Don’t lift anything heavier than a shoe or a telephone
… is what my surgeon, Dr. Beckman told me this morning when I went to see him. I didn’t ask what sort of telephone he meant. Cell phone, or the large old-fashioned Ma Bell special?
I do have some swelling in my chest, but that is apparently strained muscle tissue from lifting too much stuff last week. The x-rays show my heart has healed great and my sternum is structurally good, just not ready to do 100% of what I used to do. Which is very frustrating, because I’m so used to just grabbing something and taking action, and I’ve always been pretty strong compared to other people. I feel kind of helpless and girly, which sucks, because that’s so not me.
As far as the incision goes, the irritation and pain I’m feeling from that is because I have a keloid, which is a thick, hard, painful piece of scar tissue where the incision was. There’s not much I can do about that until a year or two down the line when they might be able to do plastic surgery to make it look better, after it has healed completely and the skin has repaired itself. Until then, I just have to deal with the annoying prickly burning sensation.
So there you go.
Jaq
It’s too late for this to help now, but I was researching the bra dilemna and found this: http://www.aztecheart.com/
I was thinking of mods to a zip-front sports bra, including velcro straps, to keep from having to contort your arms to get into the thing. The two piece, side-velcro idea is innovative and really adjustable. My father-in-law had his aortic valve replaced in August, and I think the harness these same folks make would have helped in his recovery.