How Long To Recover From Open Heart Surgery

Edwards Lifesciences Devices Placed On The European Market Meeting The Essential Requirements Referred To In Article 3 Of The Medical Device Directive 93/42/eec Bear The Ce Marking Of Conformity

Recovering from Open Heart Surgery

Indication:

Edwards transcatheter aortic heart valves are indicated for relief of aortic stenosis in patients with symptomatic heart disease due to severe native calcific aortic stenosis who are determined by qualified practitioners to be at specific risk for open surgical therapy. Patients should talk with their physicians to determine whether they are eligible for the transcatheter heart valve procedure and which transcatheter heart valve may be appropriate for them.

Contraindications :

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation should not be performed on patients who:

Cannot tolerate medications that thin the blood or prevent blood clots from forming.
Have an active infection in the heart or elsewhere.
Are allergic to the materials in some valves

Warnings:

Precautions:

The long-term durability of the transcatheter heart valves is not known at this time. Regular medical follow-up is recommended to evaluate how well a patients heart valve is performing.

The safety and effectiveness of the transcatheter heart valve is also not known for patients who have:

Potential risks associated with the procedure include:

Additional potential risks specifically associated with the use of the heart valve include:

CAUTION: These devices are restricted to sale by or on the order of a physician.

How Long Does It Take To Recover From Open

Open-heart surgery refers to a surgical procedure, in which cardio surgeons direct the blood flow across a section of any partially blocked or completely blocked artery of the patients heart. In simple words, the surgery involves creation of a new pathway towards the heart. In this way, the open-heart surgery helps in improving the flow of blood towards the heart muscle.

During this surgery, cardio surgeons take a healthy blood vessel from the arm, chest or leg of a patient and connect it to various other arteries in the heart to allow bypass of the blood from the blocked or diseased area.

The main role of open-heart surgery is to bring improvement in chest pain, breathing shortness and similar other problems, which often take place because of the flow of poor blood towards the heart. In addition, the surgery has successfully brought improvement in the cardiac function and thereby, reduced the risk related to die because of heart problems.

Be Patient With Your Recovery

You should receive discharge instructions from your doctor when you leave the hospital, but it helps to be mentally prepared for a recovery time of several weeks or months, notes WebMD. This may vary depending on your health prior to the surgery, any complications that happened while in the hospital, and your motivation to follow instructions when you get home.

How Long Does It Take To Recover From Open Heart Surgery

Health related question in topics Conditions Illness .We found some answers as below for this question How long does it take to recover from open heart surgery,you can compare them.

How long does it take to recover from open heart surgery

How long does it take to recover from open heart surgery?: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080424064754AAMHJD2; some people are out of intensive care the next day and up walking. Others stay in ICU for 5 days before they walk. The average person can be home from the hospital in less than 1 week

How Long Does Open Heart Surgery Recovery Take: http://www.associatedcontent.com/video/631456/how_long_does_open_heart_surgery_recovery.html; Lori shares how long it took after open-heart surgery to move around and start feeling normal. Credit: empowher Copyright: empowher

Open Heart Surgery Scar

Fundraiser by Marc Blackham : Help Allister EC Twin pay ...

Given the fact that open heart surgery requires a large incision to be made to the chest, you should take all the necessary measures to protect the incision and make sure that the wound heals properly. Maintaining excellent hygiene is essential, so as to prevent infection and guarantee that you have a clean scar in the end. Avoid soaking the incision in hot water until the wound heals but be sure to take regular showers and keep the area clean. If the scar looks infected, then be sure to contact the doctor and see what treatment options are available.

Recommended Reading: Can Antihistamines Cause Heart Palpitations

Recovery After Mitral Valve Surgery: What To Expect

Mitral valve surgery addresses defects in the valve that regulates blood flow in the upper and lower chambers on the left side of your heart. How long it takes you to recover depends on several factors, including what kind of mitral valve procedure you have and your general health.

Heres what to know about recovery from mitral valve surgery, which can reduce the chance of heart failure or as well as other serious complications, and restore your energy and ability to go about your daily life.

Quadruple Bypass Heart Surgery Process And Recovery

Recovery

Quadruple is an open-heart surgical procedure that is done to improve blood flow to the heart muscle. In an open-heart surgery, the chest is cut open and the person is put on a machine to do the work of the heart and lungs during the surgery.

To understand what it means to have a quadruple bypass, it is important to have an idea of the effects of heart disease and how the disease relates to the structure of the heart. This will help you to understand when bypass surgery may be needed and what it achieves.

This article explains the goals of this procedure and walks you through the steps leading up to it. It also describes what to expect during recovery and some common lifestyle changes after it’s over.

Also Check: End Stage Coronary Artery Disease

A Chest Pillow Is A Must

Having a pillow to stabilize your chest is a must. Most hospitals will send you home with one, but if they dont, make sure to get one. Chest pillows can help you when you sleep, sneeze, and cough they have has many uses. I had a pillow with me for almost a year after my last surgery and I still usee one during long trips in the car.

Give Your Heart Time To Heal

Recovering from Open Heart Surgery

Its important to remember that not everyone heals at the same rate. Health conditions such as diabetes or if you are on steroids can increase the time it takes your body to heal after surgery. Complete recovery takes about three to six months.

At any phase in your recovery, using common sense is the best way to keep yourself from overdoing it, Dr. Tong says.

If an activity causes pressure or pain, stop. If your sternum doesnt heal properly after surgery, it can cause you a lot of pain and complicate the healing process.

If you arent sure an activity is safe, check with your surgeon first. Contact your doctor right away if you experience:

Redness on your chest larger than a quarter or drainage that resembles pus .
A clicking noise in your chest when you cough or breathe deeply .
Abnormal pain.

Overall, give yourself time to heal, while gradually doing a little more each week. Continue to work with your doctor until youre up to speed on your normal activities.

You May Like: Can Ibs Cause Heart Palpitations

Youll Play A Key Role In Managing Your Pain

Post-surgical pain is unavoidable but can be managed in a variety of ways. Because of recent national legislation changes, physicians can prescribe no more than a seven-day supply of opioids to patients at the time of their hospital discharge.

Weaning yourself off opioids as soon as possible is important. You may need less than a seven-day supply, depending on your condition. Some patients do not require any opioids for pain management.

Other options for pain management include:

Oral and topical analgesics such as acetaminophen and Salonpas patches
Applying a warm cloth to the area, using caution near the incision because nerve sensitivity may be decreased, causing the skin to burn
Relaxation techniques such as meditation and guided imagery

If you are on long-term opioids, you should meet with your prescribing physician to begin to wean down to the lowest dose possible before surgery.

Third Factor That Influences Recovery Time Following A Heart Bypass Operation

What kind of family support system that faces the patient, once discharged from the hospital, will affect recovery time.

If theres no support system, the patient may end up spending a few weeks in a skilled nursing facility for cardiac rehab eating meals in a dining room full of strangers, sleeping in a room that isnt theirs, etc. Its not home.

But they must stay there because they live alone and theres no relatives to stay with them, nor friends to help them out.

If a patient goes straight home to a welcoming, eager-to-help family, this will speed recovery.

Also Check: How Does Blood Move Through The Heart

Heart Valve Replacement Surgery Recovery Period Depends On The Necessary Precautions

Once you return to home from the hospital, you have to spend about a few weeks to a few months to recover from your surgery. Full recovery period in this case varies among people and is according to ones age and physical condition. In addition, recovery period primarily depends on the level of motivation possessed by a patient to work with consulted doctor.

Limit Your Regular Activities: While you are in the recovery phase, you should make sure to put a limit on most of your regular activities. If possible, you should stay a few weeks on leave from your job. Furthermore, you should discuss with your doctor for identifying whether return to work is a safe option for you or not.

Stop Driving for a Period of Few Weeks: Your doctor may advice you to avoid or stop driving your car/vehicle for a period of about few weeks. This is because your body requires some time to regain its normal agility as well as coordination and to allow healing of your incision.

Strictly Avoid Applying Direct Pressure on the Wound: You should strictly avoid applying direct pressure to the surgical wound if you want to assure about proper healing. For instance, you should avoid lifting anything heavy or the one that causes you strain at least for 6 weeks. These include any child, milk containers, backpack/briefcase, grocery bags and similar others.

Life At Five Months After Open Heart Surgery

Blog Post from My Journey with Familial Hypercholesterolemia and Heart Disease

To view original post visit:

Blog Post by A.W.About this Blog

In this blog I will follow my everyday journey of living with familial hypercholesterolemia . I am sharing my own experience with this inherited disorder, and how I manage it daily from what literature I read on the topic and what my doctors say to how I live my life . This is solely a personal account that might or might not offer some insight on what to expect when diagnosed with this condition. This blog does not offer advice, in any way, to anyone suffering from this disease.

Recommended Reading: How Does Fitbit Calculate Resting Heart Rate

Recovering In Stages After Aortic Valve Replacement

Life can be good again, says Ruth, a critical care nurse who learned about the far-reaching impact of heart surgery, first-hand.

Ruth started out running around the park with her daughter and her friends when they were young, and from there kept on exercising in one form or another. The first indication that something was wrong with her heart was when she was living in Manly and running up North Head became more challenging.

I started to get really really puffed and couldnt understand why my chest was getting really tight.

Shed known since her 40s that she had an aortic murmur an issue picked up by her GP during a routine check-up. It possibly stemmed from childhood, she says.

Nobody really knows whether I had rheumatic fever or not. I remember as a kid having lots and lots of really bad sore throats but we were tough little kids and we were healthy kids, and I used to jump out of my bedroom window and run out with the other kids up the farm and play in the creeks with these dreadful dreadful sore throats. But I wasnt going to miss out, you know.

Though normally optimistic, Ruth struggled with depression following the second surgery and had to fight against it.

But taking into account the accompanying occlusion in her coronary arteries, she decided it was time. In 2013, she went to Waikato Hospital and had an aortic valve replacement and had a single bypass to that artery.

Breezed through surgery

The emotional toll

Be prepared for the stages of recovery

You May Experience Collarbone And Sternum Pain After Open

Sometimes you can have prolonged collarbone and sternum pain. Collarbone pain and sternum pain can be caused by the trauma of the surgery on your body or sternal wires. This pain can be sometimes helped with cardiac rehab or a resternotomy. However, make sure to communicate with your doctor about your pain to make sure its normal. After this past open heart surgery, Ive had a lot of pain and clicking in my shoulders and chest. Its caused a lot of chronic pain but working with physical therapy has helped me regain strength.

You May Like: Mayo Clinic Heart Rate

Your Personality And Mood May Change After Open

After open-heart surgery, many people experience personality and mood changes. The most commonly experienced emotions are depression, fatigue and anxiety. These can be caused by being on bypass, anesthesia, or medication such as oxycontin. You may experience mood swings like crying or getting angry or easily frustrated.

I mostly experienced this after my second open heart surgery when I was a teenager and my third open-heart surgery. After both of them, I experienced depression, anxiety and PTSD. Before my second open heart surgery, I was more outgoing but afterward, my personality changed and I was quieter and self-reflective. I struggled with suicidal thoughts and mood swings. After my most recent surgery, I finally got the therapy I needed after years of not seeking help. If you are struggling, please find help, be open with your doctor and make sure you have someone to talk to.

When To Call The Doctor

How long does it take to recover from Heart Surgery? – Dr. Raghavendra Chikkatur

You have chest pain or shortness of breath that does not go away when you rest.
Your pulse feels irregular — it is very slow or very fast .
You have dizziness, fainting, or you are very tired.
You have a severe headache that does not go away.
You have a cough that does not go away
You are coughing up blood or yellow or green mucus.
You have problems taking any of your heart medicines.
Your weight goes up by more than 2 pounds in a day for 2 days in a row.
Your wound changes. It is red or swollen, it has opened, or there is more drainage coming from it.
You have chills or a fever over 101°F .

Also Check: What Causes Left Sided Heart Failure

Drive Before You’re Ready

If your doctor tells you not to get behind the wheel — whether it’s for 2 weeks or 2 months — it’s for a good reason. Your reaction time may be slower and you could get into an accident. Until you’re ready to handle it, get lifts from a friend or family member. Or ask them to do your errands for you.

Open Heart Surgery Recovery Time

In my opinion, the recovery time from heart valve repair and heart valve replacement surgery needs much, much, much more attention and patient education.

“Why does Adam say that?” you might be wondering.

Well… Leading up to my open heart surgery, much of the focus was strictly on the surgical process of replacing my diseased heart valve.

The key questions raised during this time were:

“Which surgical option should I chose?”
“What type of valve replacement should I select?”
“Who will be my surgeon?”
“Where will the surgery take place?”
“How much will the surgery cost?”

Needless to say, these are all incredibly important questions.

Yet, as I look back on it, neither my cardiologist or surgeon sat me down to discuss open heart surgery recovery time.

It is true that I received some coaching on the “do’s and don’ts” of heart valve surgery recovery. I receiving a ten-page handout upon hospital discharge. However, I never received a detailed, comprehensive set of verbal or written instructions to accelerate or appropriately pace my open heart surgery recovery time.

As a result, my recovery was filled with many unexpected challenges and pitfalls. To some extent, my recovery turned into a rollercoaster – with multiple “ups” and “downs”. Some of the issues I faced included cardiac depression, sternum pain and Vicodin addiction.

Don’t Miss: Does Tylenol Increase Heart Rate

Sleeping Can Be Hard After Surgery

Its hard to find a comfortable position to sleep in. If you are a side or belly sleeper it can be hard laying on your back. Finding your favorite chest pillow will be your savior. You might also experience nightmares for a bit after surgery, but it will pass. If you continue to experience them, speak to your doctor and seek help if you feel like you are experiencing PTSD.