A Heart Mended – Open Heart Surgery at 32 (A Story of Recovery) Part - 3
Recovery Day 2 (9 Feb, 2018)
It was now recovery day two and things were moving quickly. Sometime during the night I was taken off the oxygen line and now the nurse would remove my urinary catheter, an experience I would rather not relive thank you very much. I can’t say that it hurt however it felt exactly how I expected it to. Slowly but surely, I was being disconnected from the support and I began to feel more and more like a normal person.
The nurses had me on a steady dose of Oxycodone for pain management, low dose aspirin for blood thinning, an antacid to fight rouge stomach acid, and a lovely stool softener to fight the wonderful side effects of the Oxy.
I was continually asked by the nurses how I was feeling and if there was anything I needed. I facetiously replied that I would be doing better if the drainage tubes could be removed, not knowing exactly how that experience would go! They informed me that it was still draining a little and perhaps they could be removed tomorrow!
There is one quick thing I want to mention, as I was truly surprised. I can actually recall telling the nurse that I would rather just keep the catheter in because it was easier and more convenient than having to get up and go to the bathroom myself. While part of it was said jokingly to prolong the inevitable removal which I feared so much, there was some truth to my request.
I consider myself to be pretty strong willed and independent, yet I can easily see how people in these situations can wish to remain “attached” to their support for numerous reasons: the attention, the security, the comfort… You really build a dependence.
After breakfast I was informed that a room was finally available upstairs and we would now leave the ICU and move to our new home in the cardiac recovery wing.
I thanked my ICU nurses kindly for everything they did for me. I was excited to be “downgraded” to the normal recovery wing but part of me wanted to stay where I was familiar. The nurses told me that I would enjoy the normal recovery wing much more as I would have my own private room with a window and endless hallways to walk about! They wished me the best in my continued recovery and out of the ICU I went.
Recovery room
While the ICU was closed off and “bunker-like,” the cardiac recovery wing was the complete opposite. The hallways were modernly decorated and wide open. Huge windows overlooked downtown Honolulu, and the wing went on for what seemed like forever. I had my own private room which overlooked a courtyard in the garden and there was more furniture for me to use as incentive for me to get out of the hospital bed!
The nurses in the recovery wing were great but it was very apparent that there was a significantly increased sense of urgency back in the ICU!
After I settled in I went on a 600-meter walk with my physical therapist and practiced climbing stairs. It was then that he informed me that he would no longer need to spot check my performance and that I was good to go! During this walk I felt absolutely great, however those two ½ inch drainage tubes that were sutured into my abdomen to drain post-surgery fluids from my chest were beyond uncomfortable.
Shortly after my return, I was paid a visit by the two surgeons who saved my life, Dr. Carlos Moreno and Dr. John Lamberti. The two of them had just finished up another procedure and wanted to stop by to check on my recovery process. They informed me that everything went very well during my procedure and that they were very impressed with the speed at which I had been recovering!
Doctor Carlos Moreno and Doctor John Lamberti greeting my father and I post surgery!
It was about this time that Dr. Moreno told me that one of the patches they had used was created from my own heart muscle while another was grafted from that of a cow heart. My father took this moment to ask if I would have any unusual cravings for milk or if I would have any outbursts or Mooing episodes… Dr. Moreno looked at my dad and cracked a slight smirk while Dr. Lamberti lost it!
Doc Lamberti said in all seriousness he was very impressed with my recovery and he fully expects that, after my recovery period is done, that I should experience increased physical performance and ability as a result of the surgery completely repairing the defects that prevented my heart from distributing 100% of the oxygenated blood to my body. I was very pleased to hear this!
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful until I was paid a visit from Elizabeth, Dr. Moreno’s Nurse Practitioner. Elizabeth and I had met before. The day prior to the surgery she conducted my pre-op appointment where I was given instructions on what to do the night prior and what to expect the day of the procedure.
She asked how I was doing and informed me that it was time to remove the two drainage tubes that had been pestering me all this time. With her were two young student nurses who were there to observe the show, and a show they would get!
She first removed all of the bandages from my chest, revealing to me, for the first time, the scar from the incision site. My first impressions were “holy crap that is longer than I imagined!” We are talking a solid 10-12 inches! I was also beyond impressed at how well it was sutured together. It was sutured all internally, which left for minimal scaring! None of that Frankenstein, baseball stitching of yesteryear!
After all the bandages were off she then informed me that during the surgery they implanted two wires into my heart just in case my heart needed to be externally stimulated, luckily, I never experienced that!
I looked at my upper chest for these wires she was talking about and when I couldn’t find them she pointed down to my lower abdomen. There I saw two, thin gauged wires, sticking out from my belly. It was at that moment that I realized that these wires were snaked inside my body, from my heart, all the way to my lower abdomen and she was about to pull them out!
It was also at this moment that I was able to, for the first time, catch a real glimpse of these two ½ inch drainage lines sutured into my abdomen. It was the first time I began to feel uneasy during this entire ordeal!
I began to get a bit anxious as I was keenly aware that this was not going to be enjoyable! She told me to calm down and that I was going to feel some discomfort. I immediately knew she was full of it! She pushed on my abdomen with one hand slowly began to apply steady pressure to the wire sticking out of my right side. That level of “discomfort” was immediately reached! As she continued to steadily remove this wire her gaze was permanently fixed on my EKG readings and heart-rate data. While in reality the removal of that wire only took 30 seconds, it felt like eternity; I can recall looking up and seeing both my wife and father filming this on their phones and telling them to “turn those damn things off!”
After the first one was removed I was not looking forward to the second. She asked if I was ready, I said no, and she said, “ok great, here we go!” As she began to pull this wire out I felt an immediate difference. I literally felt this one being snaked from inside my heart. I mean I actually felt the wire tugging on the inside of my heart as she pulled. While it did not “hurt” per se, it was very uncomfortable. When the end of the wire was finally pulled out of my belly, I saw the corkscrewed wire that had been residing in my heart for the past few days! No wonder I felt it the entire way out!
Now that the two wires were free and clear Elizabeth informed me that it was time to remove the drainage tubes. Again, these were the two ½ inch tubes that were sutured into my belly to drain any of the post-surgery fluids that would potentially collect in my chest. These were the tubes I presumed were only an inch or two long!
Elizabeth took a big piece of gauze and placed it over the insertion site of the two tubes and pressed with considerable force. I looked at her like Harry looked at Marv in the original Home Alone movie, right before he cracked him in the chest with the crowbar in an attempt to kill the tarantula! “Elizabeth? What, what are you doing?” “Elizabeth?” *YANK!* “Holy S**T!”
These tubes were 12 inches long! I felt like I had just been woken up from the Matrix!
A few quick stitches were tightened up and a “that wasn’t so bad” was offered! Ha! That’s easy for you to say!
It was only then that I was informed that these drainage lines went all the way from my abdomen, into my chest cavity and sat behind my heart. Having been told that I was immediately aware as to why it felt so weird every time someone would bump into one of those hoses over the past few days!
Needless to say I was done for the day! I went on one more walk, had my Korean BBQ chicken, and then drifted off into another choppy night! Once again this night was smooth sailing up until the point at which it wasn’t. Around 1am I found myself extremely uncomfortable. The only position I was able to sleep in was laying down with the back of the hospital bed canted up at a 45° angle. This worked well until the point that my body went numb and in the search for a more comfortable position I would find myself in considerable discomfort. I once again had to page the nurse to assist me in finding a comfortable position to lay in. After some time of tossing and turning, I think I finally passed out at 3am from sheer exhaustion.
