Karen Warren The hospital sent me home with two. You might check with surgeon office.
Robert Miller Not sure what bra you are referring to and being a guy, I don't have that much, actually no, experien ... Read more
Robert Miller Not sure what bra you are referring to and being a guy, I don't have that much, actually no, experience wearing one. However, after OHS it is supposedly easier to wear one that closes in the front. The only issue is that the closing mechanism might rest right on your incision. Thinking about it, maybe they should invent a bra that closes on the side... And on that topic, wear lose T-shirts or a shirt with buttons. The buttons can rub on the incision but they are a lot easier to put on.
I'm scheduled for open heart surgery March 24. I would like to know others experiences with this surgery.
Chris Jones Kathleen, I had open heart surgery in 2014. My aortic valve was replaced with a porcine valve. I had ... Read more
Chris Jones Kathleen, I had open heart surgery in 2014. My aortic valve was replaced with a porcine valve. I had the option of porcine, bovine, or mechanical. In hindsight, I wish I had gone with mechanical. Sometime in the very near future I have to have the porcine valve replaced. I have severe aortic valve stenosis. I will know more after the 30th. I won’t lie to you, but my case was different. I had triple bypass, valve replacement and an aneurysm repair, all at one time. I was in the hospital for 38 days.
Corey Potter Wow, can't imagine 38 days in the hospital. Kathleen, unlike Chris, I was a straight forward aortic ... Read more
Corey Potter Wow, can't imagine 38 days in the hospital. Kathleen, unlike Chris, I was a straight forward aortic valve replacement with an Abbott Epic Max porcine valve. There is lots of new technology with this valve. I was out of the Cleveland Clinic in five days and had a very smooth recovery. I found it to be easier than what I expected. I did not have a lot of pain except for when I sneezed for the first time! I had a great experience or as good as you can possibly have under the circumstances. My advice is to think positive thoughts and listen to your nurses and doctors. Not sure what you are having done, but this is a great site with many positive stories and great people you can lean on for help. Best wishes to you.
Robert Miller If you haven't seen the learning center yet, there is a lot of very helpful information. Scroll down ... Read more
Robert Miller If you haven't seen the learning center yet, there is a lot of very helpful information. Scroll down passed all the ads until you see a bunch of links. Especially look in the "The Recovery" and "Your Hospital Stay" section.
You mentioned you are scheduled for open heart surgery. Does that mean minimal invasive surgery isn't an option? The biggest issue for recovery is cutting the sternum which obviously would not happen with minimal invasive surgery.
I was in the hospital for 9 days, half of it in ICU. I don’t remember the first couple days.
Recovery has its ups and downs. It feels frustratingly slow and also amazingly fast. I started with walking for a couple minutes around the house a couple times a day.
I was asymptomatic and a runner pre-surgery. At 8 weeks I was doing slow run/walk intervals in rehab. I golfed 9 holes at week 10. I ran a 5k at 6 months.
I felt fully recovered except for exercise at 5 months. I’m now at 9 months and I’m still running slower than I did pre-surgery. But I also made a conscious decision to not push myself as hard for the first year.
I am from: Williamston
