Jerry's Journal

My surgery was 8 weeks ago. For the first four weeks my incision seemed to heal really quickly and neatly. The surgeon told me that I could remove any glue that was barely hanging on, if I did it gently. For a week or two my incision was pretty and pink along the whole length.

Then it started opening up again. I would have a bit of blood from a few specific spots. At the moment I have three small, circular scabs, and one area that bleeds a little but never forms a hard, dark scab. Is this normal? I never would have expected it to start scabbing over again.

Hi Everyone. I had open heart aortic valve replacement and single CABG five weeks ago. Everything has been going great since then except that my skin on my chest is very sensitive. I get a prickly feeling, like tiny pinpricks, constantly. Also my skin feels sunburnt. I have switched to a very soft undershirt, which helps a little. It's not just the scar, it's a wider area of the chest. I can't shake this sensitivity. It's very annoying.

The prickly might be because of the hair growing back? I have a hairy chest, which was, of course, completely shaved immediately before surgery. It's coming back in. I don't know if that's really what I'm feeling but it's a guess.

Has anyone used an ointment or lotion to make their skin feel better? Is there another solution, or do I just have to give it more time?

I'm reading the pre-surgery material provided by my hospital. They recommend installing grab rails in your shower, and a toilet seat riser. How important are these? Did anyone else make those home mods prior to surgery?

I bought Adam’s book just now using the “instant download” feature. After paying by PayPal, there was no link to download. How do I get the book? This is frustrating.

I had a second opinion from Dr. Junaid Khan yesterday. It was a very helpful session. He confirmed the course of treatment from my Kaiser cardio team, and answered all our questions. As to "do I need this surgery?" he basically said, statistically if I have the surgery I will be alive in one year, but possibly not if I don't. That's pretty compelling! I'm glad to have found Dr. Khan through this site.