I don't know what they put in that popsicle, but shortly after finishing it and after about 2 days since this process started, they rolled me out and down the hall to the 'Step-Down' unit. Here there is slightly less monitoring and about 3 or 4 patients for each nurse.
There was some kerfuffle about the bed being ready for me and a had to wait a few minutes until I could shift over into my new digs. Seems the flow of folks home from the cardiac unit was not quite in sync with the flow of folks going into surgery, coming out of surgery, going to the step-down unit, and into the regular ward. There was some grumbling from the nursing staff with the juggling that was going on, but it all seemed pretty smooth to me. Maybe that was the pain medications talking.
I was still pretty loopy and having a hard time focusing. I took quite a bit of pain medication overnight ... why not? My back was pretty sore, especially on the left side where the last remaining drainage tube was still doing its thing. Plus they said my heart was 'rubbing' against the pericardium both from already being enlarged and from swelling after the procedure and this was causing irritation. All I know is, with some hot blankets rolled against my back and the pain meds, I ended up with a pretty good sleep.
Next day I was able to do a bit of walking, a lot of sitting-up, some reading, and eating. It was nice to be able to focus pretty well (though it was still a challenge to draw a circle around the menu choices for the next day's meals. Who knows if I ended up with what I asked for! I was still fuzzy so couldn't remember what I ordered anyway.).
The nurses were great. They were very professional, knowledgeable, skilled, compassionate, and ... too true to ignore ... cute.
I was still pretty uncomfortable ... sore back, catheter, chest drainage tube, incisions and tapes starting to itch. But, overall, it felt pretty good to have a repaired heart and to be conscious and able to smile after a major surgical procedure. I could see no reason to complain.
Unlike one of my roommates.
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