Today, March 10, 2025, at home, the 3rd anniversary of the day after my open-heart surgery
My wonderful wife took this photo of myself in the Intensive Care Unit, Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Boca Raton, Florida, three years ago today on March 10, 2022. It's the day after my quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery.
During the same procedure, my surgeon first removed a long section of a vein in my left thigh to be cut into four pieces and used for my heart surgery.
As you can see, I am breathing supplemental oxygen. I have a needle (catheter) stuck in a vein in my neck with some sort of apparatus attached. I am being heavily monitored with electrodes stuck to my body. I also have two electrodes attached directly onto my heart with the wires sticking out of my chest.
In the comment section below, I have posted a composite photo of my chest wound after my heart surgery; after my second of two subsequent chest surgeries; and healing. It will probably be blurred by Facebook. Just click/tap on "Learn more," then "See photo," and you will be able to see it.
1st photo: after my heart surgery2nd: after my 2nd chest surgery3rd: healing
I continue to celebrate life, having survived open-heart surgery and two chest surgeries in less than three months.
After my heart surgery, I returned home after about a week in the Intensive Care Unit and in a regular hospital room. I started physical therapy and occupational therapy at home and then soon began cardiac rehabilitation at a nearby facility, using machines to strengthen my arms and legs.
I soon started to experience severe pain within my chest, so my wife took me to the hospital emergency room on May 13, 2022. I was admitted to the hospital, where it was determined that I required further surgery.
On May 19, 2022, a different surgeon removed metal sternal plates because the screws became loose, plus he tended to a staph infection within my chest. The plates were holding my breastbone together, purposely broken for my heart surgery. I think the plates were replaced with wire which is typically used to hold the pieces of the breastbone together for healing. My chest remained open for about a week, with a wound vacuum constantly sucking on my chest to further remove the infection and discharge.
On May 25, 2022, a third surgeon closed my chest. He clipped off the tips of my ribs and reattached my chest muscle flaps to my body. He affixed seven sutures which left me with eight holes in my chest from my lower neck to my upper belly.
I remained in the hospital but was soon transferred to a nearby physical rehabilitation facility on June 3, 2022. I remained there until July 21, 2022, the day before my wife's birthday, after a total of seventy (70) challenging days away from home following my second chest surgery.
At the facility, I engaged in physical therapy and occupational therapy almost every day, plus wound care which involved the continuation of the wound vacuum continuously (24/7) sucking on my chest, which included excruciatingly painful dressing changes every two or three days. The vacuum was removed shortly before I returned home.
At home, I continued to heal and got slowly stronger with the help of a physical therapist and an occupational therapist ... and my wife's healthy cooking. I never returned to cardiac rehabilitation which was most likely the cause of my medical problems.
While I have been able to gain some strength, now three years later, my chest is still numb and is occasionally sore. Following two spine surgeries in 2023 and a right ankle surgery in 2024, I am still unable to walk. I do have hope that I will soon experience self-mobility.
Many thanks go to my wonderful wife, my terrific mother, the hospital staff, and the therapists for helping me heal over recent years and into the future.
MY RECENT SURGERIES
March 2022: quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery (broken sternum required)
May 2022: 1st chest surgery (open chest to remove loose sternal plates and remove infection)
May 2022: 2nd chest surgery (a week later to close chest)
September 2023: 1st spine surgery (infected disk)
October 2023: 2nd spine surgery (placement of titanium metal rod to hold "collapsing" spine together due to bone infection)
April 2024: right ankle surgery (bone biopsy, deburring of bone, draining of fluid)
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