What's PTE surgery?

Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy (PTE) - it's basically open heart surgery, but they cut your Pulmonary artery open and remove the clots

After a major surgery after what you had-----I'd be surprised if a person wasn't angry and 'weepy'!

Major surgeries take a LOT out of a patient.
About you being in the correct forum or not----- I don't think it matters too much but that's up to you.

Had you been dx'd with a pulmonary embolism before the surgery?
I just googled your 'ectomy'. Were you told you had CTEPH, which may be the dx.

This article, below, tells a little about it.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2503682/

I hope you can find some comfort here---- a lot of support and some more science-y stuff.

Yes, I had been diagnosed with this about 1.5 years ago, it just wasn't explained to me from the outset that the choices were a) they go away on their own or b) major surgery. I did a ton of research on my own which was helpfulmy original team of doctors and I were not able to communicate effectively. But from what I've gathered not a lot of people have these surgeries (I went to the only surgeon who does this on the east coast) so 'what to expect' documents are not easy to come by, although documents that are about cardiac bypass are some help. It would just be nice to know if, in addition to my severe personality shift, my breathing not being THAT improved is expected at this juncture.

Apart from the fact that your body has 'been through the ringer' with such a major surgery as a factor for you emotional state, i am also wondering what if any drugs you are taking because your symptoms sound like depression which is a common side effect of many meds.

Hi, I'm sorry I'm late in replying... I had my PTE surgery Jan 12, 2009.

I was very emotional for the first 6 months. It's a total shock to one's system. I also had some hair loss(I'm female). It took me about 6 months to start to feel more "human" and a full year to feel "like me again".

I also suffer from permanent short term memory loss.. it's quite mild and I have coping strategies, but it's frustrating just the same, that's from the surgery itself.

How's your recovery now? Isn't it AMAZING to be able to breathe and walk to the bathroom and not feel winded?!! :)

i had the surgery a month ago. i guess i was a bit misled by everyone telling me how much better i would feel immediately. this is not true. in fact i still have tachycardia and my heart sometimes races at 150 with mild walking. im still as winded as i was before. my left hand is painflly numb. i had a double bypass jn 2015 and I guess that made this easier to get over painfully wise. I hope that what I read on here is true for me also because I am very ready to feel better I'm only 44 years old and I have 3 kids and I love to fish and canoe and I really want to breathe better.

Hi, I ended up not needing the surgery, and hopefully that will continue :) but I can tell you that just the amount of trauma and hospitalization you went through will take significant time for recovery. I would try keeping a journal of what you can and can't do. I had a different chest surgery with a 15 day hospitalization and felt like I wasn't recovering at all till friends I didn't see every day pointed out all the things I was doing that I couldn't do the last time I saw them. A complete recovery would be great of course but even if you can't get to perfection staying alive is a very good outcome too!