Nicole MacLellan - Heart Valve Journal

My Journal

1259 days ago

Good evening everyone I just had my second open heart heart surgery on feb 7 and am still pretty uncomfortable. I was wondering how long others had to take ...Read more

Good evening everyone I just had my second open heart heart surgery on feb 7 and am still pretty uncomfortable. I was wondering how long others had to take narcotics pain medications after surgery. Not sure if I’m being too hard on myself because I feel I still need the help of the meds? Could others kindly let me know what their experience was with pain medication? Thanks so much

Phyllis Petersen I had side-entry, robotic surgery and still need pain meds once or twice a day for a few weeks. I don ... Read more

Phyllis Petersen I had side-entry, robotic surgery and still need pain meds once or twice a day for a few weeks. I don't remember exactly how long. Others have only needed OTC meds. We're all different, but pain will make your recovery more difficult, so listen to your own body rather than another's experience. If you get concerned, I'm sure your surgeon and/or doctor can help you through this.

Rose Madura For me, I think it was about a week. Thankfully I was able to switch to Tylenol. But at times I wo ... Read more

Rose Madura For me, I think it was about a week. Thankfully I was able to switch to Tylenol. But at times I would take them at night before bed. Don't be too hard on yourself. You need to stay ahead of the pain. My advice would be to wean off and replace with Tylenol.

Ginny Turner I had OHS with full sternotomy on 1/31. I’ve had very little pain, using only OTC Tylenol after ICU ... Read more

Ginny Turner I had OHS with full sternotomy on 1/31. I’ve had very little pain, using only OTC Tylenol after ICU. Now, at 3 weeks post surgery, I’m not even needing the Tylenol. I know everyone is different in terms of pain and consider myself very fortunate.

Thomas Brusstar I had OHS mitral repair. By 48 hours after I was on regular Tylenol, and within a few days just Tyle ... Read more

Thomas Brusstar I had OHS mitral repair. By 48 hours after I was on regular Tylenol, and within a few days just Tylenol at bedtime. I found the real painkillers just made me feel terrible, and the ache from my sternum wasn’t that bad.

Randy Chapman This discussion is helpful to me. Did you have a full sternum crack or a minimal with a couple broken ... Read more

Randy Chapman This discussion is helpful to me. Did you have a full sternum crack or a minimal with a couple broken ribs? If cracked sternum, wires or fixed plate?

Rose Madura For me, I had a full sternotomy. The pain was not too bad at all. Most of my pain was in my should ... Read more

Rose Madura For me, I had a full sternotomy. The pain was not too bad at all. Most of my pain was in my shoulders from how they have you in an uncomfortable position for surgery, which in my case was 7 hours.

Thomas Brusstar They did the full sternum crack on me. The scar is like 6 1/2 inches. But it’s hardly noticeable ... Read more

Thomas Brusstar They did the full sternum crack on me. The scar is like 6 1/2 inches. But it’s hardly noticeable now. I kind of thought it was cool. No broken ribs, no side entry at all. So not much pain really after a few days, other than like when I would first lie down or stand up. Sternum center line doesn’t have muscles, so no muscles to cut, and therefore less pain. But I definitely had an ache in the sternum for a while after any big torso activity. Surgery was 2018, so it seems like a long time ago.