Great to be back home after a mitral valve repair ~ 2

[seven-oh]

Many thanks for all the kind words of advice and support, 2 weeks ago today I was in recovery at the Royal Brompton following my mitral valve repair. I've been at home for 10 days now and I thought I'd share my adventures, or lack of them, to date.

First the good news, I've had no complications, infections and the drugs seem to work OK. As advised I'm doing 3 or 4 walks a day and now averaging about 10000 steps on the flat. I do find I need to sit down and rest after every trip out.

I've no real pain but my chest starts to ache/itch when its time for the painkillers. Sleeping is taking a while to settle down, now that I have alarms set to take my tablets at the right time its much less worrying. I still wake up frequently for a pee and am wise awake at 5 am. Tablets at 6, breakfast at 7 and then another 1-2 hours sleep. Sleeping involves 4 normal pillows and a v-pillow, so I'm reclining at about 45 degrees. This does tend to keep the chest clear though.

The drugs make me snappy, forgetful and do terrible things to my grammar but my wife is doing a great job letting it all wash over her. Things are much better now that she is comfortable leaving me in the house on my own for an hour or two.

Surprisingly I'm not finding life boring and have no desire to read. Visitors have been restricted for now and only short visits arranged.

All in all I'm doing really well and looking forward to tomorrow.

Hope you are all in a good place too.

One more thing, I found a really helpful app to track tablets - MyTherapy

[Benkbonk]

Had my pre-assessment for Mitral repair yesterday so thanks for post I am sure it will be helpful.

[seven-oh in reply to Benkbonk]

Good luck, worst bit is the waiting, once the op is over you're on the mend.

[Benkbonk in reply to seven-oh]

Thanks no op date yet they said prepped lasts for 12 weeks, hope it’s not that long.

[seven-oh in reply to Benkbonk]

Lets hope its not that long to wait. If you are not doing it already I'd suggest that you get into the habit of taking a walk. In your situation I got a fitbit type monitor and tried to fit in 10000 steps a day before my op. After the op, walking is the recommended exercise back to health. You'll need somewhere flat to start with as slopes can be tricky to start with. After 2 weeks I can manage a walks on the flat but not yet on slopes.

Good luck.

[Fredders]

Glad to hear the recovery is going so well. I slept slightly propped up for the first few weeks after my AVR and during the day I dozed back n my recliner, using a neck pillow, was ideal. The memory problem, concentration etc is a side effect of the anaesthetic and does improve over time.

I told friends they were welcome to visit but not to take offence if I fell asleep! They kept their visits short to start with.

Sounds like you are doing all the right things so keep up the good work.

Wendy

[seven-oh in reply to Fredders]

Thanks Wendy that's very reassuring.