3 Weeks Post Open Heart Surgery 2

Top of da morning to you all.. I haven't blogged for so long as I haven't managed to master the art of uploading pictures from the ipad to the blog site. But I’m home now (yipppeeeeee) so I can blog to my heart’s content (pardon the pun!!) So, where do I begin? I was admitted to hospital on 6th July 2012, for the 4th time, as id been feeling unwell and was suffering with the rigours (very cold, shaking then temp spikes to 40) and id remembered this as being a tell take sign of endocarditis (heart infection. So they put me on IV antibiotics for 6 weeks, every 4 hours. This meant a line had to be put in me, as my veins wouldn’t play, and cannulas were a nightmare to get in. So I had a Hickman line put in, as I had my first Trans oesophagus echo (internal scan of heart) under a general anaesthetic. once this scan was done, the surgeons came round and dealt me the news that unfortunately the scan showed my new valve had become infected and the bacteria had eaten away at the tissue that was securing the stiches in, and I now had a leaky heart valve, which if left for too long would put the heart under too much stress and heart failure would be inevitable.The worse news was that the bacteria was a particular one that had built up a resistance to many antibiotics, and therefore they had to get the right combination of antibiotics. If not the bacteria basically eat away at healthy tissue and organs of the body, once it gets to a certain level in the blood stream its basically untreatable. This scan was to be performed every week (5 in total makes me queen of the TOE's apparently)so they could monitor the deterioration of the heart, as well as having the antibiotics to help minimise the bacteria levels, and this was how they could make sure I wasn’t deteriorating too quickly.

(Hickman Line) When they told me I had a second heart infection I was devastated (think I’ve previously covered this in my last blog. Everything went fuzzy and I couldnt focus on anything, but still kept smiling and cheery. Didnt see the point of mopsing round, it doesnt acheieve anything doing that, so in the spaces where I wasnt having the antibiotics, i'd slip off and nip to Liverpool one with friends and family he he he. I think we'd even had a lovely glass of red wine one afternoon when the sun was shining. I also went to see the Monet art exhibition at the Tate and the Rolf Harris exhibition at the Walker gallery. So 14/8/12 arrived (night before my operation), and I had to say goodbye to my mum, my dad and my brother. No matter how much of a positive person you are, there is always that doubt in your mind, that this could be it. Especially a second heart operation, so close to the 1st. The nurses sedated me slightly in the evening, (so you receive a better sleep), and then again in the morning once i'd had a shower and dressed into the delightful paper knickers and gown. To be honest, I don’t remember leaving the ward to go to theatre. I do remember being in the room where they put you to sleep. I was nervous but just wanting it all over. I then remember waking in a strange room, not where I had done previously and they said I was in full on intensive care. It wasn’t as scary as last time on awakening, and the breathing tube didn’t freak me out, but I did insist I was ok to breathe without it,and once they felt I was stable breathing on my own they replaced this with an oxygen mask. There had been a few complications during the operation and I'd suffered massive internal bleeding and at 12pm the surgeon was called back out and they weren’t sure if I might need to go to theatre again. Luckily not. As I came around more i was aware that I had wires in my neck, loads in my wrists, and drains in my chest. I was morphined up to the eyeballs and in and out of sleep. However, I do remember trying to stretch my legs and my left one wouldn’t move AT ALL. The pain was excruciating in my leg, like nothing I’ve ever had before. I asked them why and the surgeon had had to make an incision in my groin to access the femoral artery so they could pass some equipment to the heart via the artery. Infact they didn’t actually need to use it in the end, but had made the incision just in case. When the nurses came to roll me, so I didn’t get pressure sores (attractive!!!) I was crying and screaming, it was sooooo bad. The actually chest wound where they'd cracked my sternum and peeled back the ribcage didn’t hurt much at all, it was the leg. Family came to see me, but I was so off my head I was just chatting rubbish (no change there then). Id fall asleep mid conversation, TOTES WEAK!!!!and say to them, cant you see that person in the room opposite on the cross trainer ha ha... When I closed my eyes, id have loads of vivid mad images floating around. The actual operation they had performed was an aortic valve replacement with aortic root replacement, and they had used a mechanical valve.Which means life long warfarin. 3 days later I was taken off intensive care to a ward. Id actually stayed in the same room a few weeks back. The nurses were great. I was so helpless because I actually couldn't move at all. My leg was really getting me down because I needed to get up and about to reduce the risk of a chest infection, but physically couldnt at all. It was heart breaking. I could see my career just take a nosedive and this was definately rock bottom for me. It took 2 nurses to get me even onto a chair, right by the side of the bed, to wheel me to the shower or toilet. They had to actually move my leg for me, and id be crying when they did, but was determined to push it, thinking it would eventually be ok.

(I had 3 drains in my chest, pacing wires in chest and various other tubes and stuff). In the end I just said to the surgeons this is getting no better, I couldn’t feel my leg it was numb, but if I tried to weight bare or move it, it was so so painful. They agreed it shouldn’t be this bad a week later, so they decided to operate. So 1 week after the open heart surgery, I was back in theatre. Once I was back on ward, I could tell it was better, although there was still a lot of numbness in the leg, and it was very sore around the wound, but that kind of pain is fine, you know it’s going to get better. Indeed, what had happened in the heat operation, was, they’d sewn it up tightly, because I was on warfarin, but they think that nerves had gotten trapped. Anyhow......... That evening I felt really cold, and then I began to get the spikes in temperatures. My heart sank... surely not another heart infection. I wasn’t sure I could mentally, or physically go through it a third time, and I knew my family would be totally totally devastated. The nurses asked me to pee in a small bottle, (next bit a little gross) and as I was trying to aim my pee (ha ha ha ) I noticed my left groin area was inflamed and massively swollen and was tracking down my leg. I alerted the nurses who did the doctors and my surgeon was called up. He thought maybe I had a haematoma, and said we need to re operate to remove it. So the next day, back to theatre. By this time, everyone in theatre knew me, it was almost embarrassing because they were saying...."gosh, not you AGAIN!!!!" On opening me up again, they couldn’t find a haematoma, and they diagnosed cellulitis, an infection in the wound. So I was back on IV antibiotics to try and clear this up and I then had another tube coming out of my leg, to drain the blood away. Instantly I felt better once Id had a couple of days of this treatment. I was starting to walk (very slowly) around the ward,and using a walker, but then the next day I took the stairs, day after did the stairs twice, and each day, Id set myself targets.

(drain in my leg) I was so pleased with how the actual heart operation had gone, because the pain in the ribcage was so minimal in comparison to last time, and I firmly believe this was because I was totally bed bound for a week after and it forced me to rest. Whereas before I’d been moving around, doing some light mobilisation exercises for the shoulder girdle etc. etc...

(1week post operation) On 4th September I had my Hickman line removed under a local anaesthetic... yeyyy... free from wires......

(2 weeks post operation) I was discharged yesterday evening and have just come back from a trip to the countess, where I’ve had a chat about warfarin and I now have weekly check-ups for this. Every 2 weeks imp back to Liverpool for check-ups, and every week I have to have infection levels checked. I’m not out of the woods just yet. I need to rest, and stay away from people with coughs, colds and infections. I’m so weak and I feel awfully rude saying to visitors they can really only stay around 30 minutes, but it really does tire me out and I’ll be like this for quite a while. I am now a piece of artwork in the form of scars and mentally it has been hard. I have had to overcome such a lot of illness and setbacks over the last 3 years. The whole episode stems from a root canal that became infected, which led to a heart infection, which damaged my heart valve further, which then lead to an abcess in the spleen, which had to be removed, so I now have a comprimised immune system. this more recent stay in hospital, I have had 2 major heart surgeries, another heart infection, 2 leg operations and a infection in my leg. This whole nightmare has been so hard for not only me, but the people around me. My aunty also passed away through all this, and my grandad put into a nursing home with full blown parkinsons, and the whole family have had to pull together so much. Without them, and the support of my friends, I couldnt have been as strong, mentally as I have been. (although I am one hard mo fo!!!! ha ha) I’m not allowed to even consider training for 4-6 months due to the strain on the heart and the aorta and also, my immune system wouldn’t cope. So for now its art work, and pottering around. I hope this hasn't bored you and I will continue to keep you updated.