Any updates? Anyone local able to check-in and see how things are going? Not trying to be intrusive.

Yeah, I'll post an update in the original thread.

Prayers Sent

So very glad that Carol is now on the road to better health!

I wish her a speedy recovery.

The place where they harvest the veins hurt worse than the chest zipper!

Get up and move around ASAP, it helps a bunch!

Hope she recovers well enough to enjoy Christmas.

Having been thru a Triple Bypass and Mitral Valve repair I'm very familiar with what she is and will be going thru. So, just some things to expect so you don't become overly concerned.

First, all that surgery leaves the heart inflamed and there will be some swelling in the pericardium. As a result for the first 5 to 7 days she will be experiencing the symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure. What you will see is that her breathing will be somewhat labored and she will be exhausted by something as simple as eating 1/2 of a tuna fish sandwich. Good news about this is that there will be a measurable improvement every day. I'll also tell you that Afib is common after open heart surgery, so don't be freaked out if she is in Afib for a day or two after the surgery.

Second the painkillers she will be taking WILL cause constipation. So will the fluid restrictions she be put on. Get her on a Stool softener (Miralax) ASAP. I had the misery of going a full 5 days without a BM and when I finally managed to squeeze it out it was both a relief and somewhat painful. BTW, it was a toilet plugger.

Third, the chest drains are PAINFUL. Good news is that about 1/2 hour after they come out her pain level will drop by at least 1/2.

Fourth, Breathing therapy is CRITICAL, because it is very easy to develop Pneumonia from staying still and breathing shallow. They should have her on an Incentive Spirometer and you CANNOT use that device too much. During the first 5 days I was using mine every hour, in part because it does help in clearing the lungs when you have some fluid build up in the lungs. They will also come twice a day to have her breath in some medicines to help loosing up what is in the lungs.

Fifth, coughing WILL be painful but it is absolutely CRITICAL to keeping the lungs clear and healthy. She should be given a Cough Pillow or Bear to ease the pain of coughing. The way to use this pillow is you wrap both arms around the pillow and squeeze the pillow into the chest for each cough. Note, I also had my chest crack back in 1968 before cough pillows caught on and without the pillow coughing can be quite painful. So, someone who has been through this twice can assure that a cough pillow is truly a godsend.

Sixth, once she is fully recovered she WILL need to make changes in her diet. What she will be told is to change to a Low Sodium, low fat, and fiber rich diet. This means her daily sodium intake needs to be limited to 1200 mg. or less. Means that eating in a restaurant, fast food, or pizza joint is no longer possible. Note, Little Caeser's has a hot an ready pizza that has 4800 mg of sodium, which means just two slices will have her at maximum for the entire day. Restaurant food or fast foods ALL have too much sodium. End result is every meal will have to be prepared at home using mostly fresh foods. Note, look at the sodium level in any can of soup and you'll find all are high in sodium, so no soup unless it's made from scratch.

Finally, stamina when exercising. Good news here is that for 8 weeks I have seen a measurable improvement in my stamina every single day. For example yesterday was the end of week 8 from my surgery. Today I did cardiac rehab by walking on a treadmill while wearing a portable EKG transmitter. Today's pace was a 13 minute 24 second mile for 2 miles on the machine with an average heart rate of 97 beats per minute. Granted I was a runner before the surgery and did have a "head start" over someone sedentary but going from being barely able to walk 400 feet to that kind of pace in 8 weeks is a demonstration of how much improvement there will be.

Note, once she is fully recovered she will need to think very seriously about joining a gym and exercising 4 to 5 days per weak. It doesn't have to be heavy duty but she should plan to working up to a 15-16 minute per mile pace on a treadmill. Because moderate, purely aerobic exercise is just about the best thing we can do to protect our cardio vascular system.

Kept checking in with this thread hoping the next update would be positive. Glad to see that was the case. Hope she mends quickly.

2:00 Thursday update:
They just took her down for something called a Thoracentesis to draw fluid off her lungs. They didn't invite me, and I was OK with that. I'm sure she won't be a happy camper when she gets back since they are going to stick a needle into her chest to pull off fluids.

Other than that, she still doesn’t have much appetite. I’ve offered to get her anything she wants, but she says that nothing sounds good.

Hang in there. Just having you there is adding to her happiness. Just as long as she's improving each day, that's the big thing compared to the alternative.

She needs you now more than ever, even if she doesn’t say it. This must be terrifying for her. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Prayers lifted up for peace, comfort, and COMPLETE recovery. God bless, brother!

Sounds like a wonderful prognosis, a lot being happy for, Gods blessing to you and Carol.

Thoughts and prayers!

quote:

Originally posted by Rolan_Kraps:
2:00 Thursday update:
They just took her down for something called a Thoracentesis to draw fluid off her lungs. They didn't invite me, and I was OK with that. I'm sure she won't be a happy camper when she gets back since they are going to stick a needle into her chest to pull off fluids.

Other than that, she still doesn’t have much appetite. I’ve offered to get her anything she wants, but she says that nothing sounds good.

Rolan, don't worry about the appetite at this point. Because you have no idea how exhausting it can be to chew just 1/2 of a 2 egg omlet with all the inflammation in and surrounding the heart. Good news is that she will improve incrementally every day, so in a week she'll be eating more and actually enjoying it.

Bad thing to go through, and I wish her the best as she mends. Prayers sent!!

Here's hoping and praying she improves quickly.

OK, a correction: the procedure, Thoracentesis is drawing fluids from the cavity around her lungs not the lungs themselves.
It took a LONG time. Close to 3 hours, but she said a lot of that time was sitting around waiting for something to happen.
They took 350cc’s of fluid from her chest. That’s just over 11.8 ounces, or roughly a can of beer.
Also one of her lungs hasn’t fully expanded. They were thinking that the breathing exercises will help her lung recover.
They are going to do another chest X-Ray tomorrow. They may need to repeat the Thoracentesis.

Hope she is doing well Rolan, glad you live near a good heart center

quote:

Originally posted by jjtnova:
Hope she is doing well Rolan, glad you live near a good heart center

Yeah, jjtnova,
We found out that the Ronnie Green Heart center at the Gainesville Hospital is the best in Georgia.