Dr. Levy, my surgeon, is still trying to get me to the point of pulling the 3 drainage tubes in my chest. They are to help with pulling off the fluid accumulation from my valve replacement surgery or rather, as it turned out, a double valve repair, Maze procedure, and implantation of a spare lead. Quite a bit of work! There was more to repair once Dr. Levy got my chest opened and could observe the heart 'up close and personal'.
Using my own tissue, I ended up getting my severely regurgitating tricuspid valve repaired instead of replaced (it had been severely damaged by the lead extraction procedure in early March). Yahoo! No long-time blood thinners or pig valves for me. Valve repair is always preferred over Valve Replacement Surgery.
While Dr. Levy had the heart opened for valve replacement surgery, he was also able to repair a mildly leaking mitral valve, do the Maze procedure to hopefully eliminate my A-Fib forever, and he also put in a spare pacemaker lead.
WOW! With all this wonderful work, I'm now bumped up into the Double Valve replacement class. I've just received a wonderful tune-up for my heart, which should last for years to come.
The plan is to pull the drainage tubes later today. I've heard it hurts, but that you will feel so much better once they are out.
I've not had the famous first bowel movement after surgery experience yet; however, I have heard the crying and moaning from other open-heart patient rooms near by. The nurses call it the 1st poop experience.
At The Heart Hospital Of NM, the nursing shifts run for 12 hours. In other words, I had the same RN for 12 hours running. The nurses come from different backgrounds and all have different training and healing philosophies.
This was one of the most bothersome inconsistencies in my care. My day nurse might be a stickler for dispensing pain medication immediately after you request it while the night nurse might let you lay there in pain for 45 minutes; or, they might just arbitrarily decide that you're too little to have a full dose.
Also, the day nurses all want you to get up and walk, but some are satisfied with 3 short loops, while others want you to walk 4 large loops. Some are concerned, helpful and compassionate about my adhesive allergic reactions while some do not take it seriously.
I'm one of those people who are highly allergic to most adhesives used in the hospitals. So, I had the usual pain problems, but also had to constantly content with the ever-present insane itching. Roxanne, a compassionate, and highly skilled night nurse tried her very best to relieve my itching. I will never forget her 2:30 A.M. efforts in my behalf.
I have found that my moment-by-moment hospital comfort and care is directly determined by the attitude, training philosophy, and compassion of the ICU RN in charge of me on any particular shift.
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