All has gone well except the past week to 2 weeks I\'ve had bronchitis or something. My regular doctor gave me some antibiotics to get rid of it yesterday. ...Read more
All has gone well except the past week to 2 weeks I\'ve had bronchitis or something. My regular doctor gave me some antibiotics to get rid of it yesterday. It has made me blow my knows, cough and sneeze. July 19th will be exactly 2 months since surgery and coughing still hurts but sneezing is still the worst. Hurts and is annoying with this bronchitis or whatever it is. I started sleeping on my side around one month after surgery but it hasn\'t been real comfortable until about 6 weeks after surgery. I tried doing a push up on my knees yesterday and it didn\'t hurt. How can that not hurt and coughing and sneezing does? If the pain from coughing and sneezing will go away, I won\'t have any symptoms from surgery except not having full stamina back. Thought I\'d share how I feel at near 2 months after surgery.
I am doing great. I am breaking a lot of rules though. I started driving about 2.5 weeks after surgery. I did have to stay in the hospital 13 days because of ...Read more
I am doing great. I am breaking a lot of rules though. I started driving about 2.5 weeks after surgery. I did have to stay in the hospital 13 days because of afib. That was the only hold back. I started walking about 3/4 of a mile at 2 weeks after surgery. I walked the hospital halls every day after being in a regular room. When transferring from ICU to regular room, I walked the whole way with a walker. It seems I have had an easier go of it than most here and I attribute that to my surgeon, not my own health. So, I highly recommend my surgeon who did a mini sternotomy and did it in 2 hours. 2 HOURS I was opened up, repaired my mitral valve and a hole in my heart that everybody is born with but mine never sealed up. The surgeon\'s name is Dr. Irving Kron from the University of Virginia Hospital. He is also the president of The American Association of Thoracic Surgery. Here is a link to his UVA page; http://thoracic.surgery.virginia.edu/adult-cardiac/adult-cardiac-staff/irving-l.-kron-m.d/
I still get dizzy when I stand up sometimes. General pain where the scar is. The 2 holes where tubes were have scabbed up well and are slowly shrinking. I am ...Read more
I still get dizzy when I stand up sometimes. General pain where the scar is. The 2 holes where tubes were have scabbed up well and are slowly shrinking. I am breaking rules mainly because I feel good enough to do so. The past 3 nights I have been sleeping on my sides instead of my back. I have been walking about 3/4 of a mile on mornings that haven\'t been too hot. I did my favorite thing I like to do outside this morning....I hand washed my car. I was real tired after doing it. I went real slow but, I was still dripping sweat after finishing it. I wanted to wax it but, was too tired. Either way, I am feeling good for having open heart surgery at 3 weeks.
Finally, I am home. I had to get the procedure called cardio version done which shocked my heart to get the afib/fluttering rhythm corrected. I then had to ...Read more
Finally, I am home. I had to get the procedure called cardio version done which shocked my heart to get the afib/fluttering rhythm corrected. I then had to stay in the hospital several more days to get my blood thin enough. The hospital was worried about a blood clot being thrown. I feel good, still plenty sore at the incision and have several meds to take every day.
I am told surgery went well. 24 hrs in ICU, then in regular room. I guess the anesthesia made me sick because I vomited 4 times in ICU. The most painful thing ...Read more
I am told surgery went well. 24 hrs in ICU, then in regular room. I guess the anesthesia made me sick because I vomited 4 times in ICU. The most painful thing of all was that by far. 2nd day in a regular room, was a struggle to get any food down. I ate very little and getting in and out of bed is very painful. 3rd day was much like the second except I went into afib and it took 3 drugs and one of them with a 24 hr drip to get it back to normal. 4th day they took out the IV in my neck, one of the chest tubes and my catheter and the day ended with my heart racing but, they didn\'t call it afib. Today, day 5 has been good. I did a fair amount of walking down the halls of the hospital. Again this evening, my heart has started to race again but, I feel good.
I\'m eating as good as I can before going in to surgery. Shrimp fajitas at a good Charlottesville, Va restaurant for lunch. Leftover fajitas and crab cakes ...Read more
I\'m eating as good as I can before going in to surgery. Shrimp fajitas at a good Charlottesville, Va restaurant for lunch. Leftover fajitas and crab cakes for dinner. About a 1/2 dozen steamed crabs from the Chesapeake Bay a little later tonight. That\'s about as good as I can get. Surgery tomorrow morning scheduled for 7:30 a.m. I\'ll hope to update this in the hospital on my iPad. It will probably be Friday morning May 20th before I can do that though. Talk to you all then hopefully!
Robert Elliott
I had this done 2 years ago so, I knew what to expect. All went smooth. No blockages and they said my arteries & veins were all clear as could be. I knew that ...Read more
I had this done 2 years ago so, I knew what to expect. All went smooth. No blockages and they said my arteries & veins were all clear as could be. I knew that as I drink 1-2 ounces of apple cider vinegar instead of baby aspirin to thin blood and clean my system daily. Talking to my surgeon and cardiologist again on the 4th & 5th of next week. 2 years ago the surgeon wanted to do a mini sternotomy open heart surgery and I expect he\'ll recommend the same.
So far I\'m sore but have not had the bad bruising like I did with the cath procedure 2 years ago. I am trying to be as still as possible for 2-3 days after so hopefully it won\'t happen. That\'s all for now!
Robert Elliott
I have a catheterization scheduled for April 28, 2011. I have had this done 2 years ago when I was going to get this surgery done but decided to wait it out. ...Read more
I have a catheterization scheduled for April 28, 2011. I have had this done 2 years ago when I was going to get this surgery done but decided to wait it out. So, I know what to expect. When I got the cath done 2 years ago, they had computer/tv monitors all around to see what was going on. It was pain free and kind of neat. Afterwards hang around the hospital room for several hours to let the bleeding subside. Then have several days of soreness in my groin and severe bruising from internal blood running down from the puncture/incision.