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.