Valve Replacement Surgery - Unexpected Pain!

In preparation for my third follow-up appointment, I needed to have an echocardiogram to help assess how well my mitral and tricuspid valves were performing post valve repair surgery. It is now three weeks and two days since my surgery.

If you are reading this, you've no doubt had at least one and probably more than one "echo". As you know, they usually take 20 - 25 minutes and are quite painless. Today's "echo" was a totally different story. The sonographer asked me to lie on my left side, a body position I'd not been in since my double valve repair surgery.

The whole process hurt like crazy from beginning to end. Lying on my side even for a few seconds was painful, but to stay in that position for the duration of the "echo" became almost unbearable. The side position put a lot of pressure on my newly wired together sternum. Had I known about the pain involved, I would have gotten some pain medication on board before the test.

When the "echo" was over, Allen drove me over to the lab to have some blood drawn for a BMP, another test ordered by Dr. Blake in preparation for my follow-up visit next Monday. Like you, I've been jabbed a gazillion times. No one likes the needles, and all the poking is somewhat uncomfortable, however, this particular needle stab caused me to scream out in pain.

Allen heard me scream from the waiting room and was on his way to see what the heck was going on when the lab tech called her supervisor to finish the job. I still don't know what happened except that it was painful.

Allen is most likely going to head back to Arkansas tomorrow. He, as the third leg of my support group, has been absolutely terrific. I could not have asked for a more considerate and compassionate caregiver. He dropped his very active life, drove his big ole white GMC truck hundreds of miles, cooked, cleaned, took me on walks, drove me around to all my medical and rehab appointments, washed and waxed both cars, and just hung out with me for this past week.

There is never a dull moment with Allen around and we had plenty of wonderful laughter. Allen is an outside type of quy, and I know that it was hard for him to be indoors as much as he was, however, he jumped down in the trenches with us and did whatever he could to help in every way he knew how. No one could ask for a better friend, and it was truly a blessing to have him here with us this week.

Allen wanted to pick up a couple of souvenirs to take back to AR, so we stopped off at Jackalopes, a well-knownl local pottery, rug, and a little bit of everything store, on the way back home. I even walked around the store without my oxygen for a few minutes. It was fun for both of us.

Today, was my first actual rehab session. The exercise physiologist goes over all the heart rate monitoring, pulse oxygen, and exercise equipment with you. They are careful to answer all your questions. This introductory session dispells any fear that you may have about hurting yourself while exercising. You are monitored the whole time you are exercising much like you were while in the hospital.

My personal program included exercising on three different machines at level one or two for a total of 13 minutes exercise time. All of my muscles have atrophied since all this started more than four months ago. I am restricted to only lower body exercise for the next two months, and then I can gradually begin to incorporate upper body exercise.

After exercising on the first machine, my pulse ox dropped to 88, so to be safe they had me on oxygen the rest of my exercise time. I won't tell you that it was easy, but at least it was a start. Next week, I'll be going to rehab three separate times.

Connie, our dear friend from up the hill, brought some delicious baked chicken and small new potatotes for dinner. Allen, Lynn, and Conne prepared a salad to go with it, and we all feasted and watched a program on TV.

It was a full, full day!