Post septum myectomy: How did you feel 9 weeks after surgery?

I’m sorry you have pain. I had my septal myectomy in January. Next month I will be 81. I was like you and thought I would try to tough it out and try not to take the Tylenol. When I left Mayo after surgery, the Mayo nurse told me they wanted me to take Tylenol for at least six weeks because Tylenol helps with the healing process. I found that it really helped me with stopping the pain so I could sleep. If you have doubts about taking it, you might want to call or email the nurses at Mayo. Good luck. I feel so much better now even though I was told my recovery would take a year because of my age. It is worth it.

I had it 3 weeks ago and still extremely sob.does it improve with time?

Absolutely, I am feeling great now. Cardio rehab has gotten me back to as normal as I can get at 81. I’m doing house and yard work and resuming my social life. Be patient and maybe keep in mind that depression is common after surgery, but it gets better with time.

Hi everyone! I live with HCM and I’m going to be having septal myectomy sometime in June. I try not to think about the surgery but the outcome and how much better I will feel. Has anyone had the surgery and how do you feel now?

Hi @stall6js and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. You'll see that I moved your post to a discussion about septal myectomy. I did this so you can connect with members like @angiev18, @bbonchek, @karukgirl, @marigold13, and @bettyann6 who have been through it.

I also wanted to share some other discussions that you might like to read.
HCM-ers: Introduce yourself or just say hi: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/hcm-ers-introduce-yourself-or-just-say-hi/
Related discussions: Travelogue about a visit to the HCM Clinic at Mayo Clinic - Rochester: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/travelogue-about-a-visit-to-the-hcm-clinic-at-mayo-clinic-rochester/
A great new HCM overview video from Mayo Clinic: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/a-great-new-hcm-overview-video-from-mayo-clinic/

Can you share a little more about your experience with HCM?

Hi Stall, I had the cardio myopathy 4 weeks ago yesterday.
• I'm a 55 YO, male, in pretty good shape (180 lbs)
• I had a great experience at Mayo.
• I had 0 pain from the surgery
• My chest felt like I was in a car accident, bruised and some muscle soreness, but no pain.
• I feared post surgery pain would be the worst - it wasn't
• I urinated a lot for the first few day - a lot
• Surgery was about 6 hours
• Dearani was my surgeon - the BEST!
• Everyone was very, very nice.
• It took a couple of days to have a bowel movement, having one is a big deal, they'll make that clear
• At home now, I do feel some pain in my chest, will see my cardiologist in 2 weeks to get more info. on that
• I do take care to obey the "no lifting over 5lb, etc. stuff but I feel like I could do far more than I do.
• Have a super-positive attitude - it WILL make all the difference.
• As a Christian I didn't / don't fear dying which made the experience all the better.

Dale G.

I’m 6 months out of surgery and wow what a difference, there was good days and some days I didn’t think I was gonna heal. I work construction and I went back to work a month to early though, went back right at 8 weeks, if I knew I would wait 12

@thomasandmichelle so glad you had a good experience in the end and are healed now.
@servant1966, WOW zero pain is awesome! Is it normal to urinate a lot the first few days after surgery?

Well, I understand that a.) I am young (55); and b.) I am in good shape (I think of people in good shape as having at least a 2-pack not a keg 🙂 ) but thats what they say so I think that really helped.
Not sure on the urinating its just that for the 1st 3-4 days each time there was a shift change they would point out how much I was urinating. I started asking and they said that nothing was wrong, in fact it proved my kidneys were in good shape, but that it WAS a lot. I ensured I drank a lot - which I always drink a lot of water - so that may have been part of it. After 4 days though I became more "normal."

Thank you for responding and telling me of your experience! I have a positive outlook on this too and can’t wait to feel better! I’m a 61 year old female, so hopefully my experience is as good as yours!