u/melcip

For those of us still in the early-ish days of recovery (my surgery was a month ago), it’d be helpful to hear from folks a year or more past their surgery to get a sense of what’s to come in the longterm.

Before my surgery, I was mostly interested in learning about the immediate recovery days in the hospital bc those were the scariest. Now that that’s behind me (phew), I’d find it helpful to learn more about long-term recovery to help me stay patient with myself as I continue to feel the impact of the surgery (decreased stamina, general weakness, numbness, occasional bouts of pain, anxiety, etc.)

Thanks 🌻

For at least the past decade I’ve had a fast/tachycardic heart rate of around 106-116 at rest.

A few months ago, I learned I have about 8.9% PVC beats and, especially worryingly, non-sustained ventricular tachycardia. I was prescribed metoprolol when this was discover and have been on it since.

I had MVP repair surgery about a month ago, and my heart rate has so far remained tacky (but I know it’s still early days). I’ll wear a heart monitor again in about six months once I’m more healed to see if there’s been any effect on the PVCs or NSVT.

I’m wondering if anyone else has saw improvement in any of these areas after their MVP surgery? And if so, when did your rhythm start improving?

(I’ll add for more context that I had bileaflet MVP, which likely caused a small amount of scarring in my heart that could have impacted my heart rhythm.)

Thanks for sharing ❤️‍🩹

I (39f) had MVP repair surgery a week ago with the robotic-assisted method. Currently most of my right armpit and a large portion of my upper right chest and most of my right breast feel totally numb. The feeling is extremely uncomfortable - naturally letting my arm fall to my side means having the numbness in my armpit rub against the numbness in my chest/breast. Right now this feels entirely intolerable - I am keeping a small pillow between my arm and chest 24/7 to prevent them from touching.

Has anyone else here experienced this or something like it? Has all or most of your feeling returned? Has numbness remained but become tolerable? I know it’s the very early days post surgery and there’s much healing to be done, but after having a c-section with persistent numbness around the scar I can’t help but worry this discomfort and numbness may be long lasting as it was with my c section…

Thanks for sharing.

P.S. though I’m relieved to be on the other side of it, the mvp surgery was really intense and scary for me. For all y’all who’ve gone through it and for those who will need it, sending love, patience, and grace as we navigate this journey together ❤️

I have MVP repair surgery in a month with the robotic-assisted procedure. I also had a c-section less than a year ago, which is my main reference point for post-surgery pain. I’m curious if y’all could describe your pain experience using the standard hospital rating system and other tangible points of reference? I feel like this could help me mentally prepare for the experience and what to expect, though I know everyone’s experience is unique.

For example, here’s how I’d describe my c-section pain experience:

- Day 1 after surgery I had literally zero pain thanks to the epidural & spinal block (I got both) - I was feeling kind of great and probably a little high in a nice way from the meds.

- On days two and three I had a couple episodes about 1-2 hours each of breakthrough pain after the spinal/epidural wore off. At the time I rated the breakthrough pain episodes a 7 or 8. It’s the kind of pain that you can’t do anything but focus on the pain and finding relief. Even slight movements felt excruciating. It wasn’t sharp pain at the incision (which was large - like 7 inches), it was more this tense strong pressure overtaking most of my body. The nurses upped my meds when that happened, and since they were pills and I no longer had the IV for medication to be administered after day 1, it took a little time for the meds to kick in. I think this breakthrough pain could’ve been way less bad if I had been taking the oxycodone, which I wasn’t taking bc I felt zero pain on day one. I didn’t initially think I needed the oxy, but had I known the major surgery painkillers (epidural/spinal) would wear off the way they did I would’ve taken oxy sooner.

- Aside from those episodes I rated my pain somewhere between 1-4 through the rest of my hospital stay. The higher 4 rating was mainly due to gas pain in my shoulder area.

- After day three, my pain never really went above a 2, which is to say I was mainly just sore and moving really slow but felt pretty good.

- When I went home after spending four nights in the hospital, I found myself to be quite mobile - I was taking it easy but also taking care of the baby, doing some basic chores, walking around fine. After about a week home, I felt well enough to go see a band and dance for a bit. In general I was surprised at how little pain I felt aside from the episodes of breakthrough pain.

I know a c section is totally different than heart surgery, and that’s kind of the point … I’m sharing as a point of reference to compare with.

I’ll also note that at the beginning of my c section surgery (crazy that you’re awake during c sections…) I was really panicking and expressed how scared I was. The anesthesiologist gave me some wonderful sedative that chilled me out and even made me feel a bit euphoric. Did your doctors give you anything going into surgery to calm you down?

Lastly, I’m SO scared of the drainage tubes. What was that like for you pain-wise?

Thanks for sharing ❤️