Introduction
I had a quintuple heart bypass operation at the age of 67 in 2020. A few months later, when a friend was facing a bypass operation, I wrote down some tips (opinions, really) about how to prepare for the operation and deal with recovery. This is a summary of those OPINIONS, in no particular order. USE THIS INFORMATION AT YOUR OWN RISK AND BE AWARE THAT I AM NEITHER A DOCTOR NOR A PHYSICAL THERAPIST. I AM MERELY A FORMER HEART SURGERY PATIENT WHO HAS WRITTEN DOWN SOME OPINIONS REGARDING MY HEART OPERATION EXPERIENCES.
My thoughts on preparing for the operation
Avoid getting sick: For the first two or three weeks after the operation, coughing felt like I was being murdered with a hatchet. That seems like a good reason to try one’s best to avoid catching a cold in advance of the surgery.
A heads-up: Some of the things mentioned below involve obtaining and assembling things so they are ready to be used when you get home from the hospital. I DO NOT mean that you, the heart patient, should be doing the physical work! Have someone else do it!
Order your home recovery furniture: You are probably going to want an electric power lift recliner chair and an inexpensive adjustable height hospital-type over-the-bed table when you get home, so you may want to get them ordered and have someone assemble them for you before you go in the hospital.
I couldn’t use my arms to help to get out of bed, or out of a chair, for five or six weeks after the operation. What made it possible for me to come home, and not have to go to a nursing home, was having an electric power lift recliner chair that lifted me enough that I could get out of the chair without using my arms. I slept in that chair, and lived in that chair, for many weeks. I used the hospital style table for glasses, pillow, water, cell phone, Incentive Spirometer, pain pills, etc. Mind you, the hospital table won't fit over your lift chair. Instead, it gets placed beside your lift chair, and then you have someone adjust its height so it accomodates your limited reach, and fits your needs.
I was extremely grateful that my wife and son-in-law had my new lift chair and table already assembled and waiting for me when I got home from the hospital.
If you order a hospital bed for your house: While I was in the hospital, I could not use the controls to raise and lower the back portion of the hospital bed, simply because I could not reach the controls, which were mounted on the side rail of the bed. If you order a hospital bed for home recovery, make sure the controls are on a cord, so you can reach and use them. It is frustrating to have to ask someone to adjust the bed for comfort because you can’t reach the controls! For me personally, I preferred having the lift chair instead of a hospital bed for home recovery, because the lift chair gave me more independence.
I needed loose-fitting clothing: I needed some loose sweat pants and snap or zipper-type sweat shirts when I came home from the hospital, because I swelled up by about 18 pounds from fluid retention, and my regular clothes no longer fit. I also needed an oversize pair of slippers, because the shoes and slippers that fit before surgery didn’t fit again until about four weeks after surgery. I also recommend getting some socks with light elastic, because tight socks don't seem very compatible with swollen legs. I wish we had ordered some of those non-slip hospital type socks with light elastic online. Anyway, it seems smart to get such clothing articles before surgery so they are available for use as soon as you get home.
Consider getting a pillow with ruffles: The hospital gave me a cute heart-shaped pillow to hold tightly to my chest when I coughed or sneezed, so I didn’t rip the retaining wires out of my rib cage. I learned to use it religiously, and always had it nearby. I slept with it on my chest so I could grab it quickly. Unfortunately, the heart-shaped pillow was hard for me to grab in my disabled state. I eventually learned to set the pillow down with the tag facing me, because it was easier to grab the pillow by the tag. A pillow with fringe or ruffles all the way around the periphery would have been much easier to grab. If I ever have to have another heart operation, I’m going to take a pillow to the hospital that has ruffles all the way around.
Consider getting a toilet seat extender: When I was recovering at home, I wished we had one of those toilet seat extenders that provides a higher seat surface. For a long time after the operation, it was hard to get up off of a regular height toilet seat, and on two occasions I fell backwards and could have hurt myself. Remember, you can’t catch yourself with your arms for a while after the operation because that comes with the risk of ripping out your rib cage wires.
Consider ordering a decent shower chair: In order to shower at home, I needed a shower chair and someone to help me in and out of the shower and on and off the shower chair for about three weeks. You may want to get yours on order before your operation, so you can have someone assemble it and have it ready for you. The one we purchased seemed a little flimsy, and scary, because the legs weren’t braced. If I had to get another operation, I think I would get a better quality, less wobbly shower chair.
Check your vehicle for this: Before the operation, check to see which car or truck you can get in and out of without using your arms or hands. For me, our Jeep Wrangler was the perfect height. I hooked my toes under the door to give me the leverage I needed to lean forward from the seat, and then turn to stand and exit the vehicle. The running board was nice for getting into the vehicle. I don’t think I could have gotten in and out of a low sedan without using my arms because I was a little overweight. Why do you need to get in and out of a vehicle during recovery? Well, in my case, the doctor's office wanted me to go somewhere to get my blood drawn and tested. I wish I could have just paid someone to come to our house for the blood draw, but that service was not available when I needed the bloodwork done.
Check your furniture for this: Check to see which home furniture and beds you can get in and out of without using your arms or hands. To do this, you may need to hook your feet under something, so you can do a “sit up”. It’s really hard to get up off the couch, etc. after surgery because you can’t use your arms. If you forget and use your arms, you may ruin the wires holding your chest together, and then they have to crack your chest open again and rewire it. That happened to someone I talked to in the hospital. We have an L-shaped couch, so I could hook my toes under the other part of the “L” to do my “sit-up” and then stand up. Don’t get me wrong: I was not capable of using anything but the lift chair for several weeks after the operation. This is for later, after you are recovered enough to start thinking about sitting on a couch, or using your regular bed.
Blood pressure monitor and scale: I needed to measure blood pressure and weight as I was recovering at home, so I could report the results to my heart doctor’s nurse via telephone. A blood pressure monitor and a scale are something else to get on order if you don't already have them.
Home office: When I got home after my heart operation, I didn’t have good enough balance to tackle regular household stairs for about four weeks. With a little help, I could handle wide porch steps to get in and out of our house, but I could not climb our staircase to get to my home office. I wished my computer work station was downstairs so I could have started working from home a week or two sooner than I was able to.
Cell Phone: When I was recovering, I needed a phone charger with an extra-long cord so I never had to reach very far to plug my phone in. The long cord also allowed me to leave one end draped on my recliner when the phone wasn’t plugged in.
My thoughts on recovery
Morale: I felt awful during the first few days after my heart operation — and I also felt mighty sorry for myself — but things gradually got a little better every single day. In two months and one day after the surgery, I was out digging holes and transplanting decorative plants. If you ever have heart surgery, my wish for you is that when you are at your lowest point emotionally, you will remember that the future is going to get better.
Despite everything, my quintuple bypass wasn’t the most frightening thing I have ever been through. For example, it wasn't nearly as frightening as the day I had to wait through a daughter’s operation, wondering if she would ever walk again.
The magic number is five: While recovering in the hospital after surgery, the nurses asked what my pain level was, on a scale of 0 to 10. My roommate warned me that the nurses would not provide adequate pain medicine unless I told them my pain was at a level of five or above. I felt that I needed pain medicine even when the sustained pain level wasn’t high, because coughing caused intense pain and I occasionally needed to cough.
Follow the nurse’s spirometer instructions: The nurses gave me an incentive spirometer to use after my operation, and I hated it. Nevertheless, I noticed that if I failed to use it routinely, I could feel my lungs trending toward what felt like pneumonia. Even though I was exhausted, I forced myself to use my incentive spirometer about six times every half of an hour, because I understood that if I didn’t, I might get pneumonia or might have to be on oxygen longer than necessary.
Give the staff directions: The best nurses and other hospital staff made sure everything was in reach for me before they left my hospital room. The worst ones didn’t think about such things, and left important items out of reach — even food and water. I guess they didn’t understand how helpless I was. I learned to routinely give all of the hospital staff clear verbal instructions about which items needed to be moved closer to me before they left my room.
I also needed to caution people, including nurses in the heart wing of the hospital, to adhere to my after-operation instructions and NOT pull me up by my arms. The natural instinct people have is to pull you up by your arms, but I was told that could ruin the wires holding my chest together.
Eating was difficult: Don’t be afraid to ask for help cutting your food, or for help getting fed. I certainly needed such help. Right after my heart operation, I even had to switch to pureed food to be able to eat anything at all. I just didn’t have the strength to chew unpureed food, and I could not swallow unpureed food. And what the heck, pureed hospital food actually tasted better than unpureed hospital food, at least to me.
I felt like I didn’t have enough oxygen intake to chew and swallow solid food. I got extremely exhausted when I tried to eat solid food, and I just couldn’t eat solid food for a number of days. I could, however, consume nutrient drinks like “Ensure” through a straw. The hospital seemed to ration such drinks, apparently because they are relatively expensive, but those drinks helped to sustain me when I was too exhausted to eat.
Wiping my butt: To wipe my rear end after pooping, I learned (from a stern nurse) to lean sideways on the toilet, and when possible, rest my shoulder against a wall. Using that approach, I could reach under my rear end from the side with a wad of toilet paper without straining my rib cage.
Leaving for home: If you feel that you cannot get into a car after surgery to come home, there are transport services that roll your hospital wheelchair into a van and then strap it down and haul you home that way. Afte that, they apparently take your wheel chair back to the hospital. The service I used was reasonably priced, and hauled me all the way from Washington, DC to Arnold, Maryland. I think the cost was in the $88.00 to $144.00 range when I had my heart surgery back in 2020.
The pain incentive: After I got home, my rear end got sore from sitting and sleeping in my lift chair. That discomfort was my incentive to get up and move, which my doctor exhorted me to do after I got home anyway. I started by walking around in the house, clutching my cough protection pillow to my chest. That got me strong enough to take slow walks around our cul-de-sac in my pajamas, holding my pillow under one arm. Now it’s four years later, and I still go for regular walks around the neighborhood — just without the pillow!
I needed assistance: After I got home, I needed help opening doors, including the refrigerator door, for several weeks after surgery. I also needed someone to help to steady me as I went up the porch steps and stepped up from the porch into the house. That someone was my wife, who was my lifeline during my at-home recovery. Without her, I couldn't have even gone outside to take the walks I was supposed to take, because I couldn’t open our then-sticking front door.
Reading: I did a lot of e-book reading while recovering, to pass the time. Rather than using a Kindle device, I just installed the Kindle app on my phone.