Earl's Posts

Hello Everyone... Welp, I survived... My AVR surgery was on April 13th... Originally I was told by my surgeon, Dr. Burke at the University of Washington Heart Institute that it would require 4 to 6 hours... Apparently it only required 2.5 hours, and by the time I was awake in the recovery area the breathing tube had been removed... I remained in the ICU for 1.5 days and was then transferred to a cardiac PCU... I honestly don't remember that much about the ICU, but I do recall them getting me up the day after surgery to walk... After transfer to the cardiac PCU, the worst part of my entire experience began... The bed/pillows they provided were the worst that I have ever slept on in my life!!! Keep in mind that I traveled 260+ days per year for over 30 years - I have slept in a lot of beds... The bed was so bad in fact that I did not sleep more than 1 hour at a time as I had to continue moving from the bed to a chair back to the bed back to the chair... This went on for two nights when they finally got me some additional egg crate pads and my wife was able to bring pillow from home... I don't wish that experience on anyone... I was discharged on day 4 from the hospital and sent home... Been doing great... I am off of all pain medication with the exception of Tylenol, which addiction to opiates was one of my main concerns... I am walking approximately 6,000 steps a day, with each day bringing more steps... I am maxing out my incentive spirometer every day, and in only one week I have been able to begin my options trading business once again... I know that every person has a different journey, but I have to be honest, the stories and the worries in preparing for this surgery were way worse than the actual surgery was... Obviously, I'm not yet 100%, not even close, but I headed in the right direction and who knows, maybe I will have a huge setback somewhere along the way, but if I had it to do all over again, like most things in life I prolly should not have stressed over it as much as I did...