So I am home! We realised as we were waiting in the patient transport area for our taxi that it was 3.30 on Wednesday, a week to the minute since I was checking in at St Thomas's.
As I mentioned previously, i feel immensely lucky to have sailed through with so few complications compared to what others go through. The antibiotics had sorted out my temperature spiking issue - I was seriously on tenterhooks as to what it would be first thing!
So we were all on track for discharge. A three-hour stop-start taxi ride through the London rush hour and down to the south coast, and home.
So it's great to be home in time for Christmas and now just taking it easy and hoping to improve day by day.
I'm also becoming aware of the emotional aapect of all this as well as the physical. I went to bed last night and immediately start howling and sobbing. I do know this is a well-recognised side-effect of the anaesthetic and your heart having been manhandled, but I also suspect it was the reckoning from six months of staring into your mortality and, finally, the recognition that you're ok, you're alive, and part two of life now begins. Tears of life, I guess.
Onwards and, hopefully, upwards. Nic x
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Nic25
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Great to hear your home and safe I had that 3 hour trip to the South Coast through rush hour traffic as I went to Rustington Convalesent Home straight after discharge so I know what you went through journey wise.
It’s fantastic your with your family for Christmas take it easy let people help you and remember like for many of us who have recently gone through this AVR procedure 2019 is gonna be an amazing year for you and all the rest of us
It's good to enjoy the post op' relief and euphoria. Despite our collective worry and discomfort, there's no denying AVR is both life saving and life enriching for most of us. You have doubtless confronted the risk and the scary number of things that can go wrong but as I frequently say, dodged all the bullets, so well done you!
Although I'm now safely 7 months post- AVR surgery, I still remember the initial weeks and the physical and emotional challenges that punctuate the journey to the new you.
All I would say is take it steady. Eat when hungry, sleep when tired and don't be a hero. Your body will set the time frame, not you, but it will expect your commitment to an exercise regime so you effectively walk yourself well, albeit incrementally. Your personal fortitude during the first few weeks will pay dividends almost immediately so stay strong.
Finally, embrace those around you who have been on an emotional journey too and are keen to see and hear of your progress.
Good luck, Nic , and keep us posted as you hit, no smash those recovery milestones.
Thank you Ian. That's great; really appreciated. All great advice. I'll certainly take it all on board. And yes slow and steady it very much will be...
So good to hear you’re home safe and sound in time for Christmas! Take it easy, enjoy all the extra love and care you will no doubt get over the festive period and get ready for a new year and new you!
So good you’re through the ‘sharp bit’ so fast and so well. I know exactly what you mean about those sudden moments of sheer panic. Seems so strange to happen after all the lifesaving dramas of surgery etc, I found the dark was v hard. These moments will get fewer, over time.
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