Blog

Having surgery can be stressful, but planning out all the details ahead of time can help ease some worry because you’ll know exactly what to expect. Focus on each segment of the surgery – before, during, and after – so that you and your loved ones are as prepared as possible.

This guide will cover how to prepare for your time at home after the surgery.

Heart Hugger

Before surgery, be sure to buy your Heart Hugger so that your nurses can put it on you right after surgery. This will then prepare you for using it at home.

Mobility

It’s a good idea to consider home mobility for after the surgery. For example, are there stairs or other things that can limit your movement? If you have an upstairs bedroom, move or rent a bed for downstairs use.

Wound dehiscence is a serious postoperative condition that can be life-threatening. Wound complications following surgery occur in approximately 2.3% of cardiac or thoracic surgery patients. While most patients will not experience serious wound dehiscence, it's important to understand and follow the proper steps to prevent its occurrence.

Wound Dehiscence Prevention

Heart Hugger Sternum Support Harness provides wound support for cardiac or thoracic surgery patients. Heart Hugger allows patients to apply pressure as needed to support the sternal wound area. The harness encircles the rib cage, and patients squeeze the handles together to apply pressure as needed.

Wound dehiscence is a serious postoperative condition that can be life-threatening. Wound complications following surgery occur in approximately 2.3% of cardiac or thoracic surgery patients. While most patients will not experience serious wound dehiscence, it's important to understand and follow the proper steps to prevent its occurrence.

Wound Dehiscence Prevention

Heart Hugger Sternum Support Harness provides wound support for cardiac or thoracic surgery patients. Heart Hugger allows patients to apply pressure as needed to support the sternal wound area. The harness encircles the rib cage, and patients squeeze the handles together to apply pressure as needed.

As a recovery nurse, you know that reassurance is just as important as the medical care you give your patients following surgery. They've trusted medical professionals to get them through surgery, but they know that for many of the long days and weeks that follow, they'll be at home navigating the recovery process.

For many heart surgery patients, the Heart Hugger Sternum Support Harness helps them better manage their pain during recovery. And because Heart Hugger lets patients decide when to apply pressure, they feel more in control of their pain and the entire healing process.

As a recovery nurse, you know that reassurance is just as important as the medical care you give your patients following surgery. They've trusted medical professionals to get them through surgery, but they know that for many of the long days and weeks that follow, they'll be at home navigating the recovery process.

For many heart surgery patients, the Heart Hugger Sternum Support Harness helps them better manage their pain during recovery. And because Heart Hugger lets patients decide when to apply pressure, they feel more in control of their pain and the entire healing process.

Since we were very young, we've been learning how important it is to take good care of our bodies. We learn what foods to eat and what foods to avoid; we learn the benefits and drawbacks of medicine; we even learn--some of us more eagerly than others--how to get our bodies moving. It's true: exercise isn't always popular in our minds, but at the end of the day, we do have to admit that moving is good for our bodies. So, whether we like it or not, we fill our days with treadmills, weights, and gym memberships. We get moving. It's not always easy and it's not always fun, but it's good for us, so we do it. However, exercise after surgery is an entirely different challenge--and an extremely worthy challenge at that.

The human body is a truly amazing machine. Against all odds, our bones, muscles, and organs work together to keep us alive, functioning in ways that we still don't fully understand. Consider, for just a moment, all of the events taking place within any of us right now. The heart is beating. The lungs are working to breathe. The brain is computing thousands of thoughts, sensations, and messages every second. The body is completely responsible for these functions, ensuring that they take place and that they succeed--and it's a good thing, too, because no one really knows how to voluntarily beat their own heart or control messages sent by the brain. When it comes right down to it, we do very little to take care of our bodies considering how much they do for us. However, there are some occasions when the body demands more care, like after cardiac surgery--and on those occasions, rehabilitation is the answer.

Recovering from surgery requires care and consideration. In the case of open heart surgery, the sternal bone is cracked to access the heart and then sewn together with wires. Such a sternal wound has a few post-surgery consequences. One such complication is sternal dehiscence or the reopening of the sternal wound. Here are the do’s and don’ts of preventing sternal dehiscence.

What to Avoid Post-Surgery

It’s important to remember that it takes time to ease back into everyday activities. Refrain from returning to regular exercise routines if they include strenuous movement. Lifting heavy weights can cause excessive tension on wound openings. Holding back from asking for help can also negatively impact your recovery. Enlist the help of one dependable family member or friend in the first week or two. Preventing the sternal wound from opening should be your primary priority and will benefit from outside help.

Although heart attacks are a problem for both genders, heart attacks in women are unique: there are different signs, different symptoms, and different options for rehabilitation after surgery (like postoperative bras instead of general sternum support devices).

A significant part of successful heart surgery rehabilitation is taking the proper amount of time to recover. Going into your heart surgery, know that you will not be fully healed for at least six to seven weeks. During this time it will be vital that you rest and nurture your body.