Misti Blu's Journal

I can't believe how lucky I was to stumble onto this website and book. It really made me feel secure and prepared when getting this major surgery. Such a great support system! I hope everyone is recovering nicely! Misti

Wow... You can imagine I was doing great considering I haven\'t posted in awhile. I started walking, which I could never do before. AND, I actually enjoy it! I apologize for not updating sooner! I hope all of you have speedy recoveries. I am currently writing this from Florida Hospital. My sternum wires were bothering me so I went to see my Surgeon, Dr. Kevin Accola, and he asked me if I wanted the wires out and I said YES, PLEASE. So the next day, which is today, I did just that. I am slightly sore now but will go home tomorrow and will be pain free soon. For those of you that have to get this done, It wasn\'t too bad. It is nothing compared to open heart. I look forward to walking soon and breaking my 3 mile record walk. Before surgery, I could maybe walk a block. Go me!

Each day is better than the day before. I still have fatigue and shortness of breath and soreness, but considering I had open heart surgery 6 weeks ago, I don\'t have much of a complaint. I am hoping that I can do cardiac rehab. I will find out sometime next week. I want to ride bikes and learn how to surf and exercise and get in shape! A few days ago I bought a long pillow. It was the best idea! I usually sleep with about 5 pillows and toss and turn all night, feeling like I don\'t sleep at all. The pillow worked wonders and I slept through the night! I did have a scary moment today. Thanks to the pillow I can comfortably sleep on my side. I was lying on my side and I gradually and accidentally rolled over onto my stomach. When I tried to get up..... I could not. I guess that I forgot that I had open heart surgery and when I did try to get up, I did suddenly and found myself in a lot of pain. Luckily my husband was on his way home from work and helped me up when he got home. Ouch. My birthday is on Sunday. I am hoping to have a glass of wine and have not had a drink since before the surgery and I am really paranoid that my heart won\'t agree with it. I just don\'t want to get palpitations or have any problems.

I can now sneeze without feeling excruciating pain! I am still sore when I get dressed and when sleeping. If I am out and about I get anxious after about an hour because my back starts to really ache. Sleeping is not easy. I am out of pain meds and I would really prefer to take one at night. I wake up several times throughout the night and changing positions is very painful after awhile. By the time I wake up, I feel like I haven\'t slept at all. Just curious... Does everyone need Cardiac Rehab? I have not heard anything about this from my doctors. When are you supposed to start this? Other than that, each days seems better than the last. P.S... I have been using vitamin E oil for my scar. I might try cocoa butter too. I used that for my c-section and it really helped.

I am so sore. No one told me how horrible the back ache would be. My back is so tense and solid as a rock, i assume from tensing up from the pain. I usually sleep half on my stomach, half on my left side. That\'s it. Now, I can only sleep on my back. It sucks. My back is killing me. Other than that, I am waiting for Monday. It is my follow up with the surgeon and also I had an echo on Friday to check out how much fluid I have building up. Well, I can feel it crackling in my lower back. Coughing is not productive. It is just there. The cardiologist said she heard my murmur. Everyone else said my murmur was gone, so does that mean it\'s back? Do I have an infection? Do I need to have treatment to get this fluid out? Monday can\'t come soon enough. P.S.... Getting dressed sucks. Ouch. Oh, and my left ear is STILL numb.

I went to the ER today for fever that has been lingering. I\'d have gone to a primary care physician but I don\'t have insurance so I don\'t have a doctor. Anyway, they did blood work, EKG, chest X-ray. Turns out that I have a urinary tract infection. They also said I have pleuritic or pericardial effusion... or fluid build up. I am not really sure. They do not know how much or if it should be an issue, so tomorrow I will do an echocardiogram to find out more. So as of know... I am not sure what is going on.

When are you supposed to stop taking the pain meds? Today marks 12 days and I have already been getting the pain med lecture starting a few days ago. I understand doctors and nurses get concerned about addiction but when is the recommended time frame to get off? I feel like because I am young, that means I will automatically get addicted. I feel like if I was an older patient, I wouldn\'t get half the crap I\'m getting now. I\'m sorry, but it hasn\'t even been 2 weeks since I had my chest sawed open. I\'m talking one every 6 hours now instead of 2 every 4 hours. I\'ve had a 99.5 temperature since I was at the hospital. I\'m not feeling well today and the last thing I need is to get crap about my pain meds. But anyway, I am curious.... How long til you were completely off the pain meds?

I am doing great. I spend a lot of my time napping. I have had visitors and lots of help. Some friends have brought dinner over, too. One of my biggest issues is that I keep tensing up my back. My back muscles are hard as a rock and more tense than I have ever had. My husband has been rubbing my shoulders after dinner. It relieves the tension a lot. I also keep getting low grade fevers and then they break and I have to change my clothes, fell okay for a bit, and then the fever chills again. They said not call unless it is 100 or more but it\'s only been 99.8 at highest, though my normal temp is on the low side. Otherwise, everything is going well.

As I write this, there is my surgeon\'s photo on the right hand side of this website. He is such a bad ass! AND, I found him from this site. I really do appreciate Adam Pick and all of those who update on here. I was looking into this surgery 7 years ago and was never able to find any info until this site and book was launched! I really have been inspired to give back and help other people! P.S.... I uploaded some photos!

My blood sugar is back to normal. I finally had a BM and I think this is actually happening. I did have a rough night last night. I was in a lot of pain from moving around so much, trying to get my stomach to reactivate etc. Then it hit me that my sternum was broken and the numbness of the skin around the incision... it hit me that this was real. I call it it my Debbie Downer Moment. I feel better now. My blood pressure raised up a lot yesterday but seems to have gotten better, too. My main concern is that starting last night, my left ear went numb, We are waiting for the doctor to ask about this but I am not happy about it! I hope it is somewhat normal. Well, I will keep you posted! I will let you know if I get to come home to the kids and my cat today! I still feel like this is a dream.

I am being discharged tomorrow! They had to make sure I had a BM first. Well, my stomach was hard, bloated, and quiet. Luckily, after trying everything... I finally went! Never thought I\'d be so excited about that! PS... Check my photos in a few! I\'m going to upload some! Also, what is Adam\'s email!? I have a brilliant idea! Hope all is well! <3

Surgery was Friday morning, just as the last shuttle launch went up! Yesterday, I got out of ICU late afternoon. I am doing great! Dr. Accola was able to do just the repair! I got very lucky. He used tissue from my own hear to patch up the hole in my aortic valve. That is such great news! For some reason, I kept thinking I would get nervous but never did. I was in a lot of pain yesterday and the day before, so, it took a bit of time to find the right meds for me. Also, I made sure to get my anti-nausea meds too. I am currently on lasix diuretic, steroid shot for my lungs, metoprolol beta blocker, potassium, laxative, phenergan anti nausea, and dilaudid for pain, and insulin.My blood surar has been high since I\'ve been on meds and didnt eat for almost 2 days. It\'s normal. I just didn\'t know and was surprised when you pricked my finger. I must have been loopy the first time. I was able to walk down the hall today and this morning I took my first shower around 4:30am. I have had a very lowgrade fever since yesterday. Just 99.4 but keeping an eye on it. Probably normal. I had a chest xray this morning and have been doing breathing treatments. Xray results are pending but I should hear from my doctor soon. Rumor has it he is down the hall. Overall, I am in good spirits. I have a great support system, and I was lucky to get the repair! This has worn me out so I am going to take a nap! P.S... I told Dr. Accola Adam Pick said he and he wanted to say hello back! ***Also, I made a Facebook album for the Heart Surgery Adventure! Add me! http://www.facebook.com/Mistibluday

Luckily we left early because the drive to Orlando was pretty rough. Lots of rain! As soon as we entered downtown Orlando, we could see the blue skies and the rain nearly stops. Blood work and then checking into the hotel. Surgery in the morning!

Authorization came through!! Doing this again but for real this time! Bags are still packed. Making reservations again. Leaving to Orlando at 1:30pm to get blood work and then stay the night to get to hospital at 6am Friday!

My AVR surgery is still scheduled for July 6th, which is soon! I am actually pretty excited. I have been very busy lately and doing all of the the photo shoots I can before my deadline, July 1st. Then I plan to take it easy (somewhat) and spend time with family and clean, etc. I found myself very frustrated about being out of breath and dizzy after a few minutes of shooting, especially outside in this heat, and thinking to myself.... SOON! I am really hoping that I get the energy that I never had. Does anyone have any advice for a speedy recovery or what I need or should do to make the recovery go somewhat smoothly? Also, the one think that does worry me is the pain. I imaging it will hurt an awful lot with a broken sternum. Ugh. Advice?

Thanks for listening to my venting/panic moment. I am going to figure it out! I have a few numbers scribbled down and left several voice mails and now working on sending several emails. After opening that letter I just lost it. Or maybe I lost it after getting sent to voicemail after every call. Either way... It will work out somehow. I will be positive! It was just smooth sailing since my last few posts. Everything seemed set and in place and organized. I will have that damn surgery on July 6th. I just need a few days or weeks to straighten this out. Tonight my focus is on having a glass of wine and reading a book. Tomorrow I will take it day by day. I just need to practice patience and not trying to fix everything in a split second. Have great night!