Hi I’m booked in to have my aortic valve replaced via OHS on the 5th of October at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge. I’m 34 years old and wondering if anyone else of a similar age has had the procedure and what the approximate recovery time would be? I work in the building trade but luckily I’ve worked my way up into a management position so I don’t do much manual work anymore.
I have a wife and 3 kids so my biggest concern is getting back to earning money as I’m the bread winner. I have an agreement with work who will pay me 50% whilst I’m recovering which will help out massively plus we have some money put aside.
I’m excited about the op as they say I’ll be a new man afterwards and my only real concern is how long I’ll be out of action. Any info would be greatly received.
Thanks
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jamiekirk
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Welcome to the forum, time scale for full recovery is different from person to person. It’s 8-10 weeks for the sternum to heal like any broken bone. The wires we have to join the two half’s together help but you have to allow the bones to knit together, if we do too much and the wires slip it would be big trouble. My surgeon said that 18 months after surgery my sternum would be stronger than his! Getting our stamina back is bit by bit and also dependent on how fit we were pre surgery. Keep doing the breathing exercises and coughing ones when you get home, they really do help, remember your lungs are collapsed when we are bypass so they need extra help to fill all those little pockets filled out again.
You are a young man and I am sure you will have a great recovery. I wish you lots of luck.
Thanks for your response. I’m hoping age will be on my side and I will have a shorter recovery time. I shall follow the advice of the specialists and not return to work until they’re happy with my progress. I’ll just take it easy.
I can't speak for valve replacement but I had open heart bypass surgery. The time frame I was given was that the earliest back to work expectation was six weeks for a desk job and eight weeks for a more physical job. That was pretty much my experience. You can read more in this discharge pamphlet,
This one is from Guys Hospital, but most hospitals stick to a similar format.
One thing to emphasise, "back to work" isn't the same as "full recovery", everyone's different but good-as-new, total recovery, usually takes at least three or four months, and can take some people up to a year.
The other thing you can do to accelerate your own healing process is be diligent about three sets of exercise once you get home.
First is a daily shoulder roll exercise. You'll be sleeping on your back for the first few weeks and these exercises will help you retain mobility.
The second exercises are breathing and "huffing"/coughing exercises at least five times per day. These can be quite tough going, but dig deep and get them done. Your lungs collapse as soon as the chest cavity is perforated, and they stay collapsed for the duration of the operation. Getting rid of all the persistent pockets of micro collapse is a big job, but how well you feel recovering will largely be a function of how quickly your lungs reflate. You can read more about these critical breathing exercises here,
The third exercises are a daily walk, building up each day until you can manage at least thirty minutes at a brisk pace after six to eight weeks. If the weather's rubbish you may be better off doing this inside a covered shopping centre. Again, you really won't feel like brisk walks when you first get home, but grit you teeth and soldier through, you'll reap the benefit in the long term.
One final point. Open heart surgery is a serious procedure, it's well rehearsed and you'll be in good hands, but you'll still have to sign a consent form which will state there's a 2% chance of a bad outcome during the operation, like a stroke, heart attack, or death. This 2% figure is an average from thousands of operations, but here's the thing. The average age for open heart surgery is 68, so as a young guy your odds are way, way better than this. If you're interested, and prepared to wade through some fairly heavy statistical analysis, you can get into the detail of your personal risk profile in a document called EuroSCORE II. You'll see the risk range runs from about 0.1% to over 10%, but because of your age you'll be far closer to the safer end of that spectrum!
Thanks chappychap I’ve not been told anything about the exercises yet but I will indeed be doing whatever they tell me to do.
Hi, Welcome to the early 30s club....I'm not so young these days, but, I had my first op at 33.
Op towards the end of December, back home a week later on Boxing Day. At work by mid-Feb, albeit I was office based at the time. More into context, I moved house end March, and I wasn't a passenger during the move and the following months.
You'll find your own speed of recovery, but, it may well be quicker than you think.
You seem to be going into it with a good frame of mind, same as I was, which goes well for your recovery. When they tell you it will be life changing, it really is.
Thanks for your response. Technically my job is office based nowadays albeit an office on a building site. I’m not one to sit about not doing a lot so I’ll crack on with what the specialists advise me to do whilst recovering.
I’m in my 50s but I still consider myself young (!) for the op. I was driving after 4 1/2 weeks. I was back at work after 8 weeks to a desk job. I probably could have gone a bit back earlier but took advantage of Xmas off. Concentration will be challenging and I really should have gone back on a phased basis as it was tough being a very busy time at work. No manual work or heavy lifting for 3 months though was the mantra though even though bones may have healed. Take it steady though and build up stamina with lots of walking and take advantage of recovery physio. I’d say realistically 5-6 months before I was 100%. Worth it though
As MickP1000, has said, concentration was a big thing for me. I couldn't read a book for months after, and I struggled to retain anything that I did read. So don't expect your memory to be that good to start with.I was early 40's when I had my valve replacement, and I think the thing I found the hardest was having to rest!
I work with my husband, and my job at the time was a manual one, we were doing kitchen and bathroom refits, I had 10-12 weeks off, started going back to work at 10weeks, but, only doing half days to start with, and building up slowly.
Hello, I had an aortic valve replacement & aneurism repair 4 months ago at Papworth, they're brilliant. I'm 73 and got through it fine, although it's taken me a longer to recover.
One good thing about Papworth is that you have your own room the whole time, so it's much less noisy than a hospital ward.
The physio will come round to see you, make you do breathing exercises & get you walking.
The hospital will also give you a booklet which includes exercises.
6 weeks after your op, you should he contacted by the cardiac re- hab nurse, who will e -mail you exercises & keep phoning to check on you.
As others have said , I'd agree, 3 months off minimum, more if you do heavy physical work.
Don't worry you'll be fine .
Hi jamiekirk
I would like to wish you all the best for your coming surgery and recovery.
Age is a factor in OHS, that’s a given. How you recover is very individual and depends on many things.
Please listen to the recovery advice. Many of us, of all ages, have been through it and there is a leveler which is , to do as you are told. Hahah!
Seriously, take the word of experience here on this forum. Overdoing it and heroics get you back to square one. Your office based work should protect you but even so , everyday things like lifting the shopping, children, dogs or sacks of spuds are a Nono until your sternum heals.
As you can’t use your arms for quite a period ( going up stairs getting up from bed) great advise a nurse told me was how to get out of bed after the op . I found it easier to get me self out of bed andshuffle up the bed rather than the nurses told and lift me , The other thing to consider is type of valve I had mechanical . And I wish I had the other, my reason is I’m 5 years out and I’m the unfortunate one who Warfrain is all over the place . Plus secondly other surgeon are reluctant to operate ( (like knee replacement ect ) due to the Warfrain. My friend has also same problem with blood thinners . Luckily I could afford to buy self testing as it swings so much ( it’s not all diet before any one jumps down my throat) I can be in range at 3.4 one day next I’m under and injecting .
So do your research I wish I did but was emergency
Hi Jamie. I had my first AVR replacement and a bypass at 37. I’m now 53 and in kings college at the moment having had my 5th surgery. I think you should take it day by day in terms of when you go back. Sometimes, you feel great after 2 months, other times your still feeling a bit rubbish after 3. Keep everyone posted on here as you’ll always get some great advice.
Update: after having my AVR cancelled a couple more times I finally had it done on the 9th of October. Everything went fantastically well the only setback I had was a chest infection but that’s just another tablet to take twice a day. I’m now home recovering with a big bag of meds and a nice big scar. Only down point in hospital was the bed as it’s so uncomfortable and me being 6’1 and 18 stone I really struggled to get comfy on it, the majority of my pain was in my back and nothing to do with the procedure I had. The staff were all fantastic and I was up and walking about within a couple of days. Yes there is pain and discomfort involved but you’ve just got to get on with it as it doesn’t last for long, morphine sorts most things out. I never felt worried whilst I was in the hospital and I was excited to have the whole thing done and looking forward to when I’m fully recovered. The ticking of the valve isn’t an issue either and to be honest I’d rather not go through the procedure ever again so I’m happy with taking the warfarin once a day and the odd blood test. Cheers
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