Erin's Journal

Pamela Gregory  Welcome home!!! Take it easy and you will be amazed how each week is such a big difference. Congratulations

Deena Z  Awesome! Big exhales for both of you.
And… Nice home set-up Erin. You've been a wonderful advocate and caregiver for your husband.

Robert Miller  These are beautiful flowers! And a lot less wires now. These sticky socks are quite helpful. May I ask what that black thing is on the chest? Riverside? Are you in southern CA?

Erin Bolanos  We are home! Robert, do you mean the blue bandage? My husband's chest is also covered with tattoos. So that is what you might be seeing as well. Yes we are in Southern CA. God is good! 🙏

Robert Miller  @Erin there is something blue that is maybe 2" x 4" with a clear plastic over it. It seems to be some device. I am just curious because I haven't seen that before. 

Suzette Schear  V for Victory!!   Victory for Victor.  That’s amazing.  Make sure he doesn’t over do it.  Thanks for posting less tubes life does get better

Deena Z  Look at Victor! Sitting up like that.  Fantastic.  He is strong.  He will be so much stronger each day;  it helps that he is young and was already in good shape. 

Robert Miller  Interesting tattoos on the legs... Wishing you a good recovery. Do those breathing exercises. And since there is a "fall risk" wristband, be strong but also careful. 

Suzette Schear  So grateful to see he’s on the other side of surgery.  My boyfriend being there was the best support and comfort. You are lucky to have each other saying prayers for a good recovery. 

Deena Z  Great, great news.  The hardest part is over.  Every day Victor will get stronger; so dont judge how he feels until another 48 hrs goes by.  

Suzette Schear  Beautiful photo.  Glad you got the date.  For me I went to my boyfriends house and was there for three months.  I could have left sooner but I got paranoid leaving the house and being independent, when I always was.  Glad you have each other that’s what helped me get through my rough times. 

Andrea Babcock  Hi Erin, Best Wishes for your husband's surgery! I know exactly how you must be feeling about now. I was a nervous wreck and so afraid for him. Stayed at a hotel next to the hospital for 3 days just to be very close and visit him as much as allowed. I am also wishing Victor a really good recovery. Dean is at 11 month after surgery and doing great, working hard, hiking and traveling. I noticed you are from Hemet. We live not far from you in Lake Elsinore. If you have any questions or want moral support, please feel free to contact me. I know this is a difficult time for Victor and you but you two got this!!!!

Brad DeMarco  4 weeks should be good. My wife is a teacher, she took off 3 weeks to take care of me post my open heart surgery. 

John C  Was looking at this yesterday for my wife. She has almost 500 hours of Sick leave available. I think I will need her for at least 3-4 weeks, but then she needs time for herself too. 

Rose Madura  I think 3-4 weeks would be beneficial. I was thankful that my husband was already retired when I had my surgery.  You'll be encouraged to walk a lot and you may be surprised at how much you can do but it's good to have someone around to encourage you. The doctors at the hospital saw how attentive my husband was and kept telling him to let me do as much as I can on my own because it will help in the recovery.  I had a lot of unexpected complications and rehospitalizations so my case is unique.

Robert Miller  It depends on your husbands general health. If he is in good condition, I think he won't need help during the day so you can go to work. He won't be able to do laundry, cook (carry heavy pans), etc. If he makes a pot of tea, he will need to use a cup to fill the pan, etc. It's cumbersome but doable. Having said that, if you can work from home or take time off, I would recommend at least 2 weeks, if possible 4-6 weeks. Don't let him do heavy work (lifting dead weights, golfing, chopping wood, etc) until about 3 months out. 

Jill Reeder  Unless you need the emotional support, the days in the hospital following surgery are unnecessary days off for your caregiver. Save them for the at-home recovery. Although you will likely sleep a lot the first week or two at home, it’s the little unexpected things you will be grateful if someone is there with you. And driving you to follow-up appointments, including cardio rehab. Once I was “cleared” to drive myself, I was more comfortable not having him home.

It’s been two months now and I’m back at work myself. But, I still ask him for help getting things off shelves that are higher up. 😁

Andrea Babcock  I was my husbands caregiver in February 2024 and I took 3 weeks off. Did not have more time available from work but it was okay. And after drove him to all of his appointments. He was out of work for 4 month since he does physical work. He could have gone back to an office job after 2 month most likely. He got mitral and aortic valve replacement with Mechanical valves and the Maze procedure. He had barely any symptoms prior to his surgery so he was fit going into his surgery. He worked until 2 days prior to surgery. We walked around our neighborhood a few weeks in already and went on a couple small hikes at over 4,000ft elevation at about 2 month and at 3 month he was able to fly to Munich and Greece to visit my elderly parents and vacation. He did great and we walked a lot. I handled all of our luggage. Did not allow him near that even so he tried. Hardest part at month 2 when he was feeling much better was from keeping him from overdoing things. Best Wishes!

Pamela Gregory  He will become very attached to the power recliner! I lived in it for over a year. Slept the best there too because I am a side sleeper and it kept me comfortably on my back. He is going to do great and very fortunate to have such a great wife to help make things much easier!

Rose Madura  A recliner is very helpful. I slept in ours quite often.  It may be helpful to also prepare some meals and freeze them. 

Robert Miller  The recliner will be very helpful. The first few days I was "sleeping" in our recliner. Also get plenty of pillows. Small ones just to put behind the back and bigger ones for support from the side. I also got a stiff neck and a heated "cherry pillow" helped some. 

Andrea Babcock  We were reading a lot about recliners but we never owned one and my husband was very comfortable on our bed with several pillows and a foam wedge. And after some days at home he was also comfortable on our sofa with extra pillows etc.  He liked being able to spend some time in the living room on the sofa and also move to our bed for scenery change. We have a single story house so that worked really well. Glad we did not spend the money on a recliner. He never took anything more than Tylenol pain reliefer once he was out of the hospital. 

Robert Miller  We use the electric recliner pretty much every time we watch TV. We didn't buy it because of the surgery but the first week I pretty much just slept on the recliner. So it's a nice excuse to buy this couch that can recline. I also had a wedge "pillow" and while it helped, it wasn't very comfortable. As for medicine, I only had any pain killers one day after surgery. I heard for women that have minimal invasive surgery it's more painful as they go through tissue that have nerves. 

Robert Miller  I assume you mean he has his "natural" valve replaced by a mechanical one. Did they already determine that a repair is not possible? Usually, the first approach is repair and if that doesn't work, then a replacement. The replacement is usually based on age. I assume your husband is quite a bit younger than 50 that it was already decided it should be a mechanical valve. I don't think there is too much you can do pre-op. Post op there is a lot to prepare. Recliner to sleep in if you have it. Pillows. Heart hugger. Do your breathing exercises for the lungs. Go on daily walks, etc. Also check out the learning center. There is a lot of information there. 



https://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/learning-center.php

Richard Munson  Good question about repair being first consideration. Thats why 2-3 opinions are a must. Surgeons that don’t repair tend to push replace. Sad but many times it boils down to selling whats in your briefcase not whats best for mr. Patient. 

Erin Bolanos  Hi! Thank you for the suggestions 🙂 We have an adjustable Sleep Number bed so I'm hoping that will be comfortable for him. Yes, my husband is in his early 40s. The Dr gave us the option if the replacement is necessary (he did mention he is going to try to repair first) to go with a tissue valve or mechanical. We opted for the mechanical valvue as my husband is in pretty good shape other than his heart issues. Thank you again! I look forward to this journey with you all. My husband doesn't do social media or computer stuff much so I'll be journaling and communicating on his behalf. 

Jill Reeder  Welcome. This is a great forum for support. I am six weeks post-op for mitral valve repair via OHS/sternotomy. Two things I wish I had done before surgery is build my core strength and my legs. The sternotomy means not using your upper body for anything for several weeks, which means a strong core helps with sitting up and lots of squatting down to avoid bending forward. I am 58 and my recovery is on track. My brother had the same surgery (repair, not replacement) at 45 and six years out is doing fantastic … your husband is young as well. Hopefully a repair is all that will be needed. 

As others have mentioned - be vigilant with the incentive spirometer (breathing exercise). It can make a huge difference in the recovery. Do the exercise at least once every two hours, if not every hour. 

Prayers and best wishes that all goes well.