I hope you good people are well.
My wife is scheduled for a triple bypass. 80% blockage in LAD.
She has no intention of follow up Cardio Rehab and intends on following
her current regimen of almost no physical activity.
I have told her that she may as well not have the operation.
Can some of you please chime in to wise her up ?
We are both 70 years old.
Hello and welcome to the forum, if you’re wife isn’t going to follow recommend exercises after her open heart surgery she will not recover. You have breathing exercises to do hourly after the op your lungs take a hit as well as you heart when you go on bypass they collapse and need work so your breathing gets back to normal. That’s just for starters, the day after your op the physio will have her on her feet and that’s when you have to start working. You have to build up your stamina again and it’s a slow steady road.
I had an Aortic valve replaced and bypass 4 years ago and I decided that I would do everything I could to keep that mended heart as healthy as I could for as long as I could. I am grateful every day to the wonderful medical team who worked so hard to give me my life back.
No one is expecting her to run a marathon but daily walking or having a swim. Cardio rehab here in the U.K. is certainly a must though at the moment it’s not running because of Covid but I found it invaluable.
When you have a major op your brain as to work out what as been going it needs time to catch up. So don’t be surprised if your wife is very emotional.
I really wish you lots of luck and hope she as a great recovery
Pauline
Excellent advice, in particular as we get older, the breathing exercises to restore lung function are a vital part of the rehabilitation. The cardio exercises are staggered and tailored to suit everyone from the inactive to the very active.
A bypass operation resets the clock, in that it gives you a brand new, crystal cleanr set of arteries.
But the operation does precisely zero to tackle the underlying heart disease that caused the problem in the first place.
Yes, you'll get medication following the operation, but most doctors agree that the more effective half of the treatment are the life style changes that the patient implements. Quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy BMI, sticking to a Mediterranean diet, regular exercise (and that means proper exercise, not just a spot of gardening or walking the dog), managing stress, no excessive drinking, and ensuring sensible sleep patterns, are all absolutely critical to slowing the progress of heart disease.
In fact it's worth noting that the new arteries aren't usually arteries at all, they're mainly veins. And as such aren't designed for the turbulence and higher pressures that arteries need to cope with, so unless these life style changes are implemented you'll be back at square one in short order...but next time there's unlikely to be a bypass operation to bail you out, surgeons are generally reluctant to perform a second.
Couldn’t agree more. Did you ever do the pier to pier swim in Bournemouth? Son lives in Poole and did it a few years ago.
Best wishes Pauline
Hello, my husband has a heart condition and had open heart surgery nearly 3 years ago so I can empathise from a spouse’s perspective. Facing surgery is a really worrying and scary time. Fortunately he likes exercise and is doing well.
There’s lots of very good advice from others who have replied to you but I’d like to throw a different idea into the ring.
Maybe that nothing you say or do will change your wife’s attitude unless she’s ready to hear what’s being said. So it’s important to get to the bottom of what drives her to the position she takes. For example, is it fear? If she changes she has to face up to her situation and that can be really scary. What are her barriers to exercise? Is she dependant on you in the sense she’s afraid that if she’s fit and well that you won’t need to look after her any more and you won’t be there with her in the way you are now? There must be a whole load of other reasons too, all valid, all very real and justifiably requiring support.
The way forward? I’d suggest counselling for your wife if she will so that she can gain an understanding of herself and move forward in a positive way. Maybe you would find counselling helpful too. After all, this situation affects both of you and your stress and worry deserves support. You may be able to learn some skills to depressurise the situation for both of you.
Good sources of counselling support are via your GP or the BHF nurses. The BHF nurse helpline is 0300 330 3311 weekdays 9-5 and Saturdays 10-4. The hospital team may also be able to assist.
All the best to both of you.
Thank you so very much for this wonderful advice.
I am a basic level intelligence category so please bear with me.
If a heart attack is caused by a major blockage that is typified by
a situation where a thrombus caused by a plaque eruption results in
arterial blockage then how can people with 100% blocked LAD keep
walking around ? I understand that collateral flow is a factor but it
just makes no sense when then general advice is 100% blockage = death.
Hello! 100% blocked LAD here! I have 8 segments of my heart that are dead or damaged as a result of the HA it caused. Emergency angioplasty stented it. Also have another fully blocked artery that my cardiologist told me not to worry about as it goes to a segment that is dead! Therefore I would like to say I am a similar case to your wife. You could tell her this. I am a 42 year old, father of 3,my youngest son is 9. I plan to get married and become a Husband on 12.12.2020. I am very scared I wont get to see my children grow up. I'm living the rest of my life not just for me but for them, all my friends and family, all the amazing NHS staff that have saved my life and helped my recovery to this point. I hope your wife reads this and all the other posts that people have took the time to write and realises just how important she is. She is very lucky to have a husband as thoughtful as you to help her through this. Make sure you look after yourself too.
Always here to offer help and support
Take care
Jim♥️x
Thank you Jim. Congratulations !! Something wonderful for you to look forward to. We have decided to wait until her prior booked cardiologist appointment. I want to point blank him with "Is the LAD not possible to stent = OR is it not possible for YOU to stent ?" My view is that we should try and buy some time with stenting and then go for the CABG if all else fails. After all, they don't just put in a zipper and 'pop the bonnet' if repairs need to be made. I am quietly hoping for nanomedicines to come to the party.
Hi, your welcome. I had no choice. I was having a Heart Attack and rushed to hospital for my LAD to be stented by emergency angioplasty. Everyone is different. From what I now know stenting isn't for everyone. Possible in some, possible in others. I am sure there is a valid reason why they are advising bypass. It was an option for me as I have 3 diseased arteries, they waited for my heart to heal post heart attack and decided an ICD and medication was the best thing for me. That's where I am now.
Be great to hear how you get on. Try and keep us informed. Am here to try and help or lend an ear
Jim ♥️x
Shall do. Wishing you all the very best on the big day. Much love to you all xx
Life is all a bit random and some people manage to survive the most amazing situations. Your wife is possibly in denial and doesn't want to consider the changes that will have to be made if she is to survive. The operation is quite an epic event and a major shock to the system. All you can do is help and support and improve your cooking skills.
It's not so much denial as the long list of possible complications that the surgeon advised her of. She is almost convinced that after the CABG she limp out with a crippled leg, never use her right arm again and have endless trips to the hospital for dialysis. Just quietly, I am worried about the same outcome.
Hi, in response to your question for the cardiologist about stent vs CABG, this is my experience of this. I had a heart attack and a couple of days later was sent for angiogram with a view to insert stents as necessary. I had severe blockages in the left main stem, LAD and circumflex arteries, as well as some narrowing in the right artery. Before the angiogram they seemed pretty confident that stents would be a suitable option. During the angiogram however, the cardiologist discovered that because of the position of the 90% blockage in the left main stem (right at the junction with the other two main left arteries), stenting was not possible and so I had to have CABG. So it seems that the actual position within an artery of a blockage can be crucial in helping doctors decide which procedure is most suitable for a particular person. It would seem common sense that they would opt for the least invasive and risky procedure, ie stents, if at all possible, and only consider CABG in situations where this is not possible.
Well...she had the CABG 5 days ago. I was very emotional but kept it bottled until no one could see me 
A few days into recovery she had to go from her bed to ICU. Some fluid build up in her lungs. Breathing deep is difficult with a healing sternum so my only advice was for her to 'start' breathing from her lower diaphragm and work her way up slowly. Apart from that no major complications. Whew!! 24-25 days to go before the unmagical month is up.
Thank you all once again.
So glad to read she is into recovery, hopefully she will listen to the physios and do all she can to keep improving. The very best of luck to you both.
Pauline
I really go on and on about how important rehab is because I had a triple also and before I went into rehab I could manufacture a panic attack in seconds. Rehab will teach her that the bypass heralds a new life and the exercises will give renewed energy. I’m now 78 and back into tennis twice a week. Before rehab I had all sorts of strange aches and pains and breathlessness which I now recognise was stress related . There are loads of good sites on utube and walking each day is so important
Perhaps " Do you want to go through all that again ???" might inspire her...lol
Thank you good people.
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