Emergency Bypass operation following heart attack

[SG_26]

Hi I am new to this group. 3 1/2 weeks ago I had a heart attack and was rushed in to hospital & had emergency bypass & waiting to see if I need a stent in the future. I don’t remember a lot of it. I was wondering if there was anyone else who has had similar.? Not sure what I shud be expecting in the recovery of this op. I love alone so it is quite scary.

[Chappychap]

The first few weeks following a bypass are no walk in the park. It's a major operation that results in a lot of trauma for your sternum and chest muscles, they absolutely will recover but it takes time. The other thing is that during the operation your lungs effectively collapse, fully reflating them again takes time, but how well and quickly your lungs get back to normal is one of the major determinants of how well you will feel, so make sure you complete the breathing exercises and your daily walk.

I appreciate it's tougher when you're on your own, but you really need to dig deep and make sure you get on top of your daily walk and your breathing exercises, they are absolutely critical to your progress.

Looking a month or two further ahead, the bypass operation effectively resets the clock and you'll suddenly realise that you're now free from the nagging symptoms of angina. You'll have more energy and you'll feel a lot more capable.

Whatever you do don't throw this amazing chance away, your underlying heart disease is with you forever. Medication will help keep it under check, but the bigger benefit will come from life style changes. If you smoke now is the time to quit, if you're overweight or obese now is the time to get back to a healthy size, find a healthy diet and stick to it and just say no to take aways or highly processed foods, exercise regularly and seriously, make sure you get seven or eight hours of sleep, if you're prone to stress then find ways of managing it out of your life.

Do all these things and there's every chance you'll look back on this bypass operation as the best thing that ever happened to you, something that made you feel ten or twenty years younger and set you on the path to a long, healthy life that you live to the full.

Good luck!

[SG_26 in reply to Chappychap]

Aww thank hou for replying so quickly with some great advice. I am a very lucky girl & had key hole surgery which I can imagine is 100% easier than having it the other way. I was very poorly afterwards with water in the lung and infection & this is proving harder to heal & can be quite painful. I was a smoker but will not be going back to it. But right now can not stop eating! Anyway again thank you 🙏

[080311]

Hello SG_26

Welcome to the forum, I had Aortic valve replaced and bypass done 4 years ago have just read you had your bypass by key hole surgery, I can’t help with that as had mine with open heart. I am sure someone will come along to help.

I can talk about the mental side of finding out we have a heart problem, like most of us on the forum it came as a huge shock, life as we knew it sailed out of the window and in came a new way of living. Taking our daily medication taking our exercise and as lots of us do following the Mediterranean diet recommended by BHF. We have blood tests and because I have a valve replaced yearly echocardiogram. It took me a while to get my head around what had happened but it suddenly occurred to me that I had been given a gift, some very clever medical people had worked really hard to given me a second chance.

I would say to you it takes time, but you will get back to where you can say ok today was a good day and those days get more and more.

Remember you are now a member of the Hearties family and if you need to talk or have questions someone will always lend an ear or give you a shoulder to lean on if that’s what you need.

Best wishes Pauline

[SG_26 in reply to 080311]

Thank you for your reply Pauline. I was so thankful 3 days after the op as I have been very poorly for around 5years and apparently I have had something wrong with my heart since childhood. But 3 days after I became very ill and that was terrifying. The lung is taking the longest. My mental health is not great & this pandemic 😷 is making things so much harder, I can’t see my family & we are all very close normally. But I am sure many are in the same boat. My father had one of the first ever open heart surgery with a quadruple bypass it was pioneering surgery & so is mine! How strange is that. It gave my dad a new lease of life until he died at 86. So onwards & upwards.

Thanks again, Sherill

[080311 in reply to SG_26]

Don’t they say life is stranger than fiction! all my symptoms were just like my Dads he sadly died but here I am still living my life.

[SG_26 in reply to 080311]

Can I ask how old you are? I am 52

[080311 in reply to SG_26]

I was 68 when I had my surgery, never had been in hospital before, apart from having my children. I ended up in for 7 weeks before my op and then transferred to a specialist heart hospital though only there for 6 days. My heart was so weak it couldn’t push the fluid out so I was literally drowning! I was on a diuretic drip twice a day I lost 67 lb of water! some diet 😂 .

[SG_26 in reply to 080311]

Wow! I have had very very similar. But also I have mild mitral stenosis which is from being poorly as a child or from travel to certain countries. Which I will have to live with, or another op of sims description. All so overwhelming.

[080311 in reply to SG_26]

I think when we have a diagnosis of heart issues we just go one step at a time. If you have to have further surgery then your medical team will take excellent care of you. Having to have a replacement valve isn’t as scary as it sounds. Just relay on them knowing what is best for you. Always remember my surgeons last words to me were shall we do this, and really there was only one answer “ let’s go for it “.

Pauline

[SG_26 in reply to 080311]

Absolutely! I have had the valve repaired this other problem I still can’t get my head around but I am sure they will help with that.