New Member

Hello Everyone, I recently (9/21) had an emergency pericardial window done. Spent 5 days in the hospital and another 2 weeks with a home health care nurse. As soon as the home nurse discharged me, my original regiment of scripts ran out. This was fine, my only pain was at the incision, and that was very minimal (numbness, infact). Approximately 3 days later, I woke up one morning with extreme shoulder pain which seemed to get worse over the course of a few days. One morning the pain was so severe I went back to the emergency room, only to be told that it was normal after surgery. They gave me some scripts and sent me home. The meds they gave me caused a reaction, with little relief, and this coincided with my follow-up visit with the surgeon. He said I was doing great, wrote me another script and sent me home. That script (Arthrotec) was for 3 months, mind you. My reaction continued with the new meds nearly causing another visit to the ER. However, I was able to get a same-day appt with my personal physician just 2 days ago. After 10 minutes with me, he told me to discontinue EVERYTHING, and wrote me a script for 6 days of methylprednisolone (a corticosteroid). I experienced IMMEDIATE relief of most of my pain and all side effects. The pain was entirely gone this morning, however, I am sweating heavily throughout the night. All of this background to ask a few questions of those that have experienced my situation.
1) Is the shoulder pain after cardio-thorasic surgery normal?
2) What about the night sweats?
3) about how long should I expect a full recovery to take?

I went walking about 3/4 mi. tonight. Feeling like I have alot of energy, but still not real confident with heavy objects.....etc.

Sorry if this is a bit in rambling mode, it's getting late here. :(

Looking forward to your responses,
Mike