; I was totally freaked over this thing and heard horror stories of others who were trying to pull the tube out etc. For me, my son who is a paramedic and spent the evening before with me, could see that it was freaking me out and offered these kind words that repeated over and over in my head as I began to wake up. He told me not to freak out, it's just a hollow tube, and most importantly "you can breath" so just relax. As I began to awake , I motioned that I wanted the tube out and they said something along the lines of " okay, we're gonna get that out in an hour or two", at first I was like , "AN HOUR OR TWO ! are you freaking kidding me ?" Then, realizing I had no real control over this situation, I just laid back, pressed my hands into the bed, and listened to my son's voice in my head. Somehow, for me, it was very calming, and before I knew it they were taking it out. Next on my hit parade wasn't something I was pre-concerned about, but something that had them "concerned". Turns out my speech was all screwed up, I was slurring, lisping, being deliberate and slow. This continued for quite a while and my family was initially freaked out by it as well. When they asked me to sick out my tongue, it was going off to the side. All signs of stroke. All I could think was, great, I make it through this surgery and now I've had a stroke !. Long story short, everything came back fine, just real slow and probably due to the fact that I was out for such an extended period of time. The rest of the ICU and step down process was slow and steady, each day something new came out of me, a tube, a wire, an IV, etc. It's truly amazing to me what they can do and how they can do it. The chest tubes feel a little weird coming out but no pain and the wire into the heart for the temporary external pacemaker again felt weird, but no pain and all these things are relatively quick. Done before you know its being done. Now to the step down and post cardiac floor. Things moved quick and I was feeling pretty good. Was able to get myself, up and around, in and out of bed, stand to use the urinal etc. All in all, everyone I saw, said I looked great and that I was doing fantastic. So, now it's time to go home. Got home yesterday, left in the middle of the solar eclipse (there's a memory). My wife had rented a medical power recliner for me and gotten thing ready for my return home. At first, all was good, I'm thinking, "we're gonna go for a walk today". Well, I was wiped, trying to find comfort in my new chair, got a bit cranky, even snapped at my wife a few times (I wish I could take that back) and when it was time for bed, never got 100% comfortable, either in position or breathing, and only managed to sleep until about 4AM. Then it was out to my new chair, some re positioning and another 4 hour nap or so. What surprises me most is that I'm so stiff. Not real painful but really stiff, especially in my shoulder blades, right side being worse. I guess since I wasn't feeling this too much in the hospital, I got a false sense of confidence that this was going to be a breeze once I get home. After a short pity party, I'm getting used to the home recovery process and okay with the fact that this is going to be a slow process. My wife is gonna pick up a wedge for our bed, hopefully that helps at bed time I'm getting a visit from the home nurse shortly, gonna get washed up, go for my first walk later and begin my home recovery, Day #2. Last bit of good news, I had a pretty good bowel movement right before bed, this too was concerning me because what actually did come out at the hospital, was nothing to write home about and felt like a stuck stone. Anyway, this was an oddly comforting thought as I attempted sleep in my own bed for the first time in 2 weeks. One last word about pain, its not that bad, I mostly am just using the Tylenol, and only occasionally using the Oxy that they prescribed. That's my story for now. Until my next update.