Hello everyone. I had AVR April 13 and am struggling with fatigue. Dr. Castro did a partial sternotomy) and had a perfect technical outcome and excellent recovery. ...Read more
Hello everyone. I had AVR April 13 and am struggling with fatigue. Dr. Castro did a partial sternotomy) and had a perfect technical outcome and excellent recovery. I went back to work June 15th (I felt fine but didn't have the energy to work a full time job before that). I wonder what others have experienced fatigue. I sometimes go home from work and sleep for 1-2 hours before dinner. This is frustratingly similar to what was happening before my AVR. I am healthy and exercising (weights and stair-climber). Is it because I am 58 yrs. old or somehow part of my longer-term recovery from OHS? God bless you all! Tom Fitzmorris, Palo Alto, CA
Susan Bach It depends on your medication. Are you on Metoprolol? Side effects are fatigue. I, too had Dr. Cast ... Read more
Susan Bach It depends on your medication. Are you on Metoprolol? Side effects are fatigue. I, too had Dr. Castro, he is a doll. E-mail him about what your experience, he will get back to you. He wants to hear about your problems.
Tom Fitzmorris Hello Susan thanks for the reply. I am thankfully on zero medications. But therefore don't have that ... Read more
Tom Fitzmorris Hello Susan thanks for the reply. I am thankfully on zero medications. But therefore don't have that as an "excuse". Yes, I can reach out to him--good idea. I did see him 3 weeks ago and told him that my cardio-vascular conditioning (my "wind" as they say) was good but not improving. He said subtle healing continues for another 3 months; maybe this is part of it. But I wanted to see what others have experienced. Tom
Greg Johnson I had the same thing until about month 4. I was napping before dinner, through dinner, after lunch.. ... Read more
Greg Johnson I had the same thing until about month 4. I was napping before dinner, through dinner, after lunch.. But that slowly went away for me. Now (Month 5 - Surgery was March 02 2015) I do not get that as often. Occasionally still get exhausted on some days, no idea why. But only occasionally.
Terrie Syvertsen Tom: I wrote you a lengthy response to this post and it seems to have disappeared or I started to fal ... Read more
Terrie Syvertsen Tom: I wrote you a lengthy response to this post and it seems to have disappeared or I started to fall asleep while posting it and hit the wrong button. The short of it was that it is my opinion that you should check with Dr. Castro and head his opinion but also that fatigue is common during recovery due to the body making its way back from the anesthesia, med changes etc. and the best way to regain your strength and stamina. I am one year out aug. 20th. and still make sure to take a 40 minute nap in our recliner when I feel my body says to do so. Listen to your body as if you are fatigued you will lose energy trying to push it by doing too much. Four
months into recovery this is common and the fix is easy-give your body and mind rest then resume....
I hope it gets better for you soon and by the way, if my post shows up somewhere elaborating on the subject of fatigue to someone else here in the community please understand I have been up a ladder painting all morning and tired- Think I'll go take a nap! Good luck Tom and I am sure it will not be long before you see a difference. I wish you well as your healing continues.
W. Carter Tom, I'm 58 and had Aortic mechanical valve and aneurysm+root surgery Dec. 18, 2014 (eight mo. ago). ... Read more
W. Carter Tom, I'm 58 and had Aortic mechanical valve and aneurysm+root surgery Dec. 18, 2014 (eight mo. ago). I still would not have the energy to resme my work. I was a const. worker/welder. My GP told me to either retire or draw disability, said I still had chf/left sided heart failure (this was after surgery). Now I am retired for good cause there is no way that I could ever resume my trade and enjoying every minute of it. So everybody has their own recovery time, but I would say at least 4-6 mo. return if your job is not too physical. Good luck.
Tom Fitzmorris thank you so much everyone--I was concerned that I was whining a bit... W. Carter: I have a 37 mile c ... Read more
Tom Fitzmorris thank you so much everyone--I was concerned that I was whining a bit... W. Carter: I have a 37 mile commute and am a medical products marketing type (desk job) with mental rather than physical stress. Frankly I would love to retire, or at least switch to something like writing, but I am a 401-k slave and have a few years to go. I have been described as impatient, and with these posts I am reminded that the pace of recovery of OHS is measured in weeks (or months), unlike say the flu which recovers in days. Therefore I will go forth and nap without qualms! Tom
I have posted here earlier about the mystery of having had my sense of taste –and sense of smell—totally disrupted. Until one week ago I could not tolerate ...Read more
I have posted here earlier about the mystery of having had my sense of taste –and sense of smell—totally disrupted. Until one week ago I could not tolerate any strong smells nor any foods with any type of spicyness, or garlic etc. I had the taste buds of a four year old. I wondered if it was the pain medication, i.e. Tramadol or other meds, but my cardiologist said these meds are not known for causing such problems. I have heard the anti-biotics can cause distaste but did not believe that I had been on any antibiotics.
Well yesterday my wife drove me to my one month follow up visit to see my surgeon, Dr. Castro, at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, California. What I was surprised to learn was that (of course) I had in fact been given antibiotics—intraoperatively. He has his anesthesiologists administer vancomycin and Ancef (cefazolin) during all his heart surgeries. He says that without antibiotics the risk of patient infection from open heart bypass surgery would be significant. His patients rarely if ever get infections. Dr. Castro explained that these drugs vastly disrupt bacteria (“Flora”) in the body and that includes bacteria that naturally occur in the mouth, so it is not surprising that this would disrupt one’s sense of taste. Fortunately, and consistent with what fellow heart valve surgery patients have reported, now at four weeks post-surgery the worst is past; food sometimes merely tastes flat or non-tasty, but for the most part no longer tastes awful or unappealing.
ITEM 2: EXERCISE. "Whoa big fella."
A couple of weeks ago I was already walking up to an hour at a time and wanted to know what I could safely do to increase my exercise tolerance. My cardiologist said that if I wanted to, I could use a stair-climber machine at the gym. So over the past week I have started doing this; two days ago I stair-climbed for 30 minutes at an intensity level so that my heart rate was at 140. Yesterday I felt a bit funky and during my wife and my visit to Dr. Castro, my heart surgeon, he said that I should really keep my heart rate down at about 115 for the next several weeks, just to be cautious and let the heart more fully heal. After all with bypass they make a small incision in the atrium and insert the bypass tube, and another one in the ascending aorta downstream from where they replaced the aortic valve. All these spots are sutured back to close the wounds and therefore need time to heal.
My patient logbook from the hospital lists goals for how much daily walking the patient should strive for. In my case, my wife Jennifer quipped that these should be the maximum I do rather than the minimum, which is how, in my typical over-zealous fashion, I have approached my recovery task.
Today is May 13, my one month surgery anniversary. When I awoke after a blessed full night of sleep, I found myself in a low mood (I am not good with mornings). Rather than subject Jennifer to this, I threw myself out of the house to get some exercise, which usually cures the blues --I think we all find. I observed my anniversary by doing a walk around the very popular Stanford Radar Dish in the Stanford foothills here in Palo Alto. The circuit took 1 hour 10 minutes and it was a nice cool morning and the grass is still partly green (we have had a very cool April this year). So it was a nice way to mark the one month milestone. After lunch I slept for 2 hours, so while I am doing great I don’t imagine that I could work a full day yet. Dr. Castro says that the healing progress accelerates, so I look forward to being vastly stronger in a couple of weeks. Who knows, maybe a beer or glass of wine will even taste good by then! Then I will know that I am healed.
Duane Beeman On all that is sacred, I can't possibly go on if I lose my taste for wine and beer. How will I ever ... Read more
Duane Beeman On all that is sacred, I can't possibly go on if I lose my taste for wine and beer. How will I ever walk into "Joe and Lewis" and order a ginger ale ? They'll think I had brain surgery.
Tom Fitzmorris right on brother. But to be honest, I would give up all alcohol to have my taste buds return to norma ... Read more
Tom Fitzmorris right on brother. But to be honest, I would give up all alcohol to have my taste buds return to normal, which, thank God, they seem to be almost back to normal. On the other hand I took a taste of my wife's Chardonnay and it tasted pretty good...
When we go on vacation we all think of going to nice places, eating good food, drinking some wine and beer and a few cocktails (at least I do). We engage in ...Read more
When we go on vacation we all think of going to nice places, eating good food, drinking some wine and beer and a few cocktails (at least I do). We engage in a variety of activities: sight-seeing, going for hikes or maybe visit an art gallery. And we are not working if we are really on a vacation(turn that work email stream off…).
After that warm pink haze of medicated hospital time plus one week at home with wonderful care-givers and family to help me I am now in the dreaded mid-phase of convalescence. In mid-phase I am:
no longer required to have someone walk with me but am not strong enough to do much more than walking
permitted to eat anything I want, but there is an endless list of interesting foods that I cannot tolerate: any garlic, onion, spices of any kind make me queasy just to smell. Fortunately sweeter foods are o.k.: fruit and cottage cheese, ice cream,eggs (if not seasoned) and fats (butter, oils) and certain soups and salads that avoid spices.
Alcohol of any kind is totally unappealing
That occasional cigar that I used to enjoy: yeech!
I have a semi-permanent set of symptoms like the flu: body-aches, chills,headache, queasiness, malaise and listlessness.
Perhaps as a result of all of the above I find myself with very little interest to do much of anything except read. So boredom is a big problem.
Sleeping at night has been difficult so I am afraid to sleep much during the day. When it is 3 am and I am wide awake I feel no more inclined to do anything than if it were 3 p.m. A few days ago I got up at 4:45, got dressed and walked for 2miles which felt good because at least I had accomplished something. The good news is that Jennifer gave me this fizzy magnesium drink the last two nights and that seemed to help keep me in bed. Thank you Jennifer and thank God!
Jennifer’s gardens around our house are beautiful and the weather is great, but how long can one look at a garden doing nothing? I am not allowed to lift anything heavier than about 8 pounds so all types of physical activity like gardening is tricky or simply unadvised.
Friends and physicians alike have all said, “take it one day at a time.” The advice is sound, but I tell you, if I could feel normal tomorrow I would go back to work immediately.
I know that this will all pass. But there is a further lesson buried somewhere in this whining I think. Perhaps it is to appreciate what you have when you have it, no matter what life brings to you. I try to keep my head focused on positive attitude: “this too shall pass”; and gratitude: “I am grateful to finally understand and fix the source of my fatigue and to have a wonderful wife,family and friends to support me.” The best thing that has happened is that I am meeting neighbors while walking the neighborhoods around my house, neighbors that I did not know until now. That social interaction is like water in the desert: scarce but highly prized. As an introvert I need to recharge my batteries by doing activities of a more solitary nature, but this is for someone who works with customers, other managers and team-members all day long. Now I work with no one and I find great pleasure spending time just to chat with people that I run into. Two days ago I walked past a creek here in Palo Alto (Matadero), which is still flowing with quite a bit of water. Standing at the bridge over the creek was a mom with her daughter, whom she had just picked up at the nearby elementary school to walk her home. In the creek where not one but two pairs of Canadian Geese: one with 3 goslings, the other with five (see my photos pages). It was so nice just to chat about what we were seeing below us and then say goodbye. "one day at a time, with gratitude". Tom
Pat Bluemel You articulate my first few weeks well, but I had pump head. I couldn't even read. It all passes, s ... Read more
Pat Bluemel You articulate my first few weeks well, but I had pump head. I couldn't even read. It all passes, slowly but quickly at the same time time marches by. Get fresh air and walk. Avoid the blues as much as possible. Get to Cardiac rehab. Oh and have someone pick you up some sour gummy worms. They will make your tastebuds reset. They did mine!
Tom Fitzmorris Pat: thank you! you are the first person to have any solution to the tastebuds issue. I will go get s ... Read more
Tom Fitzmorris Pat: thank you! you are the first person to have any solution to the tastebuds issue. I will go get some today.
Tim Goff great post Tom. It is a bit disconcerting to have all this time and not be able to do all that much o ... Read more
Tim Goff great post Tom. It is a bit disconcerting to have all this time and not be able to do all that much other than walk, but I did get to read some great books! The flavor buds are returning, but I havent tried a cigar as yet and the alcohol is as you said, unappealing. I took consolation in that I was healing with each day and will have a better and longer life as a result.
Tom Fitzmorris Tim: I would love some of ideas on books to read. ( I am thinking of digging up the Patrick O'brien " ... Read more
Tom Fitzmorris Tim: I would love some of ideas on books to read. ( I am thinking of digging up the Patrick O'brien "Master and Commander" books.)
Can you suggest anything?
Tim Goff Killing Patton- by Bill OReilly was very good. He is polarizing on TV, but his book was excellent. Ho ... Read more
Tim Goff Killing Patton- by Bill OReilly was very good. He is polarizing on TV, but his book was excellent. How insightful was Patton.. American Sniper was also a decent read. I have been through so many of my usual GO TO authors that these two seemed light enough to work.
Flowers for Shauna. Homage for Jennifer
By Tom Fitzmorris — Apr 23, 2015 2:57pm
(this is from one of my postings on Caringbridge.org that I thought ...Read more
Flowers for Shauna. Homage for Jennifer
By Tom Fitzmorris — Apr 23, 2015 2:57pm
(this is from one of my postings on Caringbridge.org that I thought this heart-valve-surgery community might enjoy):
Yesterday April 23, my eldest daughter Miriam and I visited Shauna, my ICU nurse to thank her. We made flower arrangements from our garden and made cookies (I chopped the walnuts).
"Guys I can't tell you how wonderful this is, I've been having such a tough day! And I was just saying yesterday how we never see the patients after they leave."
It was great to give a lift to Shauna's day.
Shauna was my ICU nurse and for three days and two nights she had complete control over me. I realize that our relationship came to be that of mortal and Goddess. For example, I would pray to her, “[Goddess] Shauna, please make my chest stop hurting” Shauna increases the amount of intra-venously-delivered phentenol, and suddenly stop hurting. Heck if I did not know about the phentenol I would have believed that she had powers of a theological order.
“[Goddess] Shauna, I thirst.” No, Tom you may not quench your thirst or you will heave your guts.”
“[Goddess] Shauna, yet still I thirst.”
“Very well. Tom,you may eat of the ice chips. However be sparing in your eating of the ice chips or truly you will heave your guts.”
Then Goddess Shauna left my presence. And then did I eat too much from the cup of ice chips. And woe was me as my stomach, surprised that anything would be ingested in its current shut-down state, prepared to do something about these unwelcome contents. I began to feel queasy. Now “queasy” is not the same as “nauseous”,but we all know one can lead to the other. In my case in seconds. Goddess Shauna and Brother Tony, my night nurse, were both out of the room when I realized that my stomach clearly had had enough. Realizing that I did not have time to search through my blankets for:
1) That ridiculously small emesis basin
2) that nurse call button/TV remote device that was always getting lost on my blankets or falling on the floor,
I resorted to first lines of communication, “I need a basin; I’m gonna be sick in here --now!”,I bellowed to the hall. My room was directly across from the central station of the entire 16 bed ICU, which was a negative when I wanted to sleep, as the nurses were always chatting up a storm out there, day and night. Now my location became a benefit because no nurse wants to be stationed next to the scene of vomiting. Their response was impressive and in-time by seconds.
Lesson: Woe to those who disobey Goddess Shauna as there will be consequences.
But to set the record straight I realize that my real Goddess is my wife, Jennifer. She is the true unsung hero, so here I will sing her praises. Jennifer has kept the whole household running while keeping up with her job and still visiting me in hospital every day. And now that I am home has lovingly helped me with what-ever I have needed, starting with reminding me to take my medications. The pain meds work so well that after taking them I forget to check on when I took them last, until I feel that truck tire rolling back onto my chest. And Jennifer cooks for me what-ever I wish(which usually is not much), and goes
for walks with me. Going for walks is actually a wonderful husband-wife activity that we have rarely done.
If I have learned one thing from this convalescence, I hope that it is to cherish my wife—and take her for walks. Heck, I certainly can’t go for a run or a swim with her because she would beat the pants off me, Jennifer is in awesome condition: she swims 1 mile workouts and does other high-intensity workouts with activities like boxing, spin cycling, tractor tire lifting, and running intervals. To have a wife that is such a stud, and a phenomenal cook, the devoted mother of our four wonderful children, and a truly loving mate and generous caregiver to not just me but everyone she meets, is to come very close to having the perfect wife.When I got home on Saturday, I told Jennifer, “Since I cannot compete with you I have decided to worship you instead.” “Ok, that would be fine”, she replied.
Meeting Jennifer was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me. Today is the anniversery of our first meeting, on April 23, 1977. We have now known each other for 38 --sometime hectic, years. I hope to spend the next 38 with her as well --that's where the worshiping comes in...
Grateful husband, Tom
with Jennifer my wife, whom I actually do worship
Terrie Syvertsen Enjoyed your post with all of that worshiping going on! (As well it should!)
It is amazing how much c ... Read more
Terrie Syvertsen Enjoyed your post with all of that worshiping going on! (As well it should!)
It is amazing how much care is given prior, during and after our surgeries
and how much love you just have to feel for having had such excellent care. I worship Jennifer too just hearing about her, ha for in the end it is our spouses who have to go home with us!!!! It is totally amazing too how much our caregivers do for us when we first hit home again. Bless all of them! Enjoy your walks! Happy Healing.
Tom Fitzmorris Thank you Terrie. My other hero is my eldest daughter Miriam who flew in from Amsterdam (where she li ... Read more
Tom Fitzmorris Thank you Terrie. My other hero is my eldest daughter Miriam who flew in from Amsterdam (where she lives with her husband) to help care for me, go for walks (and make cookies). She needed to be with "her Daddy" and was worried for me, which made me feel loved; and she did great duty during my hospital week and over the last week. I love you Miriam!
I am curious to know from others' experiences how the recovery goes. I am not able to eat foods that have any spice in them or saltiness. I like to eat bran ...Read more
I am curious to know from others' experiences how the recovery goes. I am not able to eat foods that have any spice in them or saltiness. I like to eat bran flakes, cottage cheese, fruit, ice cream, and minimally seasoned protein. Alcohol is completely uninteresting. I took a sip of my wife's very nice chardonnay and it tasted more like bile than wine. What is going on? how long does it last? what is it caused by? I have been taking bistolic (beta-blocker) tylenol and Tramedol. I suspect the Tramedol and think that I have taken my last one yesterday. Thanks everyone, Tom
Penny Prichard I'm a month post op and don't have any food distastes that I had after surgery.
Tom Fitzmorris Thanks for your reply, Penny. It sounds like you did have some food distastes at first? can I ask wha ... Read more
Tom Fitzmorris Thanks for your reply, Penny. It sounds like you did have some food distastes at first? can I ask what types and for how long?
Dan D. Hi Tom, Does your note mean that you don't like bran flakes, fruit and cottage cheese and prefer to e ... Read more
Dan D. Hi Tom, Does your note mean that you don't like bran flakes, fruit and cottage cheese and prefer to eat spicy, salty, heavily seasoned meat with a giant goblet of wine? (I'm kidding, of course.) I'm in the pre-surgery wait period. Though I could eat bad food with impunity, I prefer your post-surgery eating problems: the anxious wait for surgery is killing my appetite. Hope some OHS veterans can help you out.
Lewis Garlisi Tom, that does not sound too unusual. Once I was off the pain killers, (almost 2 weeks post surgery) ... Read more
Lewis Garlisi Tom, that does not sound too unusual. Once I was off the pain killers, (almost 2 weeks post surgery), i think I was able to more accurately guage my tastes for food. That may have been the side affects of the pain killers, or it may have just been the timing of the recovery. I'm on Bystolic too, but I was before surgery. As for alcohol, I definitely lost much of my taste, for that - but that has slowly started to come back.
Nancy D I first thought the hospital coffee was awful but so it was at home too for a month. I first only en ... Read more
Nancy D I first thought the hospital coffee was awful but so it was at home too for a month. I first only enjoyed cold fruit- apples, strawberries, blueberries etc. Had to really work to eat much else. It came back pretty quickly I would say a month- except the coffee had to really work at that... ;-)
Jason Lathrop Within 5-7 days I was eating normally, though alcohol has no appeal at all even though I'm reliably a ... Read more
Jason Lathrop Within 5-7 days I was eating normally, though alcohol has no appeal at all even though I'm reliably a one-cocktail-after-dinner guys. I am very lucky that I am not taking anything other than Coumadin and some vitamins though. No Metropolol or beta blockers or anything. I was off the oxy in about a week or 10 days.
Tom Fitzmorris Thanks everyone for your very helpful replies. I found this information at
http://www.webmd.com/oral- ... Read more
Tom Fitzmorris Thanks everyone for your very helpful replies. I found this information at
http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/oral-side-effects-of-medications?page=3:
"Sometimes, a medication can alter your sense of taste. A change in the body's ability to sense tastes is called dysgeusia. Some drugs can make food taste different, or they can cause a metallic, salty, or bitter taste in your mouth. Taste changes are especially common among elderly patients who take multiple medications."
However neither beta blockers nor Tramadol were listed. But I believe what you have all written which is that "this too shall pass" in a month or so. The good news is that this will make loosing another 10 pounds a snap (I have lost 5 in the past 12 days.)
Tom
Penny Prichard Most of the food tasted like metal to me. Nothing tastes right for about 4 weeks. Ginger ale was my c ... Read more
Penny Prichard Most of the food tasted like metal to me. Nothing tastes right for about 4 weeks. Ginger ale was my choice of drink. Nothing tasted right.
Tim Goff many of my "go to" foods were off tasting to me, especially the first 2 weeks. Many are back to norma ... Read more
Tim Goff many of my "go to" foods were off tasting to me, especially the first 2 weeks. Many are back to normal now, but alcohol just doesn't appeal like it did before in both flavor and feeling full after 1/2 a beer. I am also eating much lighter as my appetite seems a bit lower.
Hope that helps
Eleanor R The meds definitely affected my taste buds, and some of them made me feel sick frequently, so it was ... Read more
Eleanor R The meds definitely affected my taste buds, and some of them made me feel sick frequently, so it was a relief to get off all pain meds and rely on Tylenol. Like you, I only wanted bland things, nothing hot or spicy or whatever. My go to thing was graham crackers and a small glass of milk, ginger ale with ice, vanilla ice cream, toast with very little butter/jam. I babied myself and ate whatever I wanted for the first couple of weeks, then things went back to normal for me.
I just joined today. My name is Tom Fitzmorris. I learned about Dr. Luis Castro from Adam's web-site (thank you Adam for your work!), and had my AVR surgery ...Read more
I just joined today. My name is Tom Fitzmorris. I learned about Dr. Luis Castro from Adam's web-site (thank you Adam for your work!), and had my AVR surgery on April 13, 2015--about one month after figuring out what had been causing increasing fatigue over the past few years. Surgery used a partial sternotomy approach, preserving the lower breastbone intact; I was on bypass for 40 minutes and 1 hour 40 minutes total surgery time. (Dr. Castro is reputed to be one of the faster surgeons around.)
Fun fact: I asked Dr. Castro durning my final pre-op consult what would be the most difficult and perhaps most unanticipated aspect of recovery in the hospital, and in the home? He replied that the first day I would feel as if a truck hit me (what he failed to tell me is that without scrupulous attention to pain medications, it will feel as if that truck came to rest on my chest). On day two I was sleeping while the meds began to wear off; I awoke and felt about a "4" on a 0-10 pain scale; within 15 minutes I was a "7"and climbing before my wonderful nurse Shauna, got a bolus of meds on-board.
Fact number two: Dr. Castro said that people at home can get frustrated with the pace of recovery, which can feel slow. So he advised "easy does it" (my paraphrase).
I am 57 years old, work in the medical products world, including past roles where I was the Cardiac Surgery Marketing Manager for Hewlett-Packard and Acuson ultrasound companies and logged a number of hours observing in open-heart surgeries ("Heart rooms") at places like the Cleveland Clinic, UCSF, Emory, U. of Chicago. So I am fortunate to have a good understanding of the world that I was about to enter..
I moved from the CICU on Wednesday 15th and then came home from Sequoia Hospital (Redwood City, CA) last Saturday April 18th. Still on 1-2 each 50 mg tramadol every four hours. I sleep a lot. And take walks. Pain is well managed though.I no longer need a pillow or a heart-hugger vest.
I am hoping for no need to stay on Tramadol much longer; what have been other's experiences?
til later...Tom
Tammy Pilcher Congratulations, Tom, on a great surgery and recovery! Welcome to the community!
Dan D. Welcome to the community. I'm having the same surgical procedure, but not for a month, so I was very ... Read more
Dan D. Welcome to the community. I'm having the same surgical procedure, but not for a month, so I was very interested to hear your experience. I'm curious to know: did you choose Tramadol? did you try anything else? I'm a little confused about the options offered for pain medication at home.
Gerald Schaffer Congrats on what sounds like a great outcome. Hope your recovery keeps going so well.
Tom Fitzmorris Dan, thanks for the question. At Sequoia Hospital's heart program they offer the following meds for p ... Read more
Tom Fitzmorris Dan, thanks for the question. At Sequoia Hospital's heart program they offer the following meds for pain after surgery, in descending order of potency:
1. phentenol (more powerful than morphine)
2. morphine (used rarely; see phentenol)
3. ocycodone (has tylonol in it)
4. tramedol
5. something similar to demerol
6. tylenol
In the ICU for surgery day (day zero) and 1-2 days after I was on phentonal drip, plus ocycodone tablets, plus tramedol. In the cardiac surveillance unit I took ocycodone, tradmedol and tylenol for a day or two, then dropped off the oxycodone because I did not feel that I needed it and of its reputation (in my mind) that it is so "strong"; they left the choice to me. Since Friday (day 4 after surgery) I have been taking only taking 2 each Tramedol (100mg total) every 4-6 hours, and 2 ea Tylenol (650 mg total) every six hours until today Tuesday (day 8): now I take one Tramedol every four hours and two Tylenol every six hours.
I want to emphasize that the surgical and nursing teams emphasized that pain control is essential for recovery in-hospital because it makes possible the breathing exercises and walking etc which at Sequoia contributes to their outstanding outcomes. Second they emphasize that no one is going to get addicted to any of the pain meds they are taking in the hospital. I do see that Tramedol is an opiate-class of pain medicine and can be addictive, but now that I have gone from 2 every 4 hours to 1, I notice no side-effects, so I am personally not concerned. I see my cardiologist next week and will let you know if he adds anything to the above.
So long answer, Tramedol and tylenol are part of their pain med armementarium and work for me without side effects, so I did not need to consider anything else.
Tom
Dan D. Tom, thanks for the detailed response. As a medical products guy and now experienced OHS patient, do ... Read more
Dan D. Tom, thanks for the detailed response. As a medical products guy and now experienced OHS patient, do you know why vicodin off the table?
Tom Fitzmorris Dan, no, don't know about vicodin. I tell you what though, what they had for my in-hospital recovery ... Read more
Tom Fitzmorris Dan, no, don't know about vicodin. I tell you what though, what they had for my in-hospital recovery seemed to cover my pain control needs. In fact, I threw up the evening of day one (36 hours after surgery) after eating a few too many ice chips, and just imagine how much one's chest squeezes when one throws up--I did not feel a thing. This was phentenol presumably.
Dan, why do you worry about Tramadol versus vicodin?
Dan D. I'm not worried, I've never taken either one. Adam Pick, in his book, says he used vicodin so I just ... Read more
Dan D. I'm not worried, I've never taken either one. Adam Pick, in his book, says he used vicodin so I just wondered if that were offered. Thanks so much for your information.
months into recovery this is common and the fix is easy-give your body and mind rest then resume....
I hope it gets better for you soon and by the way, if my post shows up somewhere elaborating on the subject of fatigue to someone else here in the community please understand I have been up a ladder painting all morning and tired- Think I'll go take a nap! Good luck Tom and I am sure it will not be long before you see a difference. I wish you well as your healing continues.