fay's Journal

Jeff V.  Fay - I had a mitral valve repair on 12-4-15 at the Cleveland Clinic. I'm sure many of us in the community would be happy to talk to Sam. Perhaps you can share some of the lingering problems so some of us with similar experiences can provide relevant feedback. Jeff

fay siegel  Hi Jeff, my brother has afib. He seems to have a significant personality change. He gets mean with his family which he did not do prior to surgery. He is very quiet and before surgery he was talkative and social. He seems very tired and his family thinks he should push himself through the tiredness and not sleep as much. My brother is 68 and was working as a pharmacist up until the valve situation. Also food seems to have a bad taste for him. thanks Jeff

fay siegel  Jeff would you call my brother since you had your surgery almost at the same time he did. I just think you would be a good person for him to speak to.
thanks,
Fay

fay siegel  awesome. My brother's name is Sam Postolski phone number 513 259-1374. My brother just moved to North Carolina around 2 years ago to be closer to his married daughter. My brother is from Cincinnati , Ohio and still has his Cincinnati cell phone number. Jeff can I ask how you are doing after surgery?

fay siegel  I just talked to my brother and he wants me to give you his land line number. If you could call the land line first that would be helpful. 704 603-8492. So appreciative for you to do this. I always feel that when you talk to people that have gone through the same thing it just helps so much.
Fay

Jeff V.  I am doing good. I had a 6 hour run of afib in day 2 post-op but converted without intervention. I went back to work in 4 weeks (desk job) and have had no problems. If Sam is in constant afib he will be tired and have low activity thresholds. Perhaps his docs are addressing the options to get him on rhythm. I will call the land line later today! Jeff

Sophia Ridley  Fay, I'm in the UK therefore can't really offer to call. I'm sure a conversation with Jeff will help considerably. I had my mitral valve repaired 7wks ago, I was in AF for two weeks afterwards and hospitalised.

OHS is utterly exhausting, he will have felt like he had been hit by a train. AF makes it worse and if he was expecting this to be better post surgery he may be thoroughly frustrated (I have been with mine). His doctors will be able to advise if it will improve. Heart surgery really irritates the heart and so it might be worse before better. He does need to do exercise but with AF merely getting out of a chair sends the pulse soaring and it can knock your confidence. I struggled for the first few weeks to walk, especially the slightest slope. Beta blockers are known to cause fatigue.

Recovery is a very emotional journey and if your brother was used to being well, head of the family etc this will have has a profound impact. Has he started cardiac rehab?

I'm not sure what advice you have been given and I wish I had seen these beforehand:

Caring for someone with heart conditions and especially post OHS is hard and can test the strongest of relationships. Here's a link from the British Heart Foundation which may help. Pg 30 and the chapter starting on pg40 are most informative.

https://www.bhf.org.uk/publications/heart-conditions/caring-for-someone-with-a-heart-condition

Here's their link on heart surgery. It covers all types but the details on recovery may help. They also do a booklet on physical activity.

https://www.bhf.org.uk/publications/heart-conditions/having-heart-surgery

Jeff V.  Fay - I had a nice chat with Sam. I mistakenly told you that my surgery was on 12/4/15... I meant to say 12/4/14! We talked at length about his issues and concerns. I reassured him that I believe he is doing quite well for just being 4-5 weeks out. It's completely normal to be extra tired the first few months and needing to nap frequently. Compounding things, Sam has been in afib for quite awhile and will undoubtedly impact his stamina and recovery. In my opinion, Sam must press his cardio team to try and convert him back to sinus rhythm, I suspect that he will be feeling much better in 1 - 2 months. He's walking, doing rehab and had a quality repair. It is just going to take patience and time. In addition to the afib issue, I suggested that he press his docs on his prolonged disinterest in food relative to all food tasting bad. I think this symptom is not too uncommon for patients while in the hospital or for a short period after surgery. Sam's food problem seems more severe and should be evaluated. Overall, I think he's on track. Work on a plan for the afib and food and I think he will be in good shape in the next couple of months. I gave him my number and told him to call anytime. I did forget to tell him that he has a great sister looking out for him... !Take care, Jeff

fay siegel  Thanks Jeff so much! I talked to Sam and he really appreciated your call. If you think about it could you call every so often to see how he is doing. I don't think he gets into the computer thing very much especially now so he would not be reading any of these comments or other individual's journey of their heart surgeries.
Fay

Lenore Mitchell  Hi Fay - Sorry to hear that Sam isn't feeling well. I assume he's in contact with his doctors, especially about what may have been a TIA. He's only a few weeks post op, and it's to be expected that he doesn't feel great yet. It takes time to recover from any surgery, especially open heart procedures. Some of us do feel depressed, possibly because we're worried about recovery and just want to feel better. It may help for you or Sam's wife or son to try and talk with him about how he's feeling. Maybe he thought he'd feel better right away. Sometimes depression is a form of worry. If Sam isn't eating well and is nauseous, perhaps his doctor needs to know this. The entire road from surgery to recovery is challenging not only for the patient, but also often for the family. It may help to encourage Sam to walk and move around more, according to his doctor's limitations. I had my mitral valve repair last January and am feeling fine, and I did several weeks of cardiac rehab under my doctor's supervision. This entire process hasn't been easy for me, but sometimes taking it a day at a time does help. I hope Sam and all of you feel better soon. Happy holidays!

Jean Raber  Hi, Fay. Sam probably needs another five weeks of recovery before you know where things are. Lack of appetite, nausea, and depression go away slowly.

Will Sam have an MRI to look at TIA situation? That could certainly explain the change in personality, though my mother got nasty with me a couple of times because she was frustrated and sick.

A-fib may right itself or it may be part of the landscape, treated with meds or pacemaker. That seems to be an issue that doctors can't really predict.

I know this is very hard on Sam and all of you. All you can do is cut each other some slack. If all of you are there taking care of your brother, it might help to make sure everybody gets an hour or two of "down time" every day, where they can get out and recharge.