Life After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery: 6 Tips to Help with Your Recovery Process | Cardiovascular Disorders and Diseases articles | Body & Health Conditions center

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery is a medical procedure that doctors turn to when their patients who suffer from coronary artery disease have made lifestyle changes and taken medication to no avail. It is generally a last resort for treating coronary artery disease because it involves open-heart surgery, which will always present a number of potential threats.

1. Understanding what coronary artery bypass graft surgery means

To understand why every step of the recovery period is important, one must first grasp the notion of what it means to have a coronary artery bypass. During this medical procedure, you will be under general anesthesia, and the surgeon will make an incision on your chest.

The goal of the surgery is to use a healthy blood vessel from another body part and use to reroute your blood flow, in order to avoid the blockage in your coronary artery. To be more precise, one of the ends of the healthy artery goes before the blockage, and the other end right after it. This creates a path for the blood to follow, circling the blockage in the coronary artery. This doesn’t remove the blockage itself.

2. Take part in the cardiac rehabilitation program

Your recovery starts right after you’ve woken up from surgery. The doctor will give you the precise steps to follow in order to regain control over your life as soon as possible. Enrolling in a cardiac rehabilitation program will help you a lot during your recovery. This program is led by a specialist who works in the hospital where you’ve had your surgery. It is a good idea to continue with the program even after you’ve been discharged from the hospital.

The cardiac rehabilitation program includes a series of exercises that will speed up your recovery process, as well as provide information on what lifestyle changes you have to make in order to prevent future coronary artery blockages. You will also receive the moral support and motivation needed to make these changes, and learn plenty of useful health-related information.

3. Never miss your follow-up appointments

After you’ve been discharged from the hospital, you will still have to attend follow-up appointments to check your recovery progress. You should consult your cardiologist at least once in the first month after the surgery. Another follow-up visit is required between six and eight weeks.

During these appointments, the specialist will assess how your recovery is going, and may even adjust your medication accordingly, either by increasing or lowering the dosage. It’s important to note that these follow-ups are required regardless of whether you’re showing symptoms or not.

Even after you’ve recovered from the procedure, you should see your cardiologist at least once a year. The cardiologist will most likely perform an echocardiogram to closely monitor your heart.

4. Do not turn your back on lifestyle changes

A very important part of having a healthy heart is making sure that no more coronary arteries will be blocked in the future. Since the blockages in coronary arteries are caused by blood clots, as a consequence of fatty deposits sticking to the artery walls, you will have to pay really close attention to what you eat.

Aside from taking the medications exactly as your doctor told you to, you will have to give up on fatty and cholesterol-rich foods as well. A healthy diet also means maintaining a healthy weight, because obesity is one of the risk factors of coronary artery disease.

You will also be required to exercise more, assuming that you don’t have other health problems or conditions that won’t allow you to perform any physical activities. If you include three days of exercise into your weekly routine, you are much likelier to have a healthy heart.

As part of your lifestyle changes, you will also have to quit smoking (assuming that you are a smoker), but also cut back on your daily alcohol intake. Pay attention. Some coronary artery disease medications interact with alcohol, in which case you will have to give it up completely.

5. Watch out for symptoms

Generally speaking, if you take your medication, consult with your cardiologist as you are supposed to, and follow all the instructions you are given during your cardiac rehabilitation program, you should recover without any problems. However, it’s important to recognize the signs of something going wrong, so that you can call your doctor immediately. There are cases when people who have undergone coronary artery bypass surgery have experienced a rapid heart rate, which could be an alarm sign.

You should always talk to your doctor if you notice any pain in the area that surrounds your chest wound. If the surgical cut shows any discharge, bleeds, or the area around it becomes red, it could be a sign of infection, which could be fatal if not treated immediately.

6. Be patient

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery is now a fairly easy process, but the recovery period itself can take quite some time. Unlike other surgeries, you should be patient and try not to skip any of the doctor’s recommendations.

Right after the surgery, you will experience difficulties in performing some daily tasks, which can be as trivial as walking. The average recovery period for people who have undergone this procedure is between six and twelve weeks.

As a general note, people require about four to six weeks of recovery before they are able to resume work, drive, or engage in any sexual activities. The more cautious you are about your recovery process, the likelier you are to be back on track soon.

Conclusion

Even if coronary artery bypass graft surgery is an easier procedure for experienced surgeons, the recovery period can cause a lot of stress. Some surgeries will have you up and running in a week, but in this case, you will have to carefully follow the doctor’s orders. Make sure you never miss a follow-up appointment, eat healthily, exercise more, and do everything the doctor tells you to in order to avoid having another coronary artery blockage in the future.