Greetings
I'm Ricardo and I am new to the group (just joined this month). I had my first open heart surgery on March 18 after having an Aortic Dissection. I had no clue it was that serious but I was in pain unlike I usually had in my chest. However everyone kept telling me "you're lucky to be alive" "most don't make it" "you could/should have died" this is all new to me and to be honest makes me slightly nervous to have my second open heart surgery. But I know some things depend on the person, or most things depend on the person. However I have a few questions:
- How long did it take for you to gain some sense of normalcy
- I had my surgery on 3/18 but I still feel pain in my chest and can't sleep comfortably. Is that normal (it's been a month and I still have pain).
- I still cannot walk very far and I have to rest after walking up flights of stairs. Is that normal?
- My left eye goes dark sometimes (it's happened four times since my surgery. I googled and it said there's many times there's a lack of oxygen reaching the eye.
- Could this be an effect of surgery
- My skin is peeling on my hands. Large portions (my finger print and close to the base of my finger). The hair on my knuckles has come up also
- The back of my hand is scaling
- I am tired A LOT! Like I feel exhausted.
- My incision on my shoulder is still a little numb (when does feeling usually come back after surgery)
So I have to have another surgery to repair the aorta on the lower part of my aorta/heart. I'm just now seeing my chest scar heal. Has anyone had two open heart surgeries due to aortic dissection? And how far a part were your surgeries?
- What are the biggest permanent changes that I should expect
- Advice you wish someone had told you that you believe will be helpful before, and after the surgeries
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Ricardo McCrary
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