Given no support after open heart surgery

[LostIn_Darkness]

Hello,

Thank you for accepting me into the beyond blue support discussion. I have recently had open heart surgery. From the medical side I was not spoken to in detail from hospital staff about how the medical procedure would proceed. Also was not given any information that I could read and educate myself about the surgery and recovery. If I could turn back the clock to the day before surgery, I would. Why you may ask, so I could  prepare myself for the trauma I was going to experience after the surgery in intensive care. And also for the start of recovery in coronary care. Completely left in the dark not knowing what to expect and how to proceed and process my long lonely road to recovery. Even to this day today, I have had no cardiac rehab and have definitely not had any support from the hospital/health system in regards to my physical/mental and emotional health. I am broken and can see ahead the darkness. 

I have an amazing support group of friends who contact and check in on me daily, sometimes multiple times a day. Forever and extremely greatful to them and I love them all so much. Their support is endless. I feel like a burden to them.

Has anyone else had open heart surgery and willing to get in touch? 

Thank you for reading my post

LostInDarkness 

[Croix]

Dear Lostindarkness~

I'd like to welcome you here to the support forum,  I can very much sympathise with your situation which leaves one feeling like some object on an assembly line not worth anyone's time to support. This leads to great stress and sometimes depression.

I recently had some other surgery and while given a one page summary of the operation there was little else. My surgeon was intent on letting me understand the technical features of the surgery  and not much else. Glossed over a listing of possible symptoms.

Seeing me for a short while half conscious the next day did not really do anything, and he then booked me an appointment for 6 months time. 

I did have pronounced symptoms as a result of the surgery and was not able to find anyone to assist or inform me. I ended up paying for a special consultation with the surgeon with a list of questions to ask, and also mentioned to him that having him available by phone  rather than very unsatisfactory email to his secretary's secretary would have saved me a great deal of worry (and expense).

I should have researched a great deal more before hospital and known exactly what questions to ask. Nice if one had a Tardis.

I would suggest you look up a specific section of the Heart Foundation .You could ring them and may find their program useful as it deals with matters right up to heart transplant recovery and also one's mental health. If you decide to try their program I strongly suggest you first check with your GP to see if it is OK to do

 I am very glad yo have such good friends, it would be a real comfort. Trying to face this in isolation would have been very hard.

Feel free to come back here anytime

Croix

[PaulPerryman]

I haven't had open heart surgery but 7 weeks ago i underwent Bi-lateral shoulder surgery to repair a fracture and 2 dislocations and i was diagnosed with epilepsy too, i've recieved next to no help whilst i was in hospital for a month and in the 3 weeks since.

Also prior to that for the past 2 years i was having mini seizures and the doctor just kept prescribing anti-depressants and did 1 MRI.  Never bother to get an actual brain scan done which might have come up positive for epilepsy 2 years ago.  back in march on the day i was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea i either fell asleep at the wheel or had a seizure when driving home and cause a 5 car collision, totalling my car in the process.  Iwas rushed to the hospital and all they did was do a drug/alcohol test and basic poing and prodding to determine if anything was broken.  I told them i was not in severe pain but my neck was cracking, they didnt bother to do a MRI and said there was nothing they could do for me, i may aswell go home

a few months later again i apparently had a seizure in bed and cause the dislocations, nothing to do with the cash ofcourse.

As far as the medical profession goes, in hospital the nurses were stretched well beyond there means, but i was essentially not a priority cause i wasn't life threatening. I was told this by one of the doctors and i was helping other patients out cause noone was coming to assist them.

During the 4 weeks in was in hospital i was only able to sleep for the first 2 weeks and that was cause i was on the highest drug they could administer which knocked you out as soon as that stopped i didn't sleep for over a week other that very briefly dozing mostly cause i was grieving allmost non stop and i couldn't lay down with excrutiating pain in my back/shoulders.  Whilst i was post surgery the physios and most of the doctors were on strike so i had no direction on what exercises i should be doing and checking on my progress and the nurses could only aminister what was prescribed which was not helping the pain or the fact i couldn't lay on my back due to the shoulder surgery and they didn't care also they even listed the fractures in my neck in the surgery synopsis but did nothing about it nor said anything to me

Add to that my father who had been very ill for over a year passed away a week after my surgery and the funeral took place during that 2 weeks aswell.

I feel you on the trauma, i'm still suffering alot of pain and grief.  The Surgeon tells me one thing, the physicians tell my something else and 4 different doctors all have there own opinion on my status and how i'm meant to be be healing, none of which align, so i have no direction, still can barely sleep and any progress is because i'm stubborn and forcing my body to progress other then i'm seeking mental therapy treatments from 2 seperate therapists for the grief and they atleast have a common pattern in how to help and reaching out here tonight

The GP's and others are just yeah, your doing ok, see you in a month and that's it.

Even when i left he hospital before they started charging me $80 a day for being a long term patient, the medicaitons i was just given with no direction on what to take when, they just said here ya go.