Posted 1/2/2014 3:48 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone. I really appreciate all the support so I thought I should log in and at least tell you how I am doing. It has been exactly one month since my heart surgery. they are telling me it went well, although it will be a few more months before I can really notice the improvements as basically your heart goes into A-fib as a defense mechanism. I was in ICU for 2 1/2 days and was released from hospital after 6 days. Today I was able to drive for the first time. Looks like I can go back to work near the end of Jan. the recovery has been a lot more difficult than I thought, probably much harder than my crohn's resection a few years ago as I had incisions in my groin (5 inches) neck (small at 2 inches) and a 7 inch on my right side of my chest! They did what they called "port access" thus the need for a larger incision but did not need to crack your breast bone. Also, I was on a heart/lung by-pass machine during the surgery and it really does a number on your system. I had 2 separate incisions for the 2 chest tubes I had hangin out of me for 5 days. Unfortunately, the crohn's did not like the stress of the surgery so once I got home, I had a few bad days and continued to loss weight. I have stabilized the loss now, and am trying to gain some back. but it will take some time. I am a big guy at 6'6" and my weight has gone from 255 5 years ago (while I was playing full court basketball 3 to 4 days a week) to 210 today. I was 220 the week before surgery, and I have not exercised in over 6 months due to the heart stuff. So now it is time to try and get some muscle mass back!!
as a side note for others, they keep me on humira during the surgery. the surgeon and the GI discussed and the surgeon said he could deal with it since this is considered a "clean" surgery vs dirty surgery. dirty is a resection where the risk of infection from bowl leaks is much more of a risk . so far no problems from the humira and the surgery except the scar healing is a little slower.
thanks for all the support. I will be back on the board full time in a few more weeks.