Tracy's Posts

I’m back at our Airbnb in Cleveland. Got discharged this afternoon and fly home to Boise tomorrow. All in all it’s been a great experience in Cleveland. Every person I had contact with was friendly and helpful. Dr. Gillinov was wonderful and so was the rest of his team. Here’s a few things that might help others prepare: My husband got a glowing report from Dr. G after surgery so was not prepared to see me intubated and sedated for his first visit to the ICU. They had talked about this in his family meeting on what to expect, but after talking to the Dr. he thought I would be sitting up and conscience with no tube. I was hypothermic and also had A fib and had to be cardio converted (shocked)twice so I think that lengthened my time intubated. Prepare your family for this. The first few days are rough, but you get through them. I was hoping I wouldn’t remember the intubation tube but I do. It was really only a short time, although it felt longer when going through it. ICU was also rough. I didn’t like the feeling of being so sedated, it felt like my limbs were being held down by bags of cement and that I would just about get into a deep sleep and then would have to fight my way awake because someone needed me to do something. I got to move down to a step down unit the next day and that was easier. I’ve read about pain from the chest tubes and that was true for me as well. It was like a sharp pain in the right side of my back. It felt so good to get the large bore chest tube removed before moving to the step down unit and that calmed down a lot of discomfort I was having. It didn’t really hurt to have it removed. I had a lot of nausea and food really didn’t taste right for 4 days after surgery. I only ate a few bites at every meal and I forced myself to do that. Today is day 4 post op and I’m just starting to eat and drink about 50% of my normal. I had severe hot flashes during the night which would lead to more nausea and pain. My sister would stand at the bedside and fan me with a folder and that helped a lot. I was able to get a fan for the rest of the time and that was a lifesaver. The hospital provided it and it hooked right to the arm of my bed. I ended up spending an extra night because my 2nd chest tube was still draining a lot and I also developed A fib again. I am going home on Eliquis and metropolol for this and they anticipate it will resolve on its own in 4-6 weeks. This is pretty common. On my last night I slept great but woke up about 3 am with pretty good pain in my back and shoulder. It ended up being the chest tube again and resolved once it was pulled out. I was really surprised at how weak I felt, especially for the first few walks. But you literally feel better and stronger every time you go. The shower today was amazing!! A shower chair was really helpful. I have bruising all over my body. Some of the places seem very random, but I think that’s to be expected after surgery. The bruises are not painful at this point. I am down to mainly Tylenol every 4 hours because I don’t like the sedated feeling of the stronger stuff. Most of my pain is on my right side and you definitely want a pillow if you need to cough or sneeze! I am small chested and have not been wearing a bra. A soft t-shirt seems to be the most comfortable. I did wear a sports bra home from the hospital, but it seemed uncomfortable on my right side. I think for travel I will wear a comfortable tank top under a soft t-shirt and sweatshirt. I’m going to sign off and I’m looking forward to a nice night without people coming in and waking me up all the time. Even working in the hospital, I had forgotten that there is really not much rest there. I know everyone was there to help take care of me, but man, that was shocking! Good luck to everyone with a scheduled surgery coming up, I hope this helped! Tracy