Posted by Ed Wehan on September 05, 2001 at 00:14:42:
In Reply to: heart surgery at Cleveland Clinic posted by Sheena Sims on September 04, 2001 at 21:23:02:
Sheena, I agree with Jack (as usual). I am 57 and had my maze at Cleveland on January 10th of this year. If you read some of the past postings, you will see that I recovered pretty quickly.
When I awoke after surgery, I felt great. I saw the monitor which showed I was in NSR, I saw my friends and I was OK. I slept well that night, went to a regular room that morning and never really felt pain. I was tired and slept and walking was a strain but something I knew I had to do. I left the hospital after four days and stayed at the Guesthouse for two more nights before flying back to the West Coast. This was not difficult.
I will tell you that post maze, your heart does funny things so be prepared for that. You will often be in AFib until the scars heal but just remember that this is pretty normal. Read this board for other post maze experiences. We all pretty much go through the same thing. When your scar heals at six or seven weeks, everything falls into place.
At two weeks, I could walk a couple of miles and soon thereafter I could run a little.
You'll do great. Tell your husband to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Rob will tell you where else to go. Find out who else is having their maze at the same time as you and go visit them. I was lucky to have Mike Johnson and Carl Plaskett with me and the three of us (and Debbie and Barbara = their wives) will all be partying together on Cape Hatteras in October to show each other our scars and to drink Carl's wine.
On the ventilator, ask the doctor if they can remove it before you wake up. It was gone when I woke and that was just great.
Good luck to you and keep us posted. Mike, Carl and I will toast your recovery on our upcoming trip.
- Re: heart surgery at Cleveland Clinic Sheena Sims 10:58:57 9/05/2001 (0)