Hi. I had an MI in 2012 with one stent in the left circumflex. All other vessels were clear. I had no problems at all - until three weeks ago when I started getting chest pain. After some very frustrating A&E visits where I was sent home twice because my ECG was normal and troponin levels were under 30, I had a lot of pain last weekend and my GP rang the cardiology registrar at the hospital. Fast forward seven hours and I'm on a ward because I've had another MI. Small.... Troponin of 240.
Off to the cath lab where I was expecting the same as last time really.... Probably one stent and home later that day.
Unfortunately, it turns out it's a mess in there. The previously stented left circumflex has had restenosis and is now 90% blocked and the other three left arteries are all between 95% and 99% blocked.
They have now decided the best way forward for me is a triple, possibly quadruple bypass.
This is due next week.
I'm very very scared.
They keep reassuring me that because of my age - 60 and having no significant other health issues, I'm better placed than many for a successful outcome. However, I'm still terrified.
Please can you help calm my nerves! I can't get my head around the idea that my chest is going to be split open and my heart stopped etc.
I'm imagining the William Wallace 'purging' scene from the end of Braveheart 😰
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Kev_64
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Waiting for the op is the worst bit. When you get to the cardiac ward it will be much better, especially much less frightening.
I don’t want to know details of ops on me, so I didn’t have any thoughts about what happens. I put my trust in the fantastic surgeons and assistants etc. All you will know about is up to the anaesthetist telling you to count out loud, you won’t know anything until you wake up in ICU.
Please try to divert your thoughts as best you can. Think also about how nice it will be when you are fully recovered.
Ask the surgeon what you can do to help him/her. It changes your own attitude and pleases the surgeon.
I can still remember entering the hospital for my op. The fear and dreading melted away. And I left the hospital with a new life ahead of me.
Please don’t worry, there is nothing to be scared of.
I had my 62nd birthday in Papworth, so we are pretty close in age.
I am now 6 months post operation and i feel better than i have done for years.
I only have positive things to say about the whole experience in hospital. I had my fears the same as you. But the professionalism of surgeons, nurses and support staff puts you at ease.
Post op isn’t a cake walk, there is discomfort, but the pain is very manageable. Just take your meds and you will be fine.
Recovery for me was quite gradual and it can seem like your progress isn’t as rapid as some other peoples. But just relax, and think how much better life will be in the future.
Hallo thereMy husband ( age 64) has just had a triple by pass on Tuesday. I was terrified for him tbh. Tuesday I kept pacing up and down the living room. I wasn't allowed to visit him until Wednesday but was pleasantly surprised at how well he was doing; chatty, had eaten some tea and had got up for a small walk. We are hoping he can come home today or tomorrow. It's a big operation but safer now than it's ever been. By Xmas you will feel like a new person. Definitely for the best for you long term. Good luck and take care xx
Hi, I'm 67 and had a quad in June this year. Post surgery I was awoken in ICU around 7am, sat in chair at 7:30 and eating breakfast about 8. Went for a walk around ICU at 10:30 and rest of day in chair. Visitors at 4pm. Spent a second night in ICU and moved to ward the following morning after another walk. Discharged 2 days later. Yes, it was uncomfortable and you feel a bit battered and bruised but not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. 12 weeks post at the moment and half way through cardiac rehab, largely back where I was regarding fitness. Hope all goes well and try not to worry...too much.
I had a triple bypass in June of this year and like you, I was really scared before I had the operation.
I was worried that I might not survive it and if I did could I manage the post-op pain?
Well, I survived My surgeon told me that there was a less than 2% chance of serious complications during the surgery and that bypass surgery was no more risky than, say, repairing a broken arm. They have done so many they have a plan in place for all eventualities.
Pain, what pain? Only once was I given morphine (in ICU) the rest of the time paracetamol was enough. I was never in real pain just uncomfortable. All those wires sticking out, you can’t get comfortable! When they are removed after a couple of days you will feel much better.
Three months on I feel really good. So much fitter than I was before the operation and grateful for getting a ‘second chance’.
But whatever I say you will be worried - until you get admitted and the hospital staff reassure you.
Afterwards, you will wonder what all the fuss was about, honestly.
Hi Kev - as a few others have already said, the waiting time prior to your op is the worst bit! It's all very well for us to say "don't worry", because you will - we're human and it's programmed into us! 😊
We're all unique and our experiences are different, but I'm a 64 yr-old female and had a HA in January 2022 when I was 62 and was admitted to hospital where I stayed for five weeks prior to a triple bypass in February 2022 and that was the worst bit of all! The day of the operation itself, and the treatment immediately afterwards, works like an incredibly well-oiled machine. These amazing surgeons and their teams are performing these operations countless times every year and it's almost become routine these days.
Afterwards was definitely a LOT less traumatic and a LOT less painful than I expected it to be. I managed with simple paracetamol afterwards, as did a lot of the others in ICU with me, although I did take the full daily dose for a week or so afterwards (2 tablets x 4 times per day) until I suddenly realised I didn't need them anymore.
There's no doubt that it is a big op for us, and recovery is slow and steady but afterwards you'll probably, like me, be amazed at how quickly it all happens. I was transferred to ICU at 9:30pm after the op and sitting up beside the bed the next morning having a cuppa, although I did need a bit of help to get out due to all the wires! You'll be attached to a lot of wires and drains immediately afterwards, which look scary to visitors, but they'll be removed very quickly too and they're not painful. I was home 4/5 days afterwards and I live alone although my brother did call in every morning to check all was well and to see if I needed anything. That first night in my own bed after being in hospital for six weeks was like heaven - suddenly, also like poor William Wallace - FREEDOM!😆
Try to take your mind off it at the moment by making a little list of things you may need - I can recommend buying a perfume-free shower gel for afterwards as your wound might be a bit 'stingy' (M&S do a good one and Sanex is good as well) and a little cushion or rolled up towel for under the seatbelt when you're travelling home. Front button PJ's are good too as it gives the medics easy access afterwards to check on things.
You'll be grand and I wish you luck, even though you won't need it - it'll be over and done with before you know it and you can start to look forward to a new lease of life. It's two & a half years now since my op and I still feel better than I felt in the years prior to it.
Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on if you have time. Carol 👍
Don't do as I did Went in 2018 aged 61 always been fit Was told I was having a quintiple bypass Doctor told me as long as you are fit your recovery will be quick So ten times a day I would go to the bathroom and do 100 press ups,dips and squats.Because of cancellations I was in 4 weeks before my op.Mostly because I was bored but I don't advise you to do it.😁😁 good luck
The 'good thing' is that you won't have to wait long. I'm convinced that my bypass was the best thing for me and this belief was enough to take me through with the op (positivity!). Once you've arrived at the hospital, they take good care of you and there's enough distraction to take your mind off worrying.
My experience was excellent from arriving through to leaving. The recovery is obviously longer than the stent, so you'll need to prepared for the duration, but things steadily improve. There's loads of threads on here that really helped me mentally and physically prepare. All the best for next week 👍👍👍
Well - it's done! They did it on Friday 13th so I'm not believing in that rubbish anymore!
Everything went fine apparently. They did a triple. I needed one unit of blood during the op and another two a couple of days later. Unfortunately, I developed a chest infection which drove me mad as I was having coughing fits that were very painful for my sternum. ...but loads of antibiotics and steroids and this and that and it's 95% gone now and I'm back home feeling so much better.
The surgeons and doctors were top class but there was a lot of inconsistency with the nursing staff and the overall hospital facilities. A lot of the nurses, especially the nightshift seemed to be young women recruited from overseas who had terrible language skills making communication very hard but worse, they appeared to be missing the empathy gene. I felt like most (but not all) of them couldn't care less and that the patients were just animals on beds to be injected with drugs and tested every so many hours.
The food was beyond inedible. No matter what the dishes on the trolley were, the trolley gave off the same smell of cabbage farts every day. It got to the point that it would make me retch just smelling it coming down the corridor! If anyone else is having this done in an NHS hospital, get your family to bring food in is my advice.
Some staff were lovely and would be there for you when you needed - even if it was just to chat for five but they were largely the exception.
Hospital wise.... Things not working, shower heads coming off, empty sanitizer bottles, broken latches, threadbare blankets, out of control heating systems so it would be boiling one day and freezing the next. Everything here is what you get running the NHS into the ground to save money and it desperately needs reviving.
I don't want to sound ungrateful at all - they saved my life. Thankfully the important bits like surgeons and doctors seem to have been ringfenced from the cuts going on in the rest of it.
Tips if you're about to spend any time as an NHS inpatient;
Arrange your own food.
Get some of those little yellow squishy earplugs to block out the noise at night.
Get an eye-mask to block out any unexpected lights at night.
You may need to rely on WiFi based calls like those in WhatsApp (my hospital had almost no mobile network signal but did have patient WiFi).
Do NOT press the little red pain relief button unless you really need it. I was pressing it every time I needed to cough etc. It's Fentanyl - a massively strong synthetic opioid that's 20-40 times stronger than heroin. I was hallucinating for four days before I had the wherewithal to make the connection.
Has anyone that's had this had an issue with pulse rate afterwards ?Pre-op, my resting heart rate was about 70. Post-op, it's about 85 but seems to have a habit of running away up to 110 or so for no reason. No change in activity (ie no activity!), it just sometimes gallops off. I can get it back down with breathing exercises but it's a little disconcerting that it seems to have a mind of it's own.
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My surgeon told me that there was a less than 2% chance of serious complications during the surgery and that bypass surgery was no more risky than, say, repairing a broken arm. They have done so many they have a plan in place for all eventualities. 
ICD FITTED OR NOT
stent or bypass graph ? 
Post heart attack readmission to A&E
Post Bypass
Long Shot
