Last Friday was six weeks since surgery. In the two plus weeks since my last post I've continued to walk. My best time for the 5K was just over 47 minutes, about 16 minute miles. Some days I would do that twice. On other days, I might get tired and do less. Recovery is not linear; there are some days where I just don't feel that sharp.
This past Monday the 21st, I had my six-week follow-up with Dr. DCM at Stanford. He was not at at all impressed with my exercise level. He said that the recovery handbook was written for 75 year-olds, and that it was time to start pushing my exercise. Actually, it was a little more nuanced than that. Dr. DCM thought my heart sounded great, my blood pressure was fine, and my scar and body were healing well. On the other hand, he was not happy with my resting pulse. Since going off a beta blocker medication at 30 days post discharge, my resting heart rate has settled in the 90s. When I was training for triathlons, it was in the mid 60s. Post recovery, it should be in the 70s.
Dr. DCM wants me to increase my exercise substantially, with the goal of reducing my resting heart rate. In terms of exercise, there are no limits in terms of heart rate or exertion level. Other than continuing to protect my sternum, I can do whatever I want. Those are doctors orders I'm happy to hear! Dr. DCM is giving me one month to increase my exercise and hopefully push my resting heart rate down. If it doesn't drop enough after one month, I'll need to go back on a small dose of some type of beta blocker. I'd like to avoid medication, so exercise it is.
Out of Shape
On Tuesday, I went to the gym. First, I did 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Then I did a 45 minute spin class. I used to go very hard in spin class, sending my heart rate toward 170 or so during the sprint portions of the workout. Now, it was hard to keep with the class because my conditioning had deteriorated over the past few months. There really is a difference between brisk walking and real cardio training. Yesterday, I did the treadmill for an hour with a combination of running and walking. I would walk at 16 minutes per mile pace for two minutes and then run at 12.5 minutes per mile pace for two minutes. That was a hard workout for me. I'll probably do more of that today. I'm a long ways from my typical 9 minute mile sustainable pace.
All in all I'm happy with my recovery from surgery. For the first time in a long time, I can push my heart as hard as I feel like. At 12 weeks, my sternum will be completely healed and there will be no limits on exercise.
I'll try to post more often. Happy Holidays.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
At Four Weeks
My surgery was exactly four weeks ago. At this time of the day, I was sleeping in intensive care and did not wake up until about 7:00 that evening. Three weeks ago I left the hospital. I've come a long ways since then.
From early walks of just 7 minutes, I've built up to between 1 and 2 hours of walking each day. Today I walked a 5K in the morning and in the late afternoon. My morning time was 50 minutes, 8 seconds, and my afternoon time was 52 minutes, 39 seconds. I'm not sure why the afternoon was slower. Perhaps I was tired because I did not take a nap today. On most days, I take a 1 to 2 hour nap, usually around mid-day. Three weeks ago I would not have predicted that I could do two 3+ mile walks at something close to a 17 minutes per mile pace so soon.
My scar continues to heal. It's about 8.5 inches long. A scab covers less than one inch of it. The remainder is a reddish color. On the incentive spirometer breathing device, I'm can easily hit the 2500 ML level. According to my discharge papers, the goal is 2900, so I need to work a little harder with that.
My need for medication continues to fall. I take 1 Vicodin on most nights. Some nights I don't need it at all.
I'm looking forward to the six week mark. At that point I can the stationary bike to my workout and I can drive if I'm off the pain medication. I have a follow-up appointment at Stanford with Dr. DCM on the 21st of December. Hopefully he will be as pleased with my progress as I am.
From early walks of just 7 minutes, I've built up to between 1 and 2 hours of walking each day. Today I walked a 5K in the morning and in the late afternoon. My morning time was 50 minutes, 8 seconds, and my afternoon time was 52 minutes, 39 seconds. I'm not sure why the afternoon was slower. Perhaps I was tired because I did not take a nap today. On most days, I take a 1 to 2 hour nap, usually around mid-day. Three weeks ago I would not have predicted that I could do two 3+ mile walks at something close to a 17 minutes per mile pace so soon.
My scar continues to heal. It's about 8.5 inches long. A scab covers less than one inch of it. The remainder is a reddish color. On the incentive spirometer breathing device, I'm can easily hit the 2500 ML level. According to my discharge papers, the goal is 2900, so I need to work a little harder with that.
My need for medication continues to fall. I take 1 Vicodin on most nights. Some nights I don't need it at all.
I'm looking forward to the six week mark. At that point I can the stationary bike to my workout and I can drive if I'm off the pain medication. I have a follow-up appointment at Stanford with Dr. DCM on the 21st of December. Hopefully he will be as pleased with my progress as I am.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Two Good Days
Today was a very good day. I walked to Starbucks with my mom in just under half an hour. After some coffee and conversation, we walked back. Then in the afternoon we did long walk of just over 3 miles in about an hour. My heart rate went up to about 88 which is okay. So long as my heart rate does not go up by over 20 beats per minute (compared to my resting rate), long walks are okay. I'm very pleased to be able to walk a 5K today. I would not have predicted this even a week ago.
Last Day in The Hospital
As you know, my final day at Stanford Hospital and Clinics was Friday November 13. I slept well the night before. Draining all that fluid made my chest feel much better and made deep breaths much easier. PA Y came by relatively early in the morning and asked if I wanted to go home. I said yes. She said I would need an echocardiogram to confirm that the fluid had not returned. If that were the case, she thought I could be released. Since nothing had shown up in the drain, the surgical team was confident that no fluid would be detected.
They brought a portable echo machine to my room. With just a few passes of the wand the technician and Dr. SS were able to see that no fluid had returned. Two more steps had to be done before I could leave. First the recently installed drain had to be removed. Second, the one stitch which was in the spot where my original drain exited my body (this was removed just before leaving the ICU) would also need to be removed.
With respect to the first drain, one of the nurses had recommended some pain relief, so I asked for some Fentanyl via IV. It may not have been necessary. Responsibility for removing the drain rested with the cardiology team who had installed the drain the night before. Dr. SS, under the supervision of a more senior Dr. K, removed the drain with no pain or issues. Dr. SS and K were fun to talk to. Dr. K asked if we understood the code about interns, residents, fellows, attendings, and other doctor terms. Meg and I got a quick lesson from him. I think the drain was removed before noon.
The final step was removal of the one stitch by by PA Y. Nurse J then put a small steri-strip over the wound and I just about ready to go. I think there was a final visit with cardiac nurse R. Discharge was around 2:00.
Future Posts
This post raps up my chronology of my recovery time at the hospital. I hope it's been helpful for potential heart surgery patients. Future posts are likely to be less frequent as my recovery for the first 6 weeks is largely limited to walking. There just isn't that much to say about taking walks. After 6 weeks I can begin adding in other exercise like the stationary bike. Eventually swimming and running will join the mix. I'll post more when that happens.
Last Day in The Hospital
As you know, my final day at Stanford Hospital and Clinics was Friday November 13. I slept well the night before. Draining all that fluid made my chest feel much better and made deep breaths much easier. PA Y came by relatively early in the morning and asked if I wanted to go home. I said yes. She said I would need an echocardiogram to confirm that the fluid had not returned. If that were the case, she thought I could be released. Since nothing had shown up in the drain, the surgical team was confident that no fluid would be detected.
They brought a portable echo machine to my room. With just a few passes of the wand the technician and Dr. SS were able to see that no fluid had returned. Two more steps had to be done before I could leave. First the recently installed drain had to be removed. Second, the one stitch which was in the spot where my original drain exited my body (this was removed just before leaving the ICU) would also need to be removed.
With respect to the first drain, one of the nurses had recommended some pain relief, so I asked for some Fentanyl via IV. It may not have been necessary. Responsibility for removing the drain rested with the cardiology team who had installed the drain the night before. Dr. SS, under the supervision of a more senior Dr. K, removed the drain with no pain or issues. Dr. SS and K were fun to talk to. Dr. K asked if we understood the code about interns, residents, fellows, attendings, and other doctor terms. Meg and I got a quick lesson from him. I think the drain was removed before noon.
The final step was removal of the one stitch by by PA Y. Nurse J then put a small steri-strip over the wound and I just about ready to go. I think there was a final visit with cardiac nurse R. Discharge was around 2:00.
Future Posts
This post raps up my chronology of my recovery time at the hospital. I hope it's been helpful for potential heart surgery patients. Future posts are likely to be less frequent as my recovery for the first 6 weeks is largely limited to walking. There just isn't that much to say about taking walks. After 6 weeks I can begin adding in other exercise like the stationary bike. Eventually swimming and running will join the mix. I'll post more when that happens.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Late This Week and Late Last Week
Been away from blogging for a few days. Sometimes someone else has the computer at the end of the day; sometimes I just get a little tired. First, I'll catch up on the last few days and then I'll talk about the procedure on November 12 to drain the fluid around my heart.
This Week
I've been building up my walking each day. On Thursday I did walks of 17, 26 and 28 minutes. I visited my cardiologist in Sacramento, Dr. M. He did an echo which verified that no fluid had returned to my heart. Good news. He thought my recovery was going well. We discussed easing off of the pain medication. As of Thursday, I no longer take Oxycontin (which I had been taking every 12 hours). Instead I take Vicodin at night, and sometimes during the day if my pain is significant.
On Friday I did walks of 26, 37, and 26 minutes. Today, I was little tired and did just two walks of 37 minutes each. For now, my goal is going to be 3 walks a day, each one at least a half hour, with one longer walk of about 45 minutes. Until six weeks I can't really do any other kind of exercise because the bones in my sternum are still healing. After 6 weeks, I plan to add the stationary bike to the exercise mix.
Thursday November 12
Thursday was the key day. First off, this was the only day where I woke up feeling worse than the day before. Generally, each day had been better than the last. Today was different. Everything was a little harder from getting out of bed, to walking, to bathing. I had an echocardiogram later in the morning. It confirmed that I still had fluid around my heart. Around lunchtime Dr. DCM came by and explained that the fluid was still there despite the diuretic drugs I had been taking. He said that best option was to drain the fluid. It was slowing down my recovery which otherwise was going well. The procedure to drain the fluid would be done in the cath. lab. by a cardiologist. In the meantime, I would be NPO (nothing to eat or drink) before the procedure. I visited with the kids in the afternoon and then waited to be taken for the procedure. Later Dr. SS, a cardiologist, came by to further explain the procedure and get my consent. She explained that a catheter would be inserted just below my existing incision and then guided a short distance to my heart to drain the fluid. The only real risk was another chance for infection. Later, the nurses explained that I would be moving to a different floor after the procedure because my body would retain a catheter to potentially drain more fluid. Patients with drains were handled on the first floor, not the 3rd floor where I had been for almost a week. They came to get me around 5:00.
As I've said before, the staff in the cath. lab are upbeat and give off a happy vibe. Once they had me at the right level, I was able to slide myself onto the table from my mobile bed. Some medicine to relax me was provided through the IV. Some antiseptic stuff was applied to my chest to make the field sterile. The attending, Dr. T, called in the fellow, Dr. SS and she started the procedure. First I was given a local anesthetic. I barely felt it at all. Then they made some sort of puncture and inserted the catheter. Again, I could barely feel this at all. Within 2 minutes the catheter was in the right spot draining the fluid. They drained a total of 530 ML of of fluid. That's over a pint which was in an area no more than a 1/2 inch thick surrounding my heart. No wonder I was having trouble taking deep breaths. As promised, they left the drain in to see if more fluid would emerge over the next day. This is the standard protocol.
By 6:00 I was in regular room on the first floor. This time a private room. Meg found me soon as did my Aunt Marlene. This next hour represented the one mix up which occurred during my time at Stanford. Essentially, no new orders had been written. The standing order of NPO (nothing by mouth), which was correct before the procedure, now made no sense since the procedure had been successful. It appears that the surgical team, which had been in charge of my care on the third floor, assumed that the cardiology team would write new orders depending on the outcome of the procedure. Meanwhile, the cardiology team assumed I was still under the orders of the surgical team. My aunt worked on this issue for about an hour. Also, one of my nurses from the earlier in the week passed by and recognized me. She was working the first floor tonight. She knew which doctors to contact from the surgical team. It got sorted out. Eventually they brought me some dinner. Once Marlene was sure that things were on track, she said good night. I thanked her for all her help. Meg visited with me into the early evening.
Generally, I felt better by evening time. Because I still had the drain attached, I had to ask for assistance to move around and use the urinal. This was a significant change from the 3rd floor where I had come to feel more independent, able get out of bed myself. Tomorrow, I'll write about my last day in the hospital.
This Week
I've been building up my walking each day. On Thursday I did walks of 17, 26 and 28 minutes. I visited my cardiologist in Sacramento, Dr. M. He did an echo which verified that no fluid had returned to my heart. Good news. He thought my recovery was going well. We discussed easing off of the pain medication. As of Thursday, I no longer take Oxycontin (which I had been taking every 12 hours). Instead I take Vicodin at night, and sometimes during the day if my pain is significant.
On Friday I did walks of 26, 37, and 26 minutes. Today, I was little tired and did just two walks of 37 minutes each. For now, my goal is going to be 3 walks a day, each one at least a half hour, with one longer walk of about 45 minutes. Until six weeks I can't really do any other kind of exercise because the bones in my sternum are still healing. After 6 weeks, I plan to add the stationary bike to the exercise mix.
Thursday November 12
Thursday was the key day. First off, this was the only day where I woke up feeling worse than the day before. Generally, each day had been better than the last. Today was different. Everything was a little harder from getting out of bed, to walking, to bathing. I had an echocardiogram later in the morning. It confirmed that I still had fluid around my heart. Around lunchtime Dr. DCM came by and explained that the fluid was still there despite the diuretic drugs I had been taking. He said that best option was to drain the fluid. It was slowing down my recovery which otherwise was going well. The procedure to drain the fluid would be done in the cath. lab. by a cardiologist. In the meantime, I would be NPO (nothing to eat or drink) before the procedure. I visited with the kids in the afternoon and then waited to be taken for the procedure. Later Dr. SS, a cardiologist, came by to further explain the procedure and get my consent. She explained that a catheter would be inserted just below my existing incision and then guided a short distance to my heart to drain the fluid. The only real risk was another chance for infection. Later, the nurses explained that I would be moving to a different floor after the procedure because my body would retain a catheter to potentially drain more fluid. Patients with drains were handled on the first floor, not the 3rd floor where I had been for almost a week. They came to get me around 5:00.
As I've said before, the staff in the cath. lab are upbeat and give off a happy vibe. Once they had me at the right level, I was able to slide myself onto the table from my mobile bed. Some medicine to relax me was provided through the IV. Some antiseptic stuff was applied to my chest to make the field sterile. The attending, Dr. T, called in the fellow, Dr. SS and she started the procedure. First I was given a local anesthetic. I barely felt it at all. Then they made some sort of puncture and inserted the catheter. Again, I could barely feel this at all. Within 2 minutes the catheter was in the right spot draining the fluid. They drained a total of 530 ML of of fluid. That's over a pint which was in an area no more than a 1/2 inch thick surrounding my heart. No wonder I was having trouble taking deep breaths. As promised, they left the drain in to see if more fluid would emerge over the next day. This is the standard protocol.
By 6:00 I was in regular room on the first floor. This time a private room. Meg found me soon as did my Aunt Marlene. This next hour represented the one mix up which occurred during my time at Stanford. Essentially, no new orders had been written. The standing order of NPO (nothing by mouth), which was correct before the procedure, now made no sense since the procedure had been successful. It appears that the surgical team, which had been in charge of my care on the third floor, assumed that the cardiology team would write new orders depending on the outcome of the procedure. Meanwhile, the cardiology team assumed I was still under the orders of the surgical team. My aunt worked on this issue for about an hour. Also, one of my nurses from the earlier in the week passed by and recognized me. She was working the first floor tonight. She knew which doctors to contact from the surgical team. It got sorted out. Eventually they brought me some dinner. Once Marlene was sure that things were on track, she said good night. I thanked her for all her help. Meg visited with me into the early evening.
Generally, I felt better by evening time. Because I still had the drain attached, I had to ask for assistance to move around and use the urinal. This was a significant change from the 3rd floor where I had come to feel more independent, able get out of bed myself. Tomorrow, I'll write about my last day in the hospital.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Hospital Recovery: Monday to Wednesday
Today
Today is Wednesday November 18 and I may have overdone things a little. I did four walks earlier in the day. The total minutes from all the walks add up to over an hour. My longest individual walk was 21 minutes, all the way to the fountain near the Laguna Town Hall, if you know our area. Right now I feel a little warm after so much activity. I also got some blood work done and had coffee at Peets with Meg. While at the hospital, Dr. DCM encouraged me to increase my activity by 50 percent each day. I'm still trying to figure out how much to add. Tomorrow and I can talk about exercise goals with my cardiologist, Dr. M. in Sacramento.
Recovering Monday 11-9 Through Wednesday 11-11
In general each day I got a little better and stronger. I tended to get more sleep at night. I had a shower one day and that felt great. I did it myself with Meg handing me things that I needed. I did the four short walks each day around the floor. Sometimes my first walk was early in the morning after vitals were taken, but before the team made rounds. Sometimes the San Francisco Chronicle was available and I would pick up a copy.
On Monday and Tuesday, progress was steady. Things like getting out of bed, walking, and using the urinal became easier as time went along. Many times each day I was supposed to use a breathing device(called an incentive spirometer) to measure the volume of my breaths. Though I was active in terms of walking, it was difficult for me to get to 750 ML on the device. Even today (Nov. 18), the most I can get is just over 2000.
Wednesday, in contrast to the slow but steady progress of the earlier part of the week, was a day of ups and downs. I started out strong. I did my walk. But I still couldn't take deep breaths. The kids arrived around lunch time and it was great to see them. Because of H1N1, most hospitals, including Stanford, require children to be at least 16 in order to come inside for visiting. With Sean at age 13, we decided to meet Zoe and Sean in the garden area in front of the main entrance. It was good to see both of them while I stayed in a wheel chair. They had lots of questions. I showed them the top of my scar, which they were curious about. Both now tell me a I looked a little gray, and they had expected me to look better. I did look better (or at least felt better) earlier that day. But by lunchtime when they arrived, I was very tired.
Sometime on Wednesday morning PA Y stopped by. She said that I was still retaining too much fluid and would not be going home that day. My weight was still significantly higher than when I checked in. At some point that day I had a chest CT.
Later that day the cardiac rehabilitation nurse visited us, and I had trouble keeping my eyes open. On the one hand, she noted I was doing very well in terms of my activity. On the other hand, deep breaths were difficult and I couldn't register much volume on the spirometer. Later, the physical therapist visited me and we a had good session which included climbing some stairs. As a reward, she found some chocolate ice cream for me in the refrigerator. The day ended on a high as I perked up in the evening. I remember spending at lot of time with my mom that night.
Tomorrow, I will write about the events of Thursday November 12, which turned out to be the key to my final hospital recovery. As I finish writing tonight around 9, I actually feel pretty good.
Today is Wednesday November 18 and I may have overdone things a little. I did four walks earlier in the day. The total minutes from all the walks add up to over an hour. My longest individual walk was 21 minutes, all the way to the fountain near the Laguna Town Hall, if you know our area. Right now I feel a little warm after so much activity. I also got some blood work done and had coffee at Peets with Meg. While at the hospital, Dr. DCM encouraged me to increase my activity by 50 percent each day. I'm still trying to figure out how much to add. Tomorrow and I can talk about exercise goals with my cardiologist, Dr. M. in Sacramento.
Recovering Monday 11-9 Through Wednesday 11-11
In general each day I got a little better and stronger. I tended to get more sleep at night. I had a shower one day and that felt great. I did it myself with Meg handing me things that I needed. I did the four short walks each day around the floor. Sometimes my first walk was early in the morning after vitals were taken, but before the team made rounds. Sometimes the San Francisco Chronicle was available and I would pick up a copy.
On Monday and Tuesday, progress was steady. Things like getting out of bed, walking, and using the urinal became easier as time went along. Many times each day I was supposed to use a breathing device(called an incentive spirometer) to measure the volume of my breaths. Though I was active in terms of walking, it was difficult for me to get to 750 ML on the device. Even today (Nov. 18), the most I can get is just over 2000.
Wednesday, in contrast to the slow but steady progress of the earlier part of the week, was a day of ups and downs. I started out strong. I did my walk. But I still couldn't take deep breaths. The kids arrived around lunch time and it was great to see them. Because of H1N1, most hospitals, including Stanford, require children to be at least 16 in order to come inside for visiting. With Sean at age 13, we decided to meet Zoe and Sean in the garden area in front of the main entrance. It was good to see both of them while I stayed in a wheel chair. They had lots of questions. I showed them the top of my scar, which they were curious about. Both now tell me a I looked a little gray, and they had expected me to look better. I did look better (or at least felt better) earlier that day. But by lunchtime when they arrived, I was very tired.
Sometime on Wednesday morning PA Y stopped by. She said that I was still retaining too much fluid and would not be going home that day. My weight was still significantly higher than when I checked in. At some point that day I had a chest CT.
Later that day the cardiac rehabilitation nurse visited us, and I had trouble keeping my eyes open. On the one hand, she noted I was doing very well in terms of my activity. On the other hand, deep breaths were difficult and I couldn't register much volume on the spirometer. Later, the physical therapist visited me and we a had good session which included climbing some stairs. As a reward, she found some chocolate ice cream for me in the refrigerator. The day ended on a high as I perked up in the evening. I remember spending at lot of time with my mom that night.
Tomorrow, I will write about the events of Thursday November 12, which turned out to be the key to my final hospital recovery. As I finish writing tonight around 9, I actually feel pretty good.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Recovering In My Hospital Room--First Weekend
Today
It's now Tuesday and I've been home in Elk Grove for three nights. Today I've done three 15 minute walks and will do one more with Sean when he gets home. I'm in very little pain and gaining mobility every day. I walk up and down the stairs frequently and talk on the phone easily. Showering is relatively easy as is dressing myself. Below are some memories of my early recovery in my room at Stanford.
Saturday November 7
After the elevator difficulty, things smoothed out a lot. I knew the elevator story would freak people out so I kept it to myself for a few days. I don't remember a lot about Saturday evening but I a saw a lot of friends and family. My mother arrived that afternoon and my friend Howard brought her to my room. I remember visiting with both of them. Howard mentioned that Stanford, hosting Oregon that day, was currently upsetting the highly ranked Ducks. My father, my stepmother and my uncle were actually at the game. Later in the day, they visited as well.
For that evening and night, my pain relief medications were limited to Vicodin and Percocet. I remember having some kind of low salt dinner and not eating very much of it. I still felt bloating pressure so burping and farting were still important. I think I went for a very short walk in the hall (maybe 40 feet) while supporting myself on the portable IV roller. I think most of my visitors went out for dinner while Meg stayed with me. They are pretty easy going about having one quiet visitor stay past regular hours which end at 8:00. I didn't sleep very well that night, aware of pain in my chest. Still it felt much better than the night in the ICU.
Sunday November 8
This day went much better. At Meg's urging my pain medications were changed and I started feeling better. The preferred approach is to use lots of medication so that you feel well enough to walk around. Walking is the key to recovery. The change in medication helped me feel better and I was able to do three short walks. Each walk was a "around the triangle" shape of the hallway. This would take me about 4 minutes going very slowly. I was able to use the urinal relatively easily. I don't remember the meals, but I still wasn't very hungry. I would tend to eat fruit and small bits of other offerings. Although more mobile and feeling better, it was still very difficult for me to take deep breaths. I was on oxygen at night. I saw my mother and Howard that day. Meg was there much of the day and stayed with me into the evening.
It's now Tuesday and I've been home in Elk Grove for three nights. Today I've done three 15 minute walks and will do one more with Sean when he gets home. I'm in very little pain and gaining mobility every day. I walk up and down the stairs frequently and talk on the phone easily. Showering is relatively easy as is dressing myself. Below are some memories of my early recovery in my room at Stanford.
Saturday November 7
After the elevator difficulty, things smoothed out a lot. I knew the elevator story would freak people out so I kept it to myself for a few days. I don't remember a lot about Saturday evening but I a saw a lot of friends and family. My mother arrived that afternoon and my friend Howard brought her to my room. I remember visiting with both of them. Howard mentioned that Stanford, hosting Oregon that day, was currently upsetting the highly ranked Ducks. My father, my stepmother and my uncle were actually at the game. Later in the day, they visited as well.
For that evening and night, my pain relief medications were limited to Vicodin and Percocet. I remember having some kind of low salt dinner and not eating very much of it. I still felt bloating pressure so burping and farting were still important. I think I went for a very short walk in the hall (maybe 40 feet) while supporting myself on the portable IV roller. I think most of my visitors went out for dinner while Meg stayed with me. They are pretty easy going about having one quiet visitor stay past regular hours which end at 8:00. I didn't sleep very well that night, aware of pain in my chest. Still it felt much better than the night in the ICU.
Sunday November 8
This day went much better. At Meg's urging my pain medications were changed and I started feeling better. The preferred approach is to use lots of medication so that you feel well enough to walk around. Walking is the key to recovery. The change in medication helped me feel better and I was able to do three short walks. Each walk was a "around the triangle" shape of the hallway. This would take me about 4 minutes going very slowly. I was able to use the urinal relatively easily. I don't remember the meals, but I still wasn't very hungry. I would tend to eat fruit and small bits of other offerings. Although more mobile and feeling better, it was still very difficult for me to take deep breaths. I was on oxygen at night. I saw my mother and Howard that day. Meg was there much of the day and stayed with me into the evening.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Thanks to the Stanford Medical Team
Reading over the blog, I've only mentioned a few members of the medical team and the nurses. Many individuals contributed to my care. I don't remember all of them and will continue to refer to medical staff, which I can remember, by their initials. I want to thank all the staff at Stanford for my care. My contact with some of the people who helped me is described below.
I had more nurses than I can remember, usually working in 12 hour shifts. Some nurses had me in subsequent shifts. They all cared for me very well.
Every day I saw Physician's Assistant (PA) Y, often more than once a day. She asked about my condition and kept me informed about what was going on. I actually met her on Thursday before surgery, so she was a familiar face post-surgery. In addition, I often saw PA DJ on most days. The surgical team headed by Chief Resident S also usually visited me each morning, but some mornings they checked in with the nurses and did not speak to me directly. After Saturday, I remember seeing Dr. DCM on two additional occasions, the last being on Thursday. I also worked with a physical therapist, two occupational therapists, and the cardiac recovery nurse. PA Y and Nurse J removed my last stitch on Friday before departing.
I also had one more procedure to drain fluid around my heart on Thursday November 12. This was done by cardiologist SS, under attending cardiologist T. They were supported the heart cath. lab staff, who like their contemporaries in Sutter Sacramento, are a lot of fun to be around.
There were also many others in the operating room that I want to thank but never met. Bottom line, thanks to ALL at Stanford for my care.
I had more nurses than I can remember, usually working in 12 hour shifts. Some nurses had me in subsequent shifts. They all cared for me very well.
Every day I saw Physician's Assistant (PA) Y, often more than once a day. She asked about my condition and kept me informed about what was going on. I actually met her on Thursday before surgery, so she was a familiar face post-surgery. In addition, I often saw PA DJ on most days. The surgical team headed by Chief Resident S also usually visited me each morning, but some mornings they checked in with the nurses and did not speak to me directly. After Saturday, I remember seeing Dr. DCM on two additional occasions, the last being on Thursday. I also worked with a physical therapist, two occupational therapists, and the cardiac recovery nurse. PA Y and Nurse J removed my last stitch on Friday before departing.
I also had one more procedure to drain fluid around my heart on Thursday November 12. This was done by cardiologist SS, under attending cardiologist T. They were supported the heart cath. lab staff, who like their contemporaries in Sutter Sacramento, are a lot of fun to be around.
There were also many others in the operating room that I want to thank but never met. Bottom line, thanks to ALL at Stanford for my care.
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