Dan's Journal

Susan Lynn  Dan - Many heart warriors have been talking about dizziness after surgery. It seems to be coming up frequently, but you may want to ask your surgeon about it. As far as your distance, it sounds like you're doing well. Just try to lengthen your walks by a few minutes when you feel up to it. You'll build up your endurance before you know it. Best of luck to you!

Marie Myers  Is it possible your blood pressure is low? That can be a source of dizziness. If you haven’t been checking your BP, you might want to check that. Checking your heart rate and regularity of beats is a good idea  also. Drinking enough fluids can also help. Sometimes the dizziness is due to the anemia that is common after heart surgery. Lots of possibilities after such a big surgery!

Valerie Allen  Please don’t worry about not going 1/4 mile 10 days after surgery! As Rose says, be the tortoise not the hare! When I started walking outside, later than 10 days, I would add a mailbox further each day after getting my sea legs established.

Dan Kozina  I did check my BP and it was low. I contacted the Dr. and he took me off the BP meds for now, to see if I could bring it up a bit. It has come up and I am feeling better. Thanks All

Anna Ma  Quite normal, 3 months post op now, I still feel occasionally dizzy, I think it is low bp or the metoprolol I’m taking. First two weeks are the hardest and then you will get better week by week.

Dan Kozina  today is a good day. I feel much stronger and am walking more. Been of the BP meds a few days and my BP has been good and the heart appears to be in normal rhythm most of the time. Thanks all for your words. Stronger every day. I got a bit of my appetite back also.

Suelynn Hanegraaf  Sounds promising! I’m in the same “club”- on Day 2 of my 30-day event monitor. Better to be safe!

Dan Kozina  Thank you all. Very encouraging.  We will all get through this with a new lease on life. I certainly will!!!

Valerie Allen  So sorry to hear you had a setback while waiting to be discharged. Hopefully they will get you all fixed up on Monday and things will get back on track. 🙏

Daneen Douglas  Oh goodness!  Sorry Dan.  Setbacks can be so disappointing.  I had a couple myself.  You are in the best place to have setbacks, though. Mine happened in the hospital as well and was happy I didn’t get home and then have the setbacks and have to return.  Hoping all goes well on Monday!  

Ana Brusso  So sorry Dan, at least you were in the hospital and they could take care of you. Hang in there. God bless you 

Suzette Schear  Sorry Dan.  Glad you’re in a place where they can address this .  Better than going home and having to come back.  You got this. Sending good wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery

Darrell Malone  Awsome Dan, glad your doing ok. There's no place like home for recovery in my opinion. Welcome to the zipper club.

Lynne Anderson  Welcome to the club! You must be doing very well if you are possibly going home tomorrow. Keep up the good work/healing at home.

Valerie Allen  Good to hear from you! That would be a fast discharge if tomorrow! Be sure you are feeling up to it. Congratulations 

Michelle Persson  That’s wonderful news! The doctors must be very happy with your progress if you can go home that soon.

Richard Munson  Crisp bed sheets are a must. Nancy just changed mine. I forgot how to do it after i left ft. Sill in 1968. 

Richard Munson  Besides the obvious objects to bring , a positive attitude and a sense of humor, which you appear to have,  will help you heal. Best of luck.

Ana Brusso  Praying for you that your surgery tomorrow will be successful. We will be here to welcome you into recovery. God bless you ❤️‍🩹🙏❤️

Richard Munson  Safety is the name of the game. Falling after heart surgery is not recommended. Is falling ever recommended? 

Nancy Bukowski  Hi Dan,  I had brought pull on type sneakers and did not end up using them.  What I did use was the non-slip socks that the hospital had provided- those seemed to work well for me.

Richard Munson  Those non slip socks are pretty good. They will be making you walk soon after surgery. A bathrobe is also good so the entire heart ward does not see you private areas while walking. Unless your an exibitionist.

Yumiko Ishida  The grippy socks they give you usually do the job. Personally, I won’t go bare feet - don’t want to think about all the germs I might be bringing into my bed! I wore clogs most of the time. It’s like a cross between slippers and sneakers. Not sure if they make them for men, but you can slip them on but they have a little lip at the back of the heel to prevent them from falling off easily while walking. 

Nancy Bukowski  Cute Dan!  He will be waiting for you and keep that in mind when you are in the hospital- it’s a motivator!  We have three rescue dogs that were waiting and I was so happy to see them.

Ana Brusso  Dan, your dog is very cute, and like to pose for pictures. Yes, you will both miss each other. Pamela, you are so nice to rescue these three beautiful dogs. We rescued a Maltese 7 months ago what a blessing. 🙏❤️🥰

Rita Savelis  Like Jennifer I wore a hospital gown most of the time too. Why create extra laundry for yourself? There will be plenty of opportunities to wear your own clothes in the future.

Dan Fouratt  I purchased a cheap pair of sweats to wear at the hospital.  It did not interfere with anything the hospital wanted and was better then just the gown.

Lynne Anderson  I wore sweats and slippers to surgery. Didn't need them again until the day I got out. Best of luck with your procedure!

Rose Madura  My surgeon admitted me the night before so I wore street clothes.  At the hospital, I was always in my gown. Bust wishes for a successful surgery and uneventful recovery.❤️‍🩹

Dan Fouratt  One other thing you might want to bring is a pair of slip on shoes that are comfortable for walking.  The slippers are not great for walking and they will want you to walk.

Dan Kozina  Thanks for all the thoughts here. I have been trying to tan my butt so I can fashion that gown correctly and fashionably. LOL

Dan Kozina  I need to keep my sense of humor with tomorrow being the day. I am driving myself crazy today. I know, I will keep busy cleaning the house. That sound like fun

Dan Fouratt  Dan I hate to tell you but tanning the butt is a waste of time, they drape a second gown on you to cover your rear side when you are waling!

Valerie Allen  If not doubled up, with a tan butt you would run the risk of people yelling “Nice Butt!” As you pass their room! Consider that too.

Marie Myers  For me, it was just one IV line. After that , I got some sedation( per my request) and I don’t remember anything more till I woke up in surgical ICU 6 hours later. It was great!  Needless to say, when i woke up i had all kinds of lines and wires..

Sue Maize  Welcome Dan! This is a great community so be sure to post any questions or concerns—someone has no doubt “been there”! 😊❤️‍🩹

Rita Savelis  I didn't get any tubes and probes until I was under anasthesia (well, maybe an IV). After waking up in ICU I  never saw myself in a mirror so wasn't really aware of what exactly I had as a tube or probe. The lung tube was definitely out, I had a urinary catheter and I imagine various other tubes. Those were all gone by the time I got to a step-down room. The person to direct your question to is your anasthesiologist and or surgeon or even a cardiac nurse.

Daneen Douglas  They put a sticky pad on your back to cushion you from any sores or scrapes from being on your back for so long.  Also, they put in an iv.  They did say they would put in a a pic line that would be painful before the surgery.  I was nervous about that.  But, they wheeled me into the operating room, put a face mask over my mouth and nose and….. I was out.  So, I never felt the pic line. 

J Alexander Lassally  They do an arterial line to measure real time BP (this is ultrasound guided) and does not hurt, and a standard IV for prep op meds. The central line goes in once sedated. Plus various surface monitors. So you will enter the procedure with two... 

Robert Miller  It's all a blur now. I know they gave me an IV, I tried to see how long I can stay awake (not very long) and then I was out. They didn't have any tubes or wires connected before the surgery. There will be a bunch after surgery (catheter, drainage, pacemaker wires, IV, drawing blood line from the neck). And you will be intubated. My wife told me that one nurse was going to let her in to see me and the other one got upset saying my wife can't see me intubated. I do recall that when I woke up after my first surgery, I saw this bright light and someone said he is awake now and then the pulled out the tube. I do recall the feeling of them pulling out the tube but there was no pain.  

Dan Kozina  Just talked to my doctor. He said I have a bicuspid aortic valve that I have had from birth. A hereditary thing. 2 leaf valve instead  of 3. It is only working at 20% and needs to be replaced. At my age We think open heart is the best solution. He also said he could try to take care of my afip during surgery. Will find out Wednesday when the schedule is set. 

Robert Miller  Since you have afib, and even if not, asked the surgeon if he/she will remove the heart's appendage. That's where blood cots are mostly likely to form, especially with AFib. Also check what "taking care of afib" means. Is he/she going to do the maze procedure? Or Something else? 

Dan Kozina  I found out that the bad valve was from birth. My surgeon will replace valve and do a Maze and remove that appendage to stop the afib and clotting. Hope this all works.

Robert Miller  In my case the valve could be fixed. Otherwise I had the exact same procedure for my first surgery. After the second one, my surgeon told me I still had some afib and I might  need ablation. I didn't take it too seriously but it got worse. A few weeks ago I did cardioversion which brought my pulse to normal levels but I am still pretty much always in Afib. Hopefully in your case everything will be fine after the maze procedure.

Btw, your heart will have to adjust to the new electrical paths which takes a bit of time. In my case the heart also didn't beat by itself for the first couple of days. Instead, the temporary pacemaker did take over that duty. About 3 days later or so everything was good. I heard in rare cases a permanent pacemaker might be necessary. But the pros far outweigh that small risk. 

Dan Kozina  Thanks. My surgeon said there is the possibility of a permanent pacemaker. Hope not. I have been in AFIB 100% of the time for about 1 tear. Hope this fixes it. I dont notice is to much. just a slight pressure on chest, that could also be the heart needing to work hard due to the bad valve.