Hi Debra,
Thanks for sharing your experiences with your open heart surgery. I've never had it, hope never to need it, but reading what you went through, I figure you have to be eternally grateful to have come through it so well, and to be looking at the your open heart experience in your rear view mirror, instead of having to look forward to it all!

Just wanted to comment on your not being allowed to wear nail polish during your hospital stay. They probably explained this to you, but I'd read the reason for this is that they can get a quick assessment of your oxygen saturation status by looking at the color of your nails, can't do that with colored nail polish covering the nails. Also, I've read that nail polish that's starting to chip, crack or peel can be a "microbe-collector" so to speak, and there are enough risks of hospital-acquired infections around anyway. Which, as I recall, they've also discouraged nursing staff from having chipped or peeling away nail polish on their nails when they're working.

I'm really surprised they didn't offer you some better pain management at least for a few days after your surgery. Cutting through your sternum and all the associated muscles, nerves, etc and manipulating your heart has to leave you with a good amount of pain and I'd have thought they'd anticipate that and given you some of the good stuff for at least some time after the surgery. I don't know if there is an analogous procedure they might do for pain control following chest surgeries, but I had a colon resection ( for colon cancer) a couple years ago, and they used some sort of a nerve block into some of the nerves of the abdomen just before the surgery. This nerve block lasts, they say, for several days following surgery and lessens the deep visceral pain expected after major GI surgery ( they removed about half my colon), though not the surface pain, and lessens the need for opioid pain killers after surgery. Even still, they gave me IV dilaudid the afternoon after the surgery ( I didn't for it) but it knocked me out, though I had a miserable GI reaction to the stuff ( terrible nausea, if they'd continued it, would have been vomiting) and I said no more dilaudid. But it's a good knock you out drug for immediately following surgery if you can tolerate it. They gave me tramadol and acetominophen orally after that. I didn't think that did much in the way of pain control, but I took it anyway.

Wondering about something like the 5 mg oxycodone/acetominophen combination oral tablets for pain control? I was prescribed those following carpal tunnel surgery and used them for a few days only following that surgery, found them to manage that pain effectively, with no nausea or vomiting. Might these be something to consider for a few days following open heart surgery? In my humble opinion, not managing the pain of a surgery like open heart because of a fear of opioid addiction is doing the patient a disservice, but it may be up to the patient ( or a cogent family member) to advocate for the best pain management for them.

My best wishes and hopes for you to continue on your journey back to health and vitality!