Bob's Posts

Tomorrow is my 4th week ssurgery. I went to the hospital where the surgery was done to have the wound checked out and have my last questions answered. Everything looked great! I can start driving now. I can stop taking baby aspirin 3 months after surgery. I will use up the remaining 13 days of amiodarone and then quit taking those. So I will have no pills to take that I wasn't taking before surgery. I can lift 5 more pounds every two weeks so I can lift 10# starting tomorrow with each arm (I had her clarify this). Therefore using both hands I can lift 20#. I wondered about my sternotomy because it didn't look like a full one but didn't look like a min-sternotomy either as shown in the photo above. They are usually about 3-1/2" long starting at the top of the chest. Mine is 5-1/2" long and starts lower. I was told that it was a full sternotomy but the surgeon lifted the skin and cut the bone underneath it so there would be no scar showing on the top of my chest. Amazing! I'm now able to sleep on my stomach. I'm walking as much as I have time for without even breathing hard. I feel great thank the Lord! Good luck Janet and Cindy tomorrow. You can do this. The surgeon will do his job and then you will take over. You will be like new before you know it.

I'm feeling really good. There is still sensitivity on both side of the zipper but not too bad. I had an episode of heart rate variation last Saturday and again on Monday. The surgeon told me to stop the metoprolol. I did and hopefully that did the trick. I saw my cardiologist Wednesday and he did an EKG which looked normal. I'm crossing my fingers. Still taking amiodarone until the pills are gone which is about another 3 weeks and baby aspirin. Does everyone have to take baby aspirin forever? Sleeping great or as great as before surgery. I always have woke up a lot. I can sleep on my side easily now. I'm still thinking about whether I want cardiac rehab. I am very self motivated and hate having to be somewhere at specific times instead of going to the gym on my own schedule. We shall see. I'm still losing a little weight. Down 10# since I got home. I have a great appetite eating full meals so maybe it's all the walking and of course the healing inside that's going on. I'm very please with the job Dr. Glenn Barnhart did on my heart. I feel good and the wound is healing fast. Good luck to Kristin, Vickie, Ruben, Tamika and Cindy this next week. Like I have said multiple times, it is not as bad as you imagine it. You can do this.

Things continue to improve. I'm going for 1 mile walks a couple times a day as the weather permits. Anything over 80 and I demur. My pedometer says I walk over 3 miles/day. I'm not taking any painkillers. Not even Tylenol so that is good. I see my cardiologist this Wednesday and I'm hopeful he will allow me to stop taking amiodarone and metoprolol. My weight has stabilized about 7# less than when I came home. I'm really surprised it hasn't gone up since I scarfed down a bunch of cinnamon rolls my daughter-in-law made me. I have no problems with appetite. My wound is healing nicely. I am sleeping in our bed now with just two pillows to raise my head a bit. The last two nights I have begun to sleep on my side too. My spirometer reading is almost back to normal with a max of 3500mm but usually closer to 2500 (I topped it out at 4000mm before surgery). I consider myself very lucky and fortunate so far in my healing (knock on wood). I am constantly God for taking care of me. Good luck to all on this journey.