Appointment with the Practice Nurse

[Dickyticker26]

Having had a quadruple bypass on 28 August and being discharged from hospital (most of the time in the High Dependency Unit) on 7 September I now have an appointment with the practice nurse tomorrow 19 September "to examine surgical wounds and take blood"

Personally I tend to prefer the practice nurse to the doctor as being more hands-on, practical and sympathetic

12 years ago I had vascular surgery on my left leg following which I had a surgical stocking and had to go to the surgery to have it renewed-it all seemed a bit messy

This time I have had a long vein removed from the other leg to provide the pieces needed to replace the 4 arteries round the heart

The surgeons certainly believe in making bold incisions and I have what looks like a sabre scar down my thigh and calf-a product of a fencing club at Heidelberg University!

This time no surgical stocking and the wound has been left open and I think they said it has been glued rather than stitched together

It was looked at in hospital and always seemed ok to me though it got very sore at times and I needed the painkillers

The main wound on the chest seems a very neat job and looks as if I have been "done up like a kipper"

I know that I have to wait at least 6 weeks before the sternum has healed and I can drive Then it is 8 weeks before "light work" and then 12 weeks for a "full recovery"

It has not been easy finding a comfortable sleeping position but not too bad either and again there are painful times

Otherwise there are various healed scars on my chest where "drains" went in and I think they removed electronic tabs which was quite painful

Also painful were the injections in the stomach though to be fair I was warned by the nurse "this is going to hurt"

I can remember having a lot of wires and "lines" hanging out of my neck If they got caught between the surgical gown and the bed they would pull painfully

In the end even the weight of them was hard to bear and it was a big relief when they came out-my neck had got very sore and itchy

My ankles are swollen but then they always are because of weak valves in the groins and this week I have started walking 1,000 steps a day on the common and plan to increase each week until I am walking at least the recommended 30 mins a day after 6 weeks

Normally I can clock up 20 miles a week even allowing for at least one rest day

All in all I am hoping the practice nurse will find it fairly straightforward and I needn't bring up my obsession with the side-effects of medication which was changed on discharge and my experiences with Delirium after surgery

Next week marks the "end of regular pain relief" and this week the end of the first 2 weeks at home which is dependent on support from family and which has been largely blessed with sunny weather in the garden

[Janma123]

Well done, onwards and upwards!

[Dickyticker26 in reply to Janma123]

Thanks so much for your encouragement

This morning for some reason I feel great and my wife is going to drive me to the surgery and presumably chaperone the appointment!

I should have made it clear that the surgical wounds were never dressed at any stage-just sewn up stitched and glued and I think stapled and left exposed to the open air

No creams or ointments have been applied

It seems to have worked out fine and it has all healed up quickly

[seasider18]

After my Aortic valve replacement I had some other stiches from where they had to drain a lung. The hospital arranged for a district nurse to come to remove them and check my other wounds. About a month later I then had a echocardiogram at my local hospital one day and another the next day at the hospital in Brighton who had performed the surgery and a check over from a locum cardiologist.

[Dickyticker26 in reply to seasider18]

Thanks for the contribution

The appointment went off fine with bloods taken and the surgical wounds examined and approved

To my amazement this time it was the two doctors and not the practice nurse who were all sympathetic hands on and full of warm support and encouragement

As I found it difficult to recount my experience of Delirium especially in front of my wife who was also full of support

It goes to show how wrong you can be!

[seasider18 in reply to Dickyticker26]

A good consultation.

When I had my procedure two of the other three patients in ICU initially had either delirium or memory problems. That had been my main concern about the operation as my mother was a very active 82 year old but was never the same mentally after major surgery to remove a kidney. She had postponed it for two months as she was going to visit relatives in Canada. She flew to Toronto on her own and then on to Edmonton and back to Toronto before coming home. I spoke to her on the phone and she was full of news about her trip and said we would get the complete story when we went up to Edinburgh to look after her after the surgery. We never got the full story of her trip and she did not remember people or places from her holiday photos. Hospital attitude was it will pass and her GP was not prepared to argue with them. ,When it didn't they said that she must have had dementia prior to surgery that we had not noticed.

After she had struggled to live on her own for a couple of years we had to put her into a retirement home and she lived until she was 92 and was the only person there not on any medications for other conditions and was down to her last thousand pounds.

My first thing after my surgery was to have a long conversation with my ICU nurse to test my memory blanks.