Open Heart surrgery

[tdm5032c]

Well, three weeks ago today I had my open heart surgery. They let me out of the hospital after six days. I was ready to go home too :) My surgeon tried his best to repair my mitral valve, but found it was too badly damaged and calcified from my previous surgery when I was two years old. He ended up having to replace it after trying for literally hours to repair it. I was in surgery for over six hours and he actually took me off the bypass machine to test the repair. He did exactly what I had wanted him to do though. He made his absolute best effort to repair the valve. In the end though, I now have a tissue, or pig valve. I'm still in some pain, and ended up having a collapsed lung for four days after surgery, so I still have some breathing complications from that. My question is this. How long should I continue to take and be on my pain meds after surgery? The nurse at our local cardiac therapy center told me today that I should have been off of them when I got out of the hospital! According to her, I have been on the paid meds two weeks longer now than I should have been. Am I just being a wimp, or is she just urealistic? I think I normally tolerate pain pretty well, but this has me wondering. I would think it would be good to be as pain free as possible so that your body can heal and not deal with fighting pain, at least for the short term. Any adivce or input would be appreciated on what is normal.

Thanks,

Tracy

[cindy46]

Take the pain meds as long as you need them.  They fact that you want to be off of them and have cut back shows that you are doing what is necessary.  I had aortic valve replaced in Sept. 2008, was in the hospital for 4 days and the surgery took 5 hours.  I was off work for 2 months and really could have went back before that, but my husband insisted that I take the 2 months off.  By the time that I went back to work, I had already been through cardiac rehab and was feeling pretty good.  They do say that it will be a year before you will feel 100% back to normal.  I still have occasional discomfort in my chest, some of it is actually from the wire that was used to fasten the ribs together.  Give it time and try to relax and not worry too much, you will heal and be better than ever.  

[walkerd]

I had high risk bypass on Aug 1st. I took extra strenght tyneol, instead of pain meds they gave me, I did take a pain med before I went to bed to help me sleep but awoke thru the night. It takes awhile for chest to heal. I didnt have valve problems so I really dont know about that. Just take it easy and the body will heal from surgery,slowly just do everything they tell you to do and do reasearch on the web, most of the time it does help, I have to admit tho some things I found I really didnt want to but the more informed the better.
good luck
dave

[hazela]

hey tsd - you should take the pain meds as prescribed if you need to, eventually the pain will pass.  i had open heart surgery in 2007 for ASD.  i was discharged the fifth day after surgery.  i was on blood thinners etc (can't remember the names now) and Panadol for pain.  i actually had no pain after surgery, as hard as this may seem to believe.  the only discomfort i had was when i laughed or coughed.  i still can't believe it.

[tdm5032c]

Well, I no longer have ANY heart issues thanks to the surgery. My heart function should get back to 100 percent normal. I'm not on ANY heart medication whatsoever except for Coumadin for 2 months while my heart is healing. The pain medication they sent me home with is oxycodone. I was prescribed 1-2 325mg tablets every 4 hours. I have cut myself back to 1 tablet 2 times a day now. Seems to control the pain. Normal tylenol didn't do anything for me. Neither did the hydrocodone they tried to put me on at first in the hospital. I literally felt nothing from it. I just want to know how long I can safely be on it. I want to get off of it as soon as possible, but my body needs to heal too, not just fight pain.

[Encephalomalcia]

Pain medication is not good for you especially if you have heart issues.  I am not sure what kind of pain medication you are on, but you should try to get off of it as soon as possible.  It is amazing that they sent you home so early.  You must have recovered very well from the surgery.  Make sure to take your heart medication as prescribed by your doctor.  It sometimes takes a full year to feel 100% again, so be patient.