Help I guess

[ESPANOL1979]

Where do I start. I am scared. My mum had a heart attack yesterday. 3 of her arteries were blocked. She survived thank God. She is having surgery on Monday. She gets stressed easily. How can I prevent this

[Pilgrim1956]

Trust the medics and follow the advice

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Hello and welcome to the forum! Your mum is currently in the best place with no overly long wait for surgery. Is this a bypass or stents - you do not say.

She should be home in a week or so so it is worth giving this some thought. Although either procedure is quite major for the patient it is routine for the cardiologists and other staff. Keep positive!

[ESPANOL1979 in reply to MichaelJH]

HI,

Thank you for getting back to me. well shes been offered a chance to be part of a trial which means she would have 3 stents, but she will only find out on Tuesday, if she doesn't get on that she will be having the bypass on Tuesday

[Qualipop]

If she has just stents her recovery will be quite quick; an operation obviously longer. She will be offered cardiac rehab which she MUST do if she can. What you need to remind her is that she SURVIVED ; they found he problem in time and after treatment, she will be a lot healthier than she was before. This is a warning and with a change of lifestyle, correcting diet, smoking, exercise- all the risk factors can give her a long healthy life. The operations and stents are now just routine for the surgeons although a big deal for her.

[ESPANOL1979 in reply to Qualipop]

Thank you

[SamLab]

My husband had a heart attack on 23rd February he had two stents fitted he was home within 3 days but ended up back in with what they diagnosed his discomfort as 'the heart getting used to the stents' did tests to make sure all ok and came home again within 5 days.

He has recovered ok getting used to the medication has been the biggest issue for him, he gets tired and didn't sleep well initially but he doesn't sleep well anyway after years of doing night shift. He started the cardiac rehab for 6 weeks twice a week I think about 4 weeks after discharge good in that staff are there to keep an eye on him and do checks throughout the session, BP I know is one of them which gives the confidence to know what he can do in terms of exercise, would recommend these sessions lots of advice too I believe. I could have gone too but he preferred to go on his own but my friend who's husband had cardiac rehab said she found it really useful and reassuring when she went with her husband. My husband intends to join the gym once signed off.

He has also been offered counselling sessions to help deal with what happened and how to handle stress which would probably be good for you're Mum if they do them in you're area he is due to start on Monday.

He has just gone back to work, has reduced his hours and no longer doing nights, we have tried to be a bit healthier in terms of diet (both of us!) He doesn't drink or smoke and has already lost weight. Initially his HA turned our world upside down 12 weeks down the line thing are returning to normal now. If you're Mum is normally 'stressed' it can be difficult to switch off the stress reaction maybe mention this to the staff at the hospital and definitely to the cardiac nurse when they visit her at home there may well be other services \ suggestions they make to help her (and you too!) deal with what happened. Hope all goes well on Monday

[ESPANOL1979 in reply to SamLab]

thanks so much, really useful I hope everything continues to go well for you both. Is Cardiac Rehab that is offered as standard?

[SamLab]

As far as I know yes but ask at the hospital when you next visit. There is much said about the condition of the NHS but must say they have been really good including our gp surgery. Don't forget to look after you too, I know from experience how scary it is to have someone you love suffer a HA end up in hospital stents and then home. I,like you're Mum am a 'stress head' and I found it difficult to look after me while he was in hospital and drove him mad when he came home constantly checking he was ok! Thank you for the good wishes the one thing I have learned from all of this is that life can turn on a sixpence it certainly makes you take a look a life and make the most of what you've got! Best wishes to you and you're Mum.

[ESPANOL1979 in reply to SamLab]

Thank you

[ESPANOL1979]

Further to this, they have said they are going to do the stents