Hi All,
I guess it is time to
update this story.
I am now 7 weeks and a day
Post op. (May 26th, 2001) I
received a St Judes Mechanical
and now take coumadin. I had
my surgery at Houston’s
Veterans Medical Center. Dr
Soltero was my surgeon and he
did a fine job.
The surgery went well and I
was able to keep my aortic
root. When neither I went
under neither the surgeon nor
I was sure whether I would or
not. I am told I woke up the
evening of the surgery but I
do not recall that. I was
awake the next morn when they
took out the breathing tube
but was still so drugged up
that it was no problem. They
gave me a button to push
whenever I felt pain the first
couple of days and I used it
quite a bit the first day.
After that I was fine and did
not require any more pain
meds. The only time I had pain
after that was when I coughed.
That little chest/heart pillow
that they gave me to hold to
my chest when coughing soon
became my best friend. I was
sitting up and even walked a
little the evening of the
first day after surgery. By
the second day I was up and
moving a lot. I must have
looked like something else
walking around with all the
monitor wires hanging over my
shoulder. I ended up spending
almost 5 days in SICU because
there was not a bed available
in the step down unit. I kind
of gave the nurses fits after
the second day because I would
keep unplugging the monitors
and go walking but after the
first couple times I learned
how to plug them back in so
the nurses didn’t have to.
Speaking of the nurses, I
think the ones in the Houston
Veterans Hospital SICU must be
angles or at least saints.
They were very caring and I
can not imagine there are any
better, but the step-down
nurses come close.
As I said before I am 7
weeks and 1 day Post Op and
feel great. I now walk at
least 5 miles a day and have
no problems with stairs; in
fact I did a walk the other
day including going up and
down 24 flights of stairs in
just over 1 mile. I still have
a little minor muscle pain
across my chest but that is to
be expected and gets better
everyday.
I have returned to work and
will be returning to classes
as well come June 4th.
I suggest that everyone do
as much walking as possible
and do the breathing exercises
to recover as fast as
possible.
Do not be down hearted if
you do not progress at the
same speed as I have or anyone
else for that matter. Everyone
is different and from what I
have read I am way ahead of
the expected.
I am still in the process
of getting my INR leveled out.
Thought that it was at five
weeks but then it took a
nosedive, which I have since
learned is normal the more
active you become.
All in all I would have to
say that the surgery and
recovery was not half as bad
as I had expected going into
all of this. In fact the test
before the surgery were for me
the worst part of the whole
ordeal. Well that and not
being allowed to drive the
first 5 weeks.
Will update as I progress
and God bless all on this
sight.
Mike Mcgough
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