Quantcast

Heart surgery

maddog17

maddog17

Turbo Monkey
Jan 20, 2008
2,817
106
Methuen, Mass. U.S.A.
so my mom calls today to tell me my dad needs a quad bypass operation on the ole ticker. he went in today for a small procedure that at worse was to end up with a stent but after further review they figured out he needs the surgery. he's got something like an 80% blockage. i'll talk to him later tonite or tomorrow. they won't let him out of the hospital until at least 7pm.

so my question is: does anyone have any experience with this. i wouldn't think first hand but had a family member or friend who had it. it's a bit upsetting to me to think he needs this done. and while it's been performed countless times i'll still have that worried feeling until it's over and done with.
 
ire

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
Hope everything goes well for him. Better they find out now and correct it than wait till he has a massive heart attack
 
maddog17

maddog17

Turbo Monkey
Jan 20, 2008
2,817
106
Methuen, Mass. U.S.A.
parents are living in florida now so he'll probably be having the surgery done down there. but i'm gonna try to convince him to have it done up here since we have the best hospitals on the planet in Boston. i'll know more tomorrow when i talk to him.
 
B

BigT

Chimp
Jan 9, 2007
41
0
usuallly crashing on the rocks
I work in cardiac rehab. I have people < a month after surgery to people who had surgery >20 yrs ago. Your Dad should listen closely to his physicians, especially to the limitations and medications. If your Dad has been exercising prior to surgery, they tend to recover quicker and with less problems post op.

Not only do I work with heart patients, I have 3 Uncles that have heart disease.

Good vibs to your Dad for a speedy recovery. I would recommend cardiac rehab afterwards. He should learn a lot about limitations, medications as well as the exercise for strengthening his heart.
 
Barbaton

Barbaton

Turbo Monkey
May 11, 2002
1,477
0
suburban hell
My dad had a completely blocked coronary artery but good corollaries, and he got rid of it by doing Dean Ornish's heart diet. Not for everyone and needs a lot of self discipline but kept him off the table.

18mos and he was doing century bike rides again...
 
DirtyMike

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
What I know about quad bypass..... Its painfull, its risky, but common. If your pops is finding he needs surgery without having a heat attack.... he will heal up faster than you would think
 
Last edited:
scrublover

scrublover

Turbo Monkey
Sep 1, 2004
2,932
6,319
The more active he is, generally the better recovery he'll have. Lot's of other medical issues = potentially harder time in surgery and generally more difficult/longer recovery times. Every patient is different. Things really depend on what his overall health history is and how gung ho he is to get back to activity. We get people up and moving the next morning, assuming things are stable. Everything has shown the sooner we get folks up and moving, the better recovery they'll have in the long run.

Post op: he needs to listen to his nurses/PT/OT/RT people and follow their directions. As well, his after care/rehab/medical treatment once home.

Yes, it's going to hurt afterwards. Any cardiac surgeon who says you'll be painless and comfortable post-op is FOS. Yes, your chest pain from ischemia ideally will be gone, but... dude, we bust open your sternum. Of course it's going to hurt when you move/cough/deep breath. Following the above advice will help to minimize that. If he listens to and learns one thing: hug the pillow, deep breath, and cough.

The usual surgical risks are there: infection/code during surgery/bleeding/reaction to drugs, etc. **** happens. Research the facilities, surgeon and anesthesists. A great hospital doesn't always mean great surgeon, and the reverse is also true.

Mechanically what they do in a CABG is actually pretty straightforward - it's getting to everything, and getting through the procedure and afterwards that are the tough bits.

I'm an RN in an ICU/CTICU and work with post-op CABG patients on a near daily basis. At work right now, actually. :)
 
maddog17

maddog17

Turbo Monkey
Jan 20, 2008
2,817
106
Methuen, Mass. U.S.A.
thanks everyone for the positive vibes and the not so serious witch doctor off shoot. i talked to him today and he has an appt. with the surgeon in a little over a week and they'll go thru what needs to be done. he was in to get angio, worst case the stent and that's how they found he needs the surgery. he's got 2 blocked 100% and the other 2 are like at 80 and 20. he hasn't had an attack and the docs are surprised he hadn't. seems his heart took it upon itself to re-rout the blood somehow and that's how he's avoided the heart attack. whatever the tests they did never showed anything so they never expected to find what they did. so we'll see what happens from here.

thanks again everyone, i'll keep you posted.
 
scrublover

scrublover

Turbo Monkey
Sep 1, 2004
2,932
6,319
maddog17 said:
thanks everyone for the positive vibes and the not so serious witch doctor off shoot. i talked to him today and he has an appt. with the surgeon in a little over a week and they'll go thru what needs to be done. he was in to get angio, worst case the stent and that's how they found he needs the surgery. he's got 2 blocked 100% and the other 2 are like at 80 and 20. he hasn't had an attack and the docs are surprised he hadn't. seems his heart took it upon itself to re-rout the blood somehow and that's how he's avoided the heart attack. whatever the tests they did never showed anything so they never expected to find what they did. so we'll see what happens from here.

thanks again everyone, i'll keep you posted.
Click to expand...
collateral circulation - works, but not up the the same workload as the normal vessels. the MI would happen when those vessels aren't capable of handling a higher demand then they are able.
 
maddog17

maddog17

Turbo Monkey
Jan 20, 2008
2,817
106
Methuen, Mass. U.S.A.
so my dad's been scheduled for his surgery on 3/5. my sis and i are flying down to Florida the day before and stay thru the weekend. hopefully all goes well!! thanks again for the positive vibes everyone!!
 
maddog17

maddog17

Turbo Monkey
Jan 20, 2008
2,817
106
Methuen, Mass. U.S.A.
GOOD NEWS!!!

dad got out of surgery a few hours ago with no problems. everything seemed to go well and he's in the CICU right now. we'll be going back later on tonite to see him. he should be awake by this point and hopefully the breathing tube will be out. thanks again all for the well wishes.
 
golgiaparatus

golgiaparatus

Out of my element
Aug 30, 2002
7,340
41
Deep in the Jungles of Oklahoma
maddog17 said:
so my mom calls today to tell me my dad needs a quad bypass operation on the ole ticker. he went in today for a small procedure that at worse was to end up with a stent but after further review they figured out he needs the surgery. he's got something like an 80% blockage. i'll talk to him later tonite or tomorrow. they won't let him out of the hospital until at least 7pm.

so my question is: does anyone have any experience with this. i wouldn't think first hand but had a family member or friend who had it. it's a bit upsetting to me to think he needs this done. and while it's been performed countless times i'll still have that worried feeling until it's over and done with.
Click to expand...
Grandpa is still kicking along fine has had 2 quad bypasses. I mean it's heart surgery, so of course its serious but a lot of people have done well with bypasses.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom