Connect
← Return to What is the recovery like following septal myectomy?
Discussion
What is the recovery like following septal myectomy?
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) | Last Active: Apr 25 1:44pm | Replies (141)Comment receiving replies
2:30 AM - 7 days post surgery
Colleen and the group - thanks for your prayers, thoughts, and support. I am just back home (5PM, Monday, Nov 7) after having surgery Tuesday morning, November 1 at Mayo Rochester. From everything I have heard, read, and experienced - it sounds like it was a rousing success! Everything the nurses have said to me is that I am on the front end of any of the recovery charts. I do feel better now (7 days post surgery) than I was before the surgery. I am hurting but also healing and feeling pretty good. I went into ICU after Surgery, starting walking the next day and day 3 I moved out of ICU to a ward on floor 5 and was able to walk there with my family and the nurses carrying my stuff! I walked a lot which helped with the chest congestion, lung expansion, and just getting the body woken up in general. I got all my final drain tubes and connections off by Saturday AM so that by Saturday and suppertime we had moved out of the hospital into a hotel across the street and walked over to supper at a nearby restaurant. By the time I got back to my hotel room I was whipped. I will write more shortly - but wanted to say that info I found here helped me to keep a great attitude, appreciation for the nurses, doctors, and staff which made an extremely quick recovery so far.
I am pooped right now - I just got about 3 hours of sleep in and was waiting for the next pain med window before trying to go back for a little more sleep.
Encouragement for recovery:
Listen and respond positively to the work the Drs, nurses, staff give you. Get daily goals and work until they are done before giving up for the day
Get up and walking as much and as soon as you can
Try to get your body waken up by starting to eat and drink what you can
Wean off big pain meds when you can - but not before you need it! Pain is an indication of healing as well You need to heal and pain meds help
Keep positive! Nobody likes a downer - and the stories everyone has can get overwhelming - focus on the positive aspects of each day
Get happy people to visit you and get you to start laughing!
All for now. Thanks for the great group.
Dave @lamborama
Replies to "2:30 AM - 7 days post surgery Colleen and the group - thanks for your prayers,..."
Hi Dave, congratulations on a successful surgery! Just like what you said, walking really helps in the post op recovery process. I had my apical myectomy 13 months ago and by now I can exercise for over an hour (moderate aerobic exercise) 3-5 days a week. The only thing I would add to what you have been doing is, consider doing cardiac rehab at a hospital or rehab center close to you. Since I am an international patient (I am from Taipei, Taiwan), I waited for 7 weeks post op to take a 17 hour flight home (even though I didn't have to wait for that long to travel on an plane safely). While staying in Rochester, I went to Mayo's cardiac rehab center almost everyday for 5-6 weeks. I started my first rehab session around 12 days after surgery. The nurses and physiologists at Mayo's rehab center were really nice and helpful (always cheerful and encouraging), and spending an hour there everyday really helped get myself back in the swing of things. I literally started out by only being able to do 10-15 min of exercise (treadmill and bike), but every time I went, I made incremental improvement in terms of the time and intensity of my exercise program. By the time I was leaving Rochester, I was able to do 50 min of mild aerobic exercise. Aside from doing cardiac rehab, everyday I would walk for at least 20-40 min and do a bit of household chores. Doing those range motions also helped quite a bit in terms of reducing the tightness on my chest and around the incision line. Besides all this, I thought getting enough sleep and eating balanced meals were equally important. I waited til maybe 7 months post surgery (until my sternum was stable) to really have exertion on my upper body. At times I felt there was always something weird on my upper body, but eventually everything healed and became 'normal'. We just have to trust that our bodies have magical powers that make everything go back to its normal state. I wish you a speedy recovery!
-- Vivian
Hello I a candidate for a septal. Myectomy.prior to your surgery did your doctor suggest where to have this done. I live in south Florida
Mayo Clinic is one of the best places in the world to get this done. Many people travel to the Minnesota location from around the world. I travelled there from Los Angeles. Cleveland Clinic is another place. If you cannot make that trip, you need to at least find a place that does the surgery often. Mayo does around 200 of these surgeries a year. Experience with this particular surgery is paramount.
I have some resources on my blog for myectomy patients you may want to check out:
http://www.hcmbeat.com/resources/resources-for-patients-about-myectomy
Thank you Dave. I am a pretty positive person and hope that will help me through this. I am scheduled for surgery on April 17th 2018 with Dr Schaff in Rochester. I live in Fl but decided he was the best Dr for me. Who did your surgery? I will appreciate any advice you can give me. Hope you are doing well Thanks!
Hi Dave i am heading for surgery at Tufts March 19, 2019 and i was wondering how you are doing now that you are recovered? I won't lie i'm scared but i know i have to have this done i can't breath and i'm only 62, Thanks for any input you can give me. Priscilla
Connect
So great to hear from you Dave! AND to hear that the recovery is going well. Love your tips for recovery and would like to hear more about the daily goals you've been setting for yourself.
@mbcube @vivian88 @lynnkay1956 @PatMattos @ronaldpetrovich - what would you add about the recovery experience?