smeighan Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Well today is the 3 week anniversary of my quad bypass. The nurses called it CABG ( coronary artery bypass graft) x4. If you remember I did not have any definite signs or symptoms of blocked arteries other than i was getting out of breath while on a boy scout hike with my sons. It turned out I had two arteries that were 100% blocked and two that were 80-90% blocked. My heart grew additional arteries around the blockages keeping the heart healthy and also masking how badly the main arteries were blocked. My operation was Sep 27th, about 5 hours long. During the operation, they stop your heart for 2 hours while they stitch in the new bypasses. My operation was very successful. Most people stay in the hospital 6-9 days after the operation, i was discharged on day 4. In the hospital they want you to inhale deeply. I started at 500ml and within a week i was inhaling 3000ml. The cardiac nurse on my 2 week checkup said i am healing faster than almost any other patient she has seen. Since her office does near 1000 CABG operations / year, i am doing good.I have started cardiac rehab. This is where you walk on a tread mill, ellyptical or stationary bike for 45 minutes. The whole time you wired to an ekg and they watch how you get stronger over a few months. I still find i get tired. Some days i sleep to 11am. Most days, i am up by 7:30am. The biggest pain is that i cant drive for 6-8 weeks. The process of steering a car puts stress on the sternum. I cant raise my elbows above my shoulders, i cant lift more than 8lbs, i cant drive. All of this to give time for the break in the chest wall to heal. I did not have bad stats before my operationBP 140/70Cholesterl 180mgWeight: 210lbThey dont give you medicine to lower cholesterol until you get over 210mg. slightly elevated BP, nothing that stood out. No chest pains, just out of breath. My blood work this weekBP 116/65Cholesterol: 125mgWeight: 193lbs. I am 5'8" so 193 looks like i am overweight but i was captain of the gymnastic team in college, i have dense muscles. I weighed 182lbs in college (when i could do 100 hand stand pushups). So i feel i am still about 10lbs overweight. we will see if i can get to the weight i had in 1974. I am able to play the flute and piccolo with more energy than i have in many years.I am getting some insights to what I will feel like with a fully profused heart. I cant wait to go hiking with my boys. My wife and I are completely redoing our kitchen. We are doing the work ourselves. The kitchen cabinets arrived two days before my surgery. After the surgery I have about a 2-3 month recovery period where i cant lift anything heavy. I was getting somewhat depressed about how the 3 month kitchen project was going turn into a 6 month kitchen project.And then, I got calls from 3 different people. I want to give a special nod to Dan Demoli, Andy Rau and Burke Benton. All 3 are scout leaders. While I went in for my operation , the three of them came and installed all my kitchen cabinets. This took two 12 hour days on a Saturday and a Sunday. They demonstrated the true meaning of what scouting is about. To them, I can only say Thanks! So, i am doing great! I am lucky this was found. I feel sorry whomever is sitting next to me when i am playing the piccolo. thanks everyone for your supportsean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanward Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Hello Sean, I'm glad you're doing so well! My father had a quadruple bypass about 14 years ago. Stan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LORi P Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Sean, it is fantastic to hear that things are going so well for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Sean,Glad to hear that you are recovering so well. Hope it continues for you! Thanks for the report. Go Scouts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Messer Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Sean, Glad to hear you are doing well after the operation. Every minute I watch my pixel tree this year I will remember you and all the help you have provided for all of us with Nutcracker. Get better soon... Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Sean, Glad to hear you are doing well after the operation. Every minute I watch my pixel tree this year I will remember you and all the help you have provided for all of us with Nutcracker. Get better soon... Jeff+1Speedy recovery Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGabriel Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Keep on track for a speedy recovery Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfing4Dough Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Keep up the hard work, Sean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyD Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Troop 239 (Pirates) from California say AARRRRGGGGG!! ...and we hope ye feel better soon!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Dang Sean, great news. So glad you have re-cooping abilities like that. Keep going strong. Thanks for letting us all know your progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightsinMaine Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Glad to hear ur recovery is going well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekb Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 Glad to hear everything is going good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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