PTSD and Trauma recovery

Princess4u · 03-13-2010, 04:43 PM

Dear A,
I am sorry to hear your family has been under such stress. I hope your dad is healing well. Caridac surgery can be a long recovery depending upon the health and ability of the person. The stress it can bring to the caregiver is seemingly limitless. You want to let your dad do what he can within his limitations set by the doctor. Dont "baby" him, as some pple tend to do, and some men tend to allow their family to do for them. When in reality it lengthens the rehab time. Take a deep breath, just breath, do something good for you too. If its a walk alone or reading a book, going to the movies w friends, just something. If you have any questions please feel free to email me anytime, my speciality is post cardiac surgery. Take care my dear.....and take care of you!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by atomiczombie

Quick update on me:

My Dad started having heart trouble in the beginning of January and was in the hospital for a week. He was short of breath and weak. His heart was in atrial fibrolation (or however it is spelled lol). At that time the cardiologist told him he needed a new aortic valve. He had aortic stenosis, where the valve doesn't open wide enough to let all the blood flow like it should, and he got congestive heart failure as a result.

On Feb 9th he went in to have the open heart surgery. They replaced his valve with a cow valve (moooo). He had some complications after his surgery and was in the ICU for 10 days (bleeding out, tachycardia, etc). He finally was able to go home after 12 days in the hospital. We were told before the surgery that he would be in the hospital for 5-7 days, so it was very stressful when he didn't get to leave until quite a bit later.

Since he has been home, I have been his main caregiver during the days while my mom works. I feed him and help him walk and make sure he takes his medicines, things like that. He had some lingering complications at home, which are now getting ironed out, thankfully. He is going to be ok.

All of this put a lot of stress on me and I slipped back into having panic attacks, stuttering and stammering, tics, etc. When I get like that I just want to crawl into a hole and hide from the world. That is why I haven't been posting for a while. Everything was overwhelming, worrying about my dad and all, so I shut everyone out like I usually do.

I am wishing you all well and glad we have this space to come together and talk about our struggles and victories. Hang in there everyone, and thanks for the support.

Drew