M's Posts

My experience before, during and after Aortic Valve replalvement. I had my bicuspid aortic valve replaced on 1 august 2014. One year on I thought I would share the experiences of my road to recovery. I had a final meeting with my cardiologist last week and one of the things he said was; we tell you before your surgery that you will be back to normal around three months post surgery but, in reality, it can be one to two years. I found this very reassuring as I went into surgery believing I should be back to my old fit self in a relatively short time. I had read post surgery blogs of people taking part in marathons or back to work in a matter of weeks ! If you are used to being fit and had no symptoms prior to surgery, the experience can be a bit of a shock and you could think, why on earth did I go through with it. Well the simple fact is that those who need this surgery, are going to die without it. Approaching surgery, I was absolutely scared stiff. I would wake in the night thinking why me. I sit on the fence when it comes to religion but there were times when I prayed. I would wake up frightened at my situation, all those years of hard work, raising the family, now life is good we are retired and wham this happens. I felt really sorry for myself. I read everything I could find and thankfully found Adam Pick web site and joined his web blog devouring everyones steps before, during and post surgery. I cant emphasise the importance of the support I found from his web site. Complete strangers from around the world were there to reach out. I cant express how important that was to me. Someone on the blog mentioned meditation helped with the stress and I pursued this downloading the Cleveland Hospital relaxation audio. That helped me during those sleepless nights when I was in anxiety overload. I had my surgery under the NHS system in UK. My obvious symptoms began a year a year before when I had a permanent cough, got very breathless on climbing stairs or hills and the my GP hear a very noisy murmur. The process was slow but thorough under the NHS and I think I was in denial as to the seriousness of my position. I had always been fit, even going to the gym and lifting weights into my sixties. I felt philosophical about the idea of having my heart stopped and a machine taking over as I figured I wouldn't know anything about it if it didn't work. However I was nervous of having the anaesthetic for the operation and post surgery drugs as I know there is evidence that the older you are, these can affect your likelihood of dementia. Well from the pre med I had to waking up in the high dependency wing, I recall absolutely nothing. I was determined to get out of hospital soon as possible and my target was five days. I remember asking the nurse for paracetamol and was asked why I wasn't using the morphine pump. I naively thought they wouldn't know ! Let me say at this stage that the surgery isn't painful, its uncomfortable and the wound is sore and prickly. One thing I will say is whatever the anaesthetic was or perhaps it was the morphine, I had the most incredible visions every time I closed my eyes. One of these were brightly coloured penguins dancing in row. This an blurry eyesight lasted for a few weeks post surgery. The advice is not to have an eye test until at least six months after surgery. I waited nearly a year and my eyes had deteriorated slightly. I left hospital on the fifth day clutching my pillow to my chest as every bump in the road hurt. But I was in that post surgery elation that it was all over and I was alive. It was lovely to be in my own home but sleep for the first few weeks were in short blocks. Firstly because for first couple of weeks I had to sleep in a recliner chair in the sitting room then when I did move into my own bed, had to sleep propped up. This is to do with the wound healing. It itches like mad and also prickles inside. My first shower at home was complete bliss even though scary. Gradually day by day I got stronger. However all the books, puzzles and sewing I was going to do during my recovery period never happened. My concentration level was very low and also I would have these instant nanny naps. My eyesight was blurry although gradually improving and I just exhausted all the time. Around this time I got depressed, I wasn't feeling how I thought I would feel and the ten minute walk I was supposed to be doing every day either didn't happen and was such an effort. Two months after surgery, I got a place on the NHS rehab program. Oh how I wish I had had that contact earlier. I was with others going through the same thing, experiencing the same emotions and twinges. I learned how to exercise my heart by walking at a pace when you can still talk or sing but if you feel you are gasping you are going too fast. I was given a workout program I can do in my own home using no equipment but a chair and a step (bottom rung of stairs). Sounded pretty tame after the gym workouts I used to do however this 'simple' workout really does make you sweat. So gradually I was feeling better but was experiencing increasing leg cramps and then pains in my joints to the extent I had to stop my walks and didn't want to do any exercise because I knew it would cause me pain. I hit a bit of a wall and realised perhaps it was one of the medications I was taking. My symptoms were getting worse and I was starting to get tingling in my thumb and fingers. On checking the information leaflet that came with each of my medications I discovered one particular medication highlighted my symptoms as a side effect. Both a doctor and the cardiologist said I shouldn't still be taking a beta blocker as it was something given to me for a couple of months post surgery and I personally had no reason to be on it long term. I am now into the second week without this particularly medicine and feeling better already. Still have some pain in the joints but the tingling is wearing off and mentally I feel so much better. My cardiologist says that should I get high blood pressure in the future, I wouldn't be prescribed those types of beta blocker as there are alternatives. I am passing on this experience to the blog because I think we should ask why we are taking certain drugs and of course if you do experience symptoms, check the leaflet and tell your doctor ! Seems quite logical but after going through such traumatic surgery I just did as I was told without question. Finally, just want to say I am so grateful for the skill and knowledge of the surgeons and doctors who have saved my life. I am excited about the future; this year we travelled to Australia to visit family and stopped in Hong Kong for a few days. I thought to myself, don't worry or be anxious about travelling or taking up new hobbies or responsibilities because all of this is a bonus. Write, paint, travel, cycle – do it now and remember to stop and smell the roses.