After Heart Surgery

There are all kinds of things to learn, know, and understand before open-heart surgery. Perhaps one of the most important is how long your recovery might take, but the truth is that there's no single answer. Read on to find out how to calculate open-heart surgery recovery time.

Recovery Variables

When it comes to preparing for open-heart surgery, most patients have a lot of questions, especially about recovery. However, recovery time isn't static; it's different for every patient, and a lot of things need to be factored in before you can get an accurate estimate.

Here are a few things to consider when asking about your recovery time.

Heart surgery is an intensive process. While you can trust your doctors to take good care of you, it's still important to know and understand the complications that might occur. Here is a quick list of complications that may occur after heart surgery, and what you can do to limit your risk.

Heart Surgery Recovery Complications

Here are some potential complications stemming from heart surgery:

Sternal precautions are a considerable part of the recovery and healing process after heart surgery. However, many patients have a lot of questions about sternal precautions--and that's great. To help patients take an active role in their healing and understand what they need to do, we're explaining exactly what sternal precautions are, why they're essential, and how you can stick with them.

Safety First

There are a lot of options for staying safe and comfortable after heart surgery, from plenty of rest to sternal support devices. However, without sternal precautions, none of those other options would be nearly as effective. Here's everything you need to know about sternal precautions--and how to make it a habit to follow them.

The period after heart surgery is important for every patient. The healing period looks different for every patient and for each surgery type, but there are a few things that you can expect during this time.

What You Might Experience

While everyone's recovery is unique, there are many experiences and situations that are common to nearly everyone. 

Sleep Irregularities

You may have fatigue after the surgery, but that doesn't always translate into better sleep. You may have trouble getting to sleep and sleeping through the night for a number of reasons. One of the common reasons for this is some pain from the surgery. Taking the medication as prescribed at regular intervals allows you to keep much of the pain away. A Heart Hugger is another solution to help combat pain after heart surgery.

There are a lot of components to consider when it comes to healing after open heart surgery, but one of the most important components is the treatment of the sternum. In truth, the sternum is actually a broken bone at the beginning of the healing process. But is it treated as such? Are there extra considerations? Here's a closer look.

Sternum Care

When it comes to any broken bone, there are four basic principles of management. These are important parts of how the sternum is treated after heart surgery. The principles are:

Like many others who've gone through heart surgery, you may experience some feelings of sadness or depression. Your feelings may range from sadness and anger to guilt, loneliness, confusion, or stress. While these feelings are common, it's important to guard your emotional health after surgery.

What to Remember

Your emotional health after surgery can have an impact on your recovery. Feelings of isolation and sadness can also affect your future health.

Here are some signs that it's time to ask for a little help:

How much and what kind of exercise you can enjoy after heart surgery depends on how you're feeling and what your doctor feels is safe for you. Everyone is different, and the exercise your physician says is okay for you after heart surgery may not be the same as recommendations you've read online or heard from a friend. Here are a few tips for making sure the activities you participate in after heart surgery are safe for you.

After heart surgery, it's natural to wonder about your post-surgery life. How soon can you expect to feel like yourself again? When will you be able to resume your normal activities? While the answers to these and other questions vary widely between individuals, there are steps patients can take after heart surgery to shorten recovery time and get back to everyday activities.

Improving Your Odds

Here are some steps your doctor may recommend to improve your odds of successful recovery after heart surgery.

After surgery, it's important that patients, physicians, and caregivers strive to avoid readmission. Readmission rates directly affect providers and costs, but they also create different sorts of risks for patients as well. Being readmitted to the hospital after cardiac surgery is also especially stressful for patients.

One tool available for cardiac surgery recovery is the Heart Hugger, an external support harness that provides a range of benefits and can reduce readmission rates. There are a few reasons for this, including:

After surgery, pain management becomes a priority, and prescription medications like opioids are typically the first line of defense. For many, the idea of using opioids is concerning -- after all, we constantly hear all the terrible stories about the opioid crisis. While some medication is necessary in most cases, there are several other alternatives for pain management. Always talk to your doctor about your plans for pain management. Here are some of the best options to consider.

Support Harness for Pain Management After Heart Surgery

Heart Hugger is a sternal harness that lets patients heal from heart surgery. It offers wound stability and sternal support in addition to on-demand pain management during recovery at home. The Heart Hugger can help reduce complications and reliance on pain medication.