Advice for upcoming myectomy?

Hi @ginabassford,
Have you had a chance to read some of the posts here on Connect regarding open heart surgery?
Here is a link to a post I made a short time ago...there may be some information you find helpful.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/what-i-learned-from-my-open-heart-surgery-part-1/
Take a peek at this and see if you find answers for you...it's a lot to contemplate and those of us who have gone through this are willing to share any and all, good and bad, ups and downs of having open heart surgery with you!
Dr. Dearani is the BEST! He did mine...

I was originally scheduled for July 15 they called and moved me to June 19th
Best of luck to yku

Dr Dearani did mine back in 2016 and he was super fast! He told my family it would be 3 to 4 hours but was done in 1.5 hours.

As far as advise, I would recommend some hand signals between you and your family. When I was having my breathing tube removed I would stop breathing so they had a heck of a time getting me to breath on my own. During that time I wanted to say so many thing to my family but couldn't. Simple things like I wanted my wife's hand, or I wanted to wipe the spit from my chin/mouth. They are useful as well for when you are in too much pain to talk, but want something like water, or food or more meds.

The nights will be the worst. The nurses tended to not be on time with my meds, so I would sit there in pain until they came in (the call button fell from my bed when I was sleeping). With no where for my wife to sleep I was alone at night. If I could do it again I would have fought harder for my wife to be able to stay at night so I had someone to advocate for me to the nurses.

If they don't give you a heart pillow, have someone get you a fluffy soft pillow to hold against your chest. Even the heart pillow they did give me was a little too thin I thought. It will be your best friend if you have to sneeze or cough.

Your arm/chest/upper back muscles will become VERY weak almost immediately. Within the first week I pulled several muscles in my rib/back on my right side just trying to push myself up from the lazyboy chair. Even if you feel like you can get up on your own, have someone assist you so you don't end up back in the hospital back on IV narcotics for pulled muscles causing you not to be able to take a full breath.

Best of luck with your surgery! You are in the best possible hands!

I’m having a septal myectomy September 26th. Not sure how long I will need to stay in Rochester, but booked an Air B&B for three weeks.
I’m trying to walk 3-5 miles a day so I can be as strong as possible going into the surgery. I can’t walk it all at once due to fatigue, but hope to keep it up.

@mnsportsmanjr describes his experience well, that said, each of us had a different experience. I suggest that anyone considering or having surgery read the many stories in the What I Learned From My Open Heart Surgery section of this blog. For example, I had no pain, on Tylenol only after the first day, breathing without a breathing tube and talking on my own for a short while about 4 hours after surgery, I was in good physical shape going in - no trouble rising from sitting to standing at all, but getting out of bed was a real challenge! I like how @mnsportsmanjr suggests having an advocate stay with you 24/7 if you feel that you need it. Nights were the worst, indeed, people coming in to take BP, draw blood and the like was downright annoying and don't forget the sequential compression device (SCD) or an intermittent pneumatic (IPC) around legs at night to prevent blood clots. It kept me up all night on the last night in the hospital.

@mbi, your walking is a great way to work on staying in your best shape leading up to surgery! Keep up the good intentions! If there is a mall nearby, consider walking there when weather is uncomfortable. May I also suggest core strengthening exercises - ask your doctor first - such as planks and bridges? I just found this link! https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/core-strength/art-20546851 I found that the PT and OT challenges were easy to do because I went to the gym and walked very regularly - the main difficulty were the machines hooked up to me. I was annoyed at the slow speed at which these activities were completed, should not have been - I just had a septal myectomy! As far as how long to stay in Rochester, EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. I was home (we drove from north of Albany NY), a week after surgery, many others were uncomfortable leaving the area so soon or were not feeling up to traveling. See how you feel after discharge instructions and actual discharge.

Im scheduled for june 19th
I was told to plan on 5 days in hospital and 5 days in nearby hotel, they mthen scheduled me to be there two days early for other lab, testing, xrays, ct’s and consultations on 17th 18th angiogram, and surgery on the 19th so the concierge helped book my flights 16th return home on 29th

My extended myectomy is 7/15. Originally, we planned to come 7/12 because there were preop appointments on 7/14. Then, they changed much of what was scheduled 7/14 and put it on 7/11. They want to do a CT angio on 7/11 and are holding a spot for a heart cath 7/14 in case the CT on 7/11 indicates the need. We were able to get plane tickets changed for a $500 fee. It is fine…we are willing to do whatever is needed to receive the best care in the world.