I had quadruple bypass surgery 5\24\17. Any one here with experience? This mine.

You shouldn't dismiss those symptoms. I didn't have any things like that happen to me, although as I said earlier, I did get carted back to the hospital a few days after being initially released. I was dehydrated and tanked out in front of my wife and son. I felt bad that they had to call 911 and go through that, so I promised myself I would take my time with my recovery. I was out of work for 2 months, then went through the cardiac rehab program. It was the right thing to do. Please be patient, and take your time with your recovery. You will eventually be back to normal.
 
Thanks Glenn and BM! Well my blood pressure has been high and my nurse and physical therapist who evaluated me yesterday strongly suggested I just rest until it is controlled. I see my primary Tuesday and sure he will adjust my meds. I am going crazy doing nothing and look forward to getting my BP controlled so I can get back to doing a bit. And starting physical therapy.
 
I had been doin alright other than my blood pressure being high. When at about 5 pm last eve. I felt a very fast triple thump of heartbeat. Then came an immediate headache and pressure in the top portion of my chest. I sat for a few minutes and it got no better so I had my girl call 911.
They gave me nitro and by the time I got to the hospital 5 minutes away I felt fine. Needless to say I spent the night and am still at the hospital:(
As of late last night the doctors had no diagnosis nor treatment plan other than to observe me and adjust blood pressure meds. They did find my troponin (spelling) is a little high. It is something they look at that can indicate heart attack altho they said it could caused by the bypass surgery..Sighhhhhhh
 
Sorry to hear you are back in the hospital...it can be discouraging but Glen is right, you can't ignore those symptoms...I hope it's as simple as a medicine adjustment and that you are up and about really soon...

Cheers/bg
 
They sent me home this afternoon with a prescription doubling my blood pressure meds and said they believe my pressure being so high for so long on a recent open heart surgery was what caused it. They found no evidence of a heart attack or a failure in the bypass.

I hope thats all it is. I gotta say it sure spooked me. Ive also learned how strong the will to live is, I have been planning for a long time to get a do not resuscitate order done. Believing in quality of life. But I sure didn't hesitate getting the bypass surgery nor calling 911 last eve.
 
Good news...now, follow the doctor's instructions...and, for Pete's sake, quit watching the news...that's enough to raise anyone's blood pressure...

Cheers/bg
 
Lmao BM, that is the truth! Actually I stopped watching the news many many years ago. I don't really watch much t.v. I read a lotta books and come here to B.F. for my entertainment. And when I get better I will be piddling around with knives a hobby I used to do some time ago.
Making knives from files was something I enjoyed and may do agian.
 
I was in the hospital for 11 days when I had my CABG. I was having a breathing problem that I didn't notice, but my blood O2 level was in the 80s. The surgeon stuck a tube in my side and drained off a bit over a liter of fluid. Keep in mind that this was in Nov. 1998. I had no other problems until Nov. 2011 when I started having some angina. My grafts started clogging.
I have been told that is very unusual. Since then I have been to the ER 4 times for chest pain and now have a total of 8 stents. I was taking clopidogrel. The last dr. who did the stents said that it wasn't working and he put me on Effient which cost about 10 times more, but it seems to be working.

There are a couple of coronary arteries that he couldn't do anything with, so I carry nitro tablets all the time.

Keep in mind that this whole thing started almost 19 years ago and I have not yet assumed room temperature. :D


Show this to your cardiologist.

CABG
cabgwnew.jpg
 
Uffda thank you for sharing your experience! I believe I will start carrying my Nitro agian, I stopped carrying it after my surgery but this last episode was cured when the EMT,ts gave me a dose. My blood pressure is now down to a normalish # with the new meds I was given so hopefully there will be no more episodes.
I feel pretty good so far today and I am going to call the home care folks to see if the P.T. nurse will come and see if I am ready to do some physical therapy which hopefully will speed up the recovery time.
Today marks week 3 post operative.
 
Home care nurse? They just booted me out the door of the hospital.

How is the incision on your leg doing? That seemed to be the biggest complaint the guys in rehab had. Many had problems with the area just above the ankle healing. I didn't have any problems except itching.
 
Thanks anr. Uffda I have a nurse that comes in twice a week since I was kicked outta the hospital. She removed the stitches from my arm where the took an artery. My legs haven't bothered me other than the left one has been slower for the swelling to go down. I have a physical therapist whom insurance will pay for 6 visits. So far she was here one time to evaluate me, no therapy as of now.
How long after surgery was it before you started rehab, was it outpatient and how long did you go to it?
 
Geeeez! It was 18 years ago. I can't remember what I had for breakfast.:confused:

IIRC, I started a little over a month after surgery. It was delayed because of the December holidays. Rehab was 3 times a week for 12 weeks. Before that, I was supposed to walk around the house for 5 minutes several times a day. I was so weak that I barely made 5 minutes the first couple of weeks. The first day in rehab was a joy. I couldn't do any faster than 1 MPH for a few minutes. By the 9th week I was doing 4 MPH. The goal was to walk a mile in 15 minutes.

I only saw the surgeon once after i got out of the hospital. The cardiologist came to rehab once in the 10th or 11th week and I did the treadmill test. After that, I had a treadmill test once a year.

They took a vein out of your arm? I knew a guy who had that done. He was diabetic and they didn't want to take the saphenous vein from his left leg.
 
Uffda Thank you for the information. I had a quad bypass they got a vein from my left arm both legs and and a mammary.

I have been feeling well since they changed my blood pressure meds and my pressure is now in the normal range. I see my cardiology doc friday nxt week and I am going to ask for a script to go to rehab which is required by the rehab place , I think it will be a big help.
 
I had a triple and they only opened up one leg...guess they are all different...my surgeon came once (it is 70 miles away)...my cardiologist is my neighbor so I see him whenever I want but only have an appointment once a year...in fact, my next appointment is this coming Monday...

Sounds like you are back to semi-normal...good luck with the rehab...

Still hugging that pillow when you sneeze/cough?...

Cheers/bg
 
Thanks for the well wishes BM. I do have my pillow but I only use it when in the car. So far I haven't had to cough or sneeze (knock on wood)
I did have a coupla hiccups and that hurt! So I have forbidden myself to cough or sneeze.
I had an episode last night that woke me up, it is something that has happened a few times through the years and my father also had it. No one has ever diagnosed the problen.
I was woken up by a headache and felt like I was going to faint (sorta feels like the head spins from to much alcohol) also sweating profusely. When I tried to get up to get a cool towel I did faint. I lay there till I felt better (as has all ways been then case) and went and got the towel which helped a lot. I have no idea how long this lasted but It felt like 15 minutes or so. I had no chest pain which is why I did not call 911. I did take blood pressure meds aspirin and nitro which is what the EMT did and which made me feel better earlier in the week with my episode.
The meds I took this time did not help. As I have done before I waited it out and fell back asleep and feel fine right now. I wish I had remembered to check my sugar as it was wayyyyyy low during my episode on Monday.
Well thats todays update. I wish you all a great day and weekend!
 
FOG2: take this for what's it's worth:), a good MD *should* be able to differentiate and diagnose these episodes with monitoring and other tests — be they neurologic, autonomic NS, epileptic, cardiac, metabolic or otherwise. But you probably already know that. I don't know where you live, or what tests they have performed, but good neurologists and others with expertise practically grow on trees in Boston. And yes, sometimes they can't figure things out, or they get it wrong — BUT, if you find a true expert they may get to the bottom of these symptoms. Good luck.
 
Thanks annr, it has been many years since someone tried to diagnose it and it was a general practioner then and in Key West where there wasn't much other choice. It hasn't bothered me in a long time untill last nights episode.
This evening I started getting a headache and some chest pain, I took some nitro and felt better. I checked my Blood pressure and my low # was 99, I then took my evening B.P meds and have felt fine since. It would seem keeping my blood pressure under control is very important since this is the 2nd time this has happened. The 1st time being Monday when we called 911
I am gettin sick and tired of being sick and tired. I hope either time healing and/or doctors will get me some quality of life back.
 
Well what a difference a day makes.
I feel great! Had a good walk and after I worked on a Case mini Trapper I am rescaling. It is lookin purty good to.
I, m not really tired but figured taking a break was a good idea. So I showered ate a banana and logged into B.F.
 
FOG2 said:
Well what a difference a day makes.
I feel great! Had a good walk and after I worked on a Case mini Trapper I am rescaling. It is lookin purty good to.
I, m not really tired but figured taking a break was a good idea. So I showered ate a banana and logged into B.F.
Click to expand...
Good to hear it! I haven't had this procedure, but one of my students did when he was about 50 years old--learned he had been living with a congenital heart defect. He got back to the practice of medicine in about 3 months--as a surgeon.

So, with any luck, you will see similar progress. It's hard to pace oneself going through an unfamiliar experience. In his case, dedication and determination paid off. I know that he had to alter his dietary and exercise habits, go to rehab after a period of time elapsed, and maybe had to take some new meds for a while, others indefinitely, but overall he thought he felt better than before.

Also, re: your syncope-type events. It sounds like your GPs never did any type of thorough work-up, so I can understand why you would be in the dark about this. Just a thought: maybe you want to mention these to the cardiologist, as he is a specialist.

I realize that we are very lucky in this part of the country in the sense that we have so many choices for specialists (we have the highest per capita ratio of physicians/100,000 people in the nation), and IME the internists don't even treat allergies and other "minor" conditions. They mainly coordinate care with specialists and do routine check-ups, schedule screenings, etc., very different from what you describe. Good luck!
 
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