Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Day 18 - Recovery

February 28, 2012 - The Recovery day 18

Today I had my first follow-up visit with someone from my heart surgeons group. I met with Dr. Sowden's nurse practitioner Kim. First I had a nurse that checked all my vitals, checked both incisions, did the nurse stuff.

Then we met with Kim and she listened to my lungs and heart, checked my incisions, and asked much of the same questions that I've answered before. Basically about how I am feeling, any issues with breathing etc. Everything is going good based on what she sees and hears.

I found out a couple of the things going on with me are related to the surgery and should clear up in time.

For one, I seem to get cold when I shouldn't. I'll walk into a room and ask Lisa why it is cold. Checking the thermometer, the temperature is between 70 and 75. Okay, not as cold as I thought. This could be from my nerves healing or possibly from the anesthesia that is still in my system. The anesthetic will take about a month to get fully out of my system. 

The other is my back. It seems to begin aching whenever it feels like it. This stems from a couple things. First, I am sleeping in a recliner for now until my breastbone fuses back together. Our waterbed is not real easy to get out of and I may cause more damage than good trying to get in and out of bed. So I'm in a sitting position all night which doesn't help my back.

Second, they would have had my arms stretched out during surgery. Some of the ache could be coming from this as well. In time my back will get better but for now I will just have to use a couple Tylenol to deal with it.

That's pretty much it for today's recovery info. More than I've had on most days. Tomorrow I start rehab so I may have more to post tomorrow.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you're progressing well and the issues you have do have a plausible explanation. I slept in a recliner for about a week or so recently when I had a bad cough. It starts out comfortable enough but by morning I felt rather stiff. Looking forward to reading about your rehab.

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  2. Yeah, I'm finding recliner sleeping a bit rough. Your body just doesn't get to move like it can in a bed. At this point in my recovery that's a good thing but it has drawbacks. Or at least the one, a stiff back.

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