Re: Aortic Valve Replacement - Surgery Recovery

[Hank-Eyring]

Posted By Hank Eyring on April 24, 1999 at 18:11:38
Greetings,
It has been 22 days since my aortic valve was replaced with a St. Jude mechanical valve. My question relates to the recovery process and the timeline of it all.
Two things are bugging me (besides the pain).  My sternum keeps "popping" when I twist my upper body in any way. When will this stop and is it harmful?  I assume that the "popping" is the two halves of my sternum rubbing together.  If it keeps popping, does that mean that it is not healing?
Lastly, I am six feet two inches tall and used to walk upright like most humans.  Now it seems that I am stuck in this hunched position with shoulders forward and chest sucked in.  When I try to put shoulders back and chest out like I should, it hurts very bad at the incision and feels like it is ripping open from the inside out.  I have never seen any sutures so I assume they are all under the surface.  How strong is the whole thing and is it ok to stretch my chest out a bit as I struggle to stand up straight once again?  Is there any way to speed up the process?
Thanks for any help you can provide...
Hank Eyring

[Ted-Cotrel]

Posted By Ted Cottrell on April 24, 1999 at 19:04:03
I am not a doctor .I am actually another candidate for what you just went through but I am sure that the popping is not the bones sliding by each other at the sternum separation point.. Your commentary is very interesting to me and about what I would think would be expected for a while after an operation like that.. I imagine that you will soon get an answer from one of the doctors.  Part of the reason I am responding to you here is that I have another question concerning the coumadin that you are probably taking. I have chronic prostatitus and one time after about a month of taking an aspirin a day strictly as heart attack  prevention therapy I had serious blood in my urine. The Dr never found a problem other than my prostatitus but I have always wondered if my blood was too thin from the aspirin  and if the bleeding came with the inflamation (inflammation) of the prostate..I do not take it any more but I wonder if I may bleed fairly easy anyway and if there is a test that should be done before getting a mechanical valve that would give information useful in making my valve choice??
I also have some need for anti inflamatory medication for arthritic type problems from time to time... I wonder if that could become a problem.??













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