After Open Heart Surgery

How do you have open heart surgery? That is one of the first questions when your doctor recommends this radical intervention. He called it open heart surgery, but does he really open the heart, cutting through the muscle. How do you have open heart surgery? In the midst of the emotional turmoil brought on by the doctor’s recommendation, many questions emerge. Some are important. Others seem to be a diversion from the serious matter at hand.

If the recommended procedure is open heart bypass surgery, the patient is soon thinking about life after heart bypass surgery. What will it be like? What activities will be permitted? What will no longer be possible? What is the best position for sleeping after open heart surgery? Is there active life after bypass surgery?

How Do You Have Open Heart Surgery?

There are a number of reasons for open heart surgery, and various procedures for treating them. The information here is meant to be general. Your doctor will give you more specific information. Be sure you ask questions until you understand to your satisfaction.

How do you have open heart surgery? First of all, the patient will not be permitted to eat or drink anything for 8 hours before the surgery. A male patient’s chest will be shaved. The patient will be fully anesthetized.

In most open heart surgery, the patient is then connected to a heart-lung machine that supports blood circulation while the surgeon operates. Once the machine takes over the work of heart and lungs, the chest is opened and necessary changes made to the heart, or to the arteries on the heart’s surface. Open heart surgery usually requires approximately 5 hours.

After open heart surgery, the patient is removed from the heart-lung machine, and taken to the intensive care unit to be carefully monitored. When all vital signs are stabilized, the patient is moved to a general floor where he or she continues to be monitored for 3 or 4 days before being released from the hospital.

Life after Heart Bypass Surgery

Life after heart bypass surgery will soon be much as it was before the surgery. At first, patients take pain medication as the open heart surgery wounds heal. They wear special stockings that aid circulation in the legs and feet. They will not be permitted to smoke for at least 2 weeks, and hopefully will break the habit by that time.

Life after heart bypass surgery will include regular, frequent walks. The patient begins with slow, 5-minute walks, and gradually increases time and speed. Within a couple of weeks of open heart surgery, you will add physical therapy, each session carefully monitored by a professional.

Within 2 months of open heart surgery, at the recommendation of your physical therapist, you will undergo a treadmill stress test. This “graduation” ritual will return you to most, if not all, of the activities you enjoyed before open heart surgery.

Best Position for Sleeping after Open Heart Surgery

The best position for sleeping after open heart surgery is on the back. In open heart surgery, the chest is cut open from top to bottom. The muscle tissue and bone of the chest have been injured, and will take time to heal. Lying on the back is the best position for sleeping after open heart surgery simply because the position is the least painful. As you begin to heal, you will find it easier to sleep on your side, but it will be a while before you want to lie on your stomach.

Open heart surgery is very invasive, and age plays a part in how well you heal, but many patients are back at work within a few months.

Disclaimer: The author of these articles is not a health care professional, and shares this information on open heart surgery for educational purposes only. Please do not rely on this information without checking it with a licensed professional.