Hi. I'm currently waiting to go for heart surgery to fix my heart valve. I am quite scared about it and would be grateful if anybody else has gone through the surgery and can tell me what to expect as to recovery time and just generally as to what to expect.
Thanks
Hello oldskool74, I had aortic valve and bypass done as open heart surgery 3 years ago. I understand completely you being nervous scared, we all have had those feelings, but I am here to say you will be fine.
I was in hospital 8 days first 2 in intensive care should have been 1 but there wasn’t a bed in high dependancy 2 days there and then back to the ward.
You will feel a bit weak but the physios will get you moving the day after your surgery and you will be surprised how quickly you start to feel normal. If you are having open heart surgery they won’t want you lifting your arms up for the first 3 months gives your sternum chance to heal. Don’t worry about being in pain they make sure your ok. Just remember these Doctors and nurses do this every day.
If you’re offered cardio rehab please take it up, it will improve your stamina but mixing with other people who have had similar experiences is so good for your mental health. Remember this is a major operation so you will feel all over the place!
I have no doubt that there will be lots of people along to tell you lots more. We are all in this funny club!
Please try not to worry I know easier said than done!
Let us know how you go I send you very best wishes.
Hello and welcome to the forum! Ticktock61 did a comprehensive write up of his journey to, through and beyond heart surgery. The journey starts here:
I can second Pete's (Ticktock 61's) posts Oldskool74. Bit warts and all, but a real blow by blow account that I found really useful in the run-up to my AVR at the end of 2018.
I've also done a few posts on this site which may help if you search for them and I can (and will over the weekend if you like?) send you some pdfs from Guy's and St Thomas's (my hospital) that give a lot of practicaladvice if helpful. If it's any help from my experience you're currently going through almost the worst bit - the terror beforehand - right now. The op isn't fun, you'll be sore and tired afterwards, but these days it is a very straightforward one with good outcomes. I was in and out in a week and much more "able" than I had imagined I would be when I got home. Yes there is a period of recovery - 6 to 8 weeks - but I was fully recovered pretty quickly after that (though feel myself lucky in that I had few if any complications).
I'm not going to go into chapter and verse now as it's late and I'm off to bed in a sec, but very happy to help/reassure if I can. DM me if you want to. Lots of detail (gory and non) I can offer you if you want! But good luck with the countdown. Many of us on this site have been through the same and there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Nic x
Had my mitral valve repaired last November, with keyhole surgery, at the age of 68. Had very few symptoms beforehand, so a shock to put it mildly. The operation was completely successful. However I have to confess I found it more difficult than I realised it would be, both physically and mentally, after I left hospital. You do need a lot of support in all ways, so make sure that’s available. It is also taking me longer to recover than I appreciated. However I am loads better now and grateful for the superb care, both in hospital and since, from the Bristol Heart Institute. I hope I’m not being negative but , if I’d been more aware that it wouldn’t necessarily be an easy time, I would have coped with it all much better. Always remember though it needed to be done and your quality of life will be much better very soon.
Wishing you all the best.
I had mitral valve replacement with a metal valve when i was 18 i am 44 now its still going strong. Recovery is different for all of us. Take lots of time and try not to measure recovery time, just allow yourself to heal properly and listen to your body. Try not to compare yourself to others each circumstance is different. Oh and watch out for depression it can be a common thing after heart surgery its importnat to get help if you notice it. Hope it all goes well hugs sara
Hi Oldskool74. Nic again. Just as promised if useful, these are the pdfs I mentioned, which I found very useful in the run-up:
guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/our-...
guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/reso...
guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/reso...
What everyone has already been saying here is spot on; lots of great and practical advice. If it all goes fairly straightforwardly and, depending on your underlying health and age, you can normally expect to be in hospital for about a week to 8-10 days. The main healing is the fact that to get to the heart they have to go through your breastbone, which then has to knit back together. That will take about 6-8 weeks, during which time you won't be able to lift anything heavier than a kettle full of water.
Having said that, as I mentioned yesterday, I came home feeling much more "able" than I had expected I was going to be. I had imagined I was going to be confined to bed, needing help getting dressed or washed, being helped around the house etc. But none of that. I was able to do all of that myself, make myself a plate of food (it was just before Christmas so generally it involved lots of Christmas biscuits!) etc etc. I was sore, exhausted - the fog of tiredness for about six weeks was a big thing I hadn't expected - and weak, but I was much less of an invalid than I had feared I would be. After about a week or so I started going out for walks, just round the block initially but gradually building up to a couple of miles a day within about a month (from memory). The walking is important a) for rebuilding stamina, b) for rebuilding cardiovascular function and c) for rebuilding your lung function which can take a battering as they're deflated for the operation and then reinflated.
At around eight weeks, I then did a cardiac rehab programme through my local hospital (which was different to where I had the surgery) which I also found valuable in terms of giving me confidence in my new valve and what I could do (even if I'm still probably not doing as much exercise as I should). I did have to be quite proactive about getting that set up as neither hospital was very good at talking to the other but I would recommend it's worth doing if you can.
In terms of the heart function itself, I found it remarkable. I'd had severe aortic stenosis but, I'd thought, hadn't had anything to speak of in the way of symptoms. But pretty much immediately, in the hospital, it was a revelation, a sort of "oh so this is how everyone else feels" as my whole chest felt opened up (probably a bad analogy I appreciate given the big scar at the time!). I realise I'd been having symptoms building up very gradually over many years, but so slowly that you don't notice. So it definitely made a difference and was worth doing.
In terms of the valve, I chose to go for a tissue valve, one of the new generation Edwards Inspiris Resilia which, the theory is (as it's so new no one really knows), should last 20-25 years before needing to be replaced as it has a special anti-calcification coating. I was 50 at the time and had assumed I'd have no option but to go for a mechanical valve so I was quite pleasantly surprised to be given the choice. But of course that may be something where you need to take advice from your cardiologist or surgeon.
My take was that, even though I was accepting I would need another operation at some point, let's see how the technology has advanced by then and get at least a few years without needing Warfarin etc. But there are no right and wrong answers, there are upsides and downsides to either choice. So it is quite a personal decision.
What else? As I also touched on yesterday, for me the whole mental/emotional build-up was massive - the terror, the worrying about death, the writing "goodbye" letters to the family. This is a big deal for us who are facing it. But the thing to recognise is that for the surgeons and surgical teams it is their day job, their bread and butter and, while a big operation, it is a very straightforward one these days. One doctor in the hospital even told me they prefer valve replacement surgery to, say, tumour surgery because it's just a case (from their perspective) of whipping something out and back in again. I appreciate this is unlikely to help in terms of dealing with what's probably going through your head, but I hope it does, at least a bit!
But good luck with it all; the waiting is really hard but hopefully things will start moving forward for you soon. I'm sure you'll be in good hands and on the road to recovery and the start of a new life chapter in no time at all. But as I say, if you do want answers to any specific questions more than happy to help if I can.
Nic x
Hi oldskool! All the others have said is fact and true, all I’ll add is that 6 months down the line having had replacement heart valve and single coronary artery bypass graft, I’m really grateful to the surgeon and all involved in my recovery. Breathlessness gone on going upstairs and walking out.
Yes the thoughts about it are scary, but what’s the alternative if it’s not done?
Yes there is pain afterwards, but pain control is effective at beginning, and at 8 days I came home on just Paracetamol. As others have said take up the offer of cardio rehab with its talks and exercise programmes.
Best wishes
Ps to earlier comment, I’m 83, live alone as a widow, so being so much fitter,
Just fantastic!
PPS Last evening my daughter and I booked a weeks holiday in Menorca in June. Been there before, so really looking forward to it.
We are in the same boat. Still scared but eating better and not constantly in my thoughts. I don't think I will write any letters though just make me worse. Good luck.
Oldskool74 hi. My experience has some similarities with that of Glenham. Mitral valve mend last May, minimal invasive, age 68. Much depends on your approach - no rights or wrongs here I suggest. My approach was that I did not want to know anything at all pre op: so for me there was little to think/worry about. The only surprise for me was what my body looked like post op - it wasn't a problem but it looked like I had been cage fighting against 5 others! The recovery was fine, slow but I am impatient. The cardiac classes (8 weeks long, twice a week ) which started about 4 weeks after left hospital (I was in for 5 nights) were great and gave me great confidence. By October I was back playing football, badminton, swimming, walking etc. The heart is not a complex organ (just a sophisticated pump), the expertise is excellent so I think you can be confident. As with most news, the bad stuff hits the headlines and I anticipate for every "bad" one there may be hundreds of good ones - you will be one of the latter. Best wishes, God bless_ Bubble wrap 😎⚽️🍷
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