Mended Hearts Open Forum

Hi, my name is Anne, and I'm a newbie here. I had open heart surgery three weeks ago today for two things: to close an ASD, and to correct an Atrial Septal Aneurysm.  The  ASA was classified as "giant", measuring more than 3cm, and pretty much occluded my entire right atrium.  Recovery has been going pretty well, I guess, but I did have to go back to the hospital for a few days a week ago due to low O2 sats, trouble breathing, and pain. They treated me with lasix and I improved. The O2 sats started dipping a lot again yesterday, too, but I was able to treat with lasix at home and it improved.
Anyway, has anyone else out there had surgical repair of an ASA? Not aorta.

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Anne Birdsong
Occupational Therapist
Rural
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Hi Anne,
I'm not sure if you not Not Aorta  means you dont wish feed back on this valve or not, but I can respond about the Open Heart. I have had three open heart surgeries in my 63 years, all taking place in the late 1960's to 1976. In those dinosaur days, there was nothing like O2 readers, but I can mention that often times after surgery I had very difficult times breathing and I am sure my O2 was very low. Most of the breathing problems were from the sternum; it hurt to try and take a deep breath.

I did go to our local hospital to be checked out:
Blood pressure,  an EKG machine the size of a desk top, some deep breath s (yeah right) I was only 11 years old and I had what is now known as panic attacks.  But always they said I was alright.
Took a few visits to my cardiologist to confirm every thing was normal. 
Anyway,  that's my story.
I hope this helps in any way, Anne.
Ken






------------------------------
ken levine
volunteer, retired
802-236-8186
kenpaullevine@gmail.com
Middlebury, Vermont
05753
United States of America
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 6/9/2020 12:38:00 PM
From: ken levine
Subject: RE: Atrial Septal Aneurysm, anyone?

Hi Anne,
I'm not sure if you not Not Aorta  means you dont wish feed back on this valve or not, but I can respond about the Open Heart. I have had three open heart surgeries in my 63 years, all taking place in the late 1960's to 1976. In those dinosaur days, there was nothing like O2 readers, but I can mention that often times after surgery I had very difficult times breathing and I am sure my O2 was very low. Most of the breathing problems were from the sternum; it hurt to try and take a deep breath.

I did go to our local hospital to be checked out:
Blood pressure,  an EKG machine the size of a desk top, some deep breath s (yeah right) I was only 11 years old and I had what is now known as panic attacks.  But always they said I was alright.
Took a few visits to my cardiologist to confirm every thing was normal. 
Anyway,  that's my story.
I hope this helps in any way, Anne.
Ken






------------------------------
ken levine
volunteer, retired
802-236-8186
kenpaullevine@gmail.com
Middlebury, Vermont
05753
United States of America
------------------------------

Hi Mary, thanks for your reply.  When was your OHS? You said you were able to go home in October, so I was wondering how long that was.  I would like to try some meditation or some kind of app to improve my breathing, do you have any you would recommend?

Thanks,
Anne

------------------------------
Anne Birdsong
Occupational Therapist
Rural
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2020 09:42
From: mary hedtke
Subject: Atrial Septal Aneurysm, anyone?

Hi Ken and Anne, 

I was in a respite home after my OHS and had low 78-82  readings.  I was not allowed to go home until I was up to 86 during exercise and after and that did not happen until late October last year.

I did deep deep breathing and meditation to try to get

those numbers better, but my lung was damaged during the OHS and it took some time to get better.  To be honest, I did not really feel full of breath until about April of this year, almost 9 months since my OHS

Hope this helps a bit

Original Message:
Sent: 6/9/2020 12:38:00 PM
From: ken levine
Subject: RE: Atrial Septal Aneurysm, anyone?

Hi Anne,
I'm not sure if you not Not Aorta  means you dont wish feed back on this valve or not, but I can respond about the Open Heart. I have had three open heart surgeries in my 63 years, all taking place in the late 1960's to 1976. In those dinosaur days, there was nothing like O2 readers, but I can mention that often times after surgery I had very difficult times breathing and I am sure my O2 was very low. Most of the breathing problems were from the sternum; it hurt to try and take a deep breath.

I did go to our local hospital to be checked out:
Blood pressure,  an EKG machine the size of a desk top, some deep breath s (yeah right) I was only 11 years old and I had what is now known as panic attacks.  But always they said I was alright.
Took a few visits to my cardiologist to confirm every thing was normal.
Anyway,  that's my story.
I hope this helps in any way, Anne.
Ken






------------------------------
ken levine
volunteer, retired
802-236-8186
kenpaullevine@gmail.com
Middlebury, Vermont
05753
United States of America
------------------------------

Thanks for the feedback, Ken!  It must've been pretty frightening to undergo OHS back in the day.  I'm sure they only did it when there was no other choice.  The breathing thing just surprised me.  I don't know whether I tuned the info out or what, but really wasn't expecting lung issues after surgery, lol! Now that I'm past the three week mark I seemed to have turned a corner for the better.  My O2 sats are remaining higher and I can do more without getting SOB.  In hindsight, I think a lot of it could have had to do with anxiety.

Thanks,
Anne

------------------------------
Anne Birdsong
Occupational Therapist
Rural
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 06-09-2020 12:38
From: ken levine
Subject: Atrial Septal Aneurysm, anyone?

Hi Anne,
I'm not sure if you not Not Aorta  means you dont wish feed back on this valve or not, but I can respond about the Open Heart. I have had three open heart surgeries in my 63 years, all taking place in the late 1960's to 1976. In those dinosaur days, there was nothing like O2 readers, but I can mention that often times after surgery I had very difficult times breathing and I am sure my O2 was very low. Most of the breathing problems were from the sternum; it hurt to try and take a deep breath.

I did go to our local hospital to be checked out:
Blood pressure,  an EKG machine the size of a desk top, some deep breath s (yeah right) I was only 11 years old and I had what is now known as panic attacks.  But always they said I was alright.
Took a few visits to my cardiologist to confirm every thing was normal.
Anyway,  that's my story.
I hope this helps in any way, Anne.
Ken






------------------------------
ken levine
volunteer, retired
802-236-8186
kenpaullevine@gmail.com
Middlebury, Vermont
05753
United States of America
------------------------------