u/Afraid-Cancel-4597

20(M) born with a unicuspid aortic valve so surgery early on was inevitable. I have pretty bad anxiety so the months leading up to the surgery were very difficult as I was trying to determine if my symptoms were anxiety based or heart based and went to the ER and discharged the same day 3 times cause of that. Symptoms included irregular heartbeat/ fluttering, shortness of breath, feeling like I'm going to faint, sharp pains on the left side of my chest under my left nipple, and once a sharp pain in the center of my chest which was one of the ER visits. On the night of the surgery my blood pressure was 145/83 and only got 2 hours of sleep just because I was so nervous. But on the day of, knowing it was going to inevitably happen I was much calmer. I came in 2 hours early as they prepped me for the OP room and sent love to my family before heading in. shortly after I was put under via IV and woke up moments later in the ICU thankfully not intubated as my family came in one by one to greet me. Pain wasn't really a problem on day 0 but I had 3 chest tubes that needed to stay in for a couple days so those became a huge problem for me. After getting not much sleep night 0 just because of broken sleep from vital/pill checks, I woke up day 1 with pretty bad pain in my back and whole lung area which really started bothering me because slowly every breath i took had to be shorter to prevent pain. Pain in the sternum wasn't much of a concern. Pain killers were barely helping with the pain as the pain in my lungs and back progressively got worse, when i informed the nurses and doctors they said it was normal because the chest tubes touch the lung walls which have lots of nerves and push against the back as they bend. I went to bed night 1 breathing really shallow and in quite a bit of pain so i got less sleep than the night before. Day 2 was a living hell for me, when I woke up i noticed the pain in my back and lungs was significantly worse and could now only take very small breaths to reduce the pain. I told the nurses that I need them removed today because the pain was too great and they responded they couldn't because there was too much drainage but they could get me a nerve block to numb the pain for 8-12 hours. About an hour later the anesthesia team came in and gave me the nerve block numbing only my chest wall which was not the area where the pain was as it was in my lungs and back but they said they couldn't do anything about that just more pain meds so it didn't do anything to help. about 5pm of day 2 and the pain was getting unbearable, i couldn't even breathe lightly anymore to prevent pain and every breath felt like a knife to the back with a pain level of 10 and i told them i at least need some of the tubes to come out because i can no longer handle it. they said they could do that but will have to leave 1 in for remaining drainage. However it was time to move to the recovery room which was the peak of the pain. Every breath i took was followed by an audible ooo exhale as and anything deep felt like slicing deeper and deeper the deeper the breath. they needed me to stand up and move to the wheelchair so i can be rolled to the recovery room. they gave me a pillow to brace, i started standing and i was basically screaming at this point from the effort, the breaths i had to take to stand, and the pressure on my back and lungs. after about 10 excruciating minutes of moving to the new room and getting settled in, they told me it would be another 3 hours before the 2 of the 3 tubes could be removed so i just had to sit and wait which was the most pain ive ever been in. after those 3 hours of horrible pain with very very shallow breathing passed they finally came in and removed them which there was instant relief and i could finally take decent sizes breaths without horrible pain. I rested the most night 2 now that i could breath and the pain was manageable at like a 6/10. day 3 i noticed a strange popping feeling in my left chest when i took deep breaths. i informed the nurses and doctors and they said it's likely from the lungs because they were collapsed during the surgery and i needed breathing exercises to bring the back to full function. on the afternoon of day 3 the final tube was removed and i was feeling better. Pain was manageable for the rest of the stay and the day to day consisted of waking up, going for walks, doing breathing and arm exercises, eating (which i forgot to mention i couldn't because of the pain till day 3), then sleep. After passing stool i was released on day 5. I believe the trauma from the breathing tubes is still pretty major because on the drive home i could feel every bump hurt more in my lungs and back than my sternum. after getting home shaking from the pain of the hour long car ride i went straight to bed and day 6 and 7 have consisted of walking more, and pushing my lungs to get deeper breaths though still one problem persists which is the back and lung pain, and popping/ sharp pain when breathing deeply one i reach a certain point of the deep breath. I started writing this after walking up from pain at 3am on day 8 waiting for my pain meds to kick in and its now about a 4/10 and the pain is pretty equal between the sternum and lungs/back. The thing im most concerned about is the healing of my lungs and a timeframe for when that popping sensation will go away if any of yall have similar experiences. I also figured I would share my experience because I dont see many posts describing pain as bad as this and in much detail, sorry if i missed your post however! I am feeling much better health wise after the procedure, my heart rate is constantly high hovering around 95 - 105 but the shortness of breath/ dizziness are completely gone as well as my anxiety about my heart health for the most part. Feel free to ask any questions and I will respond if I have the time. take care 🙏