Consider the case of a road being re-tarred to clear damages. If the repaired road is not maintained well after re-tarring, then chances are high that they get damaged very soon. It’s the same case of our hearts as well. Not just heart, it the same for any other organs. Let see how to take care of yourself after heart surgery.
Have a close discussion with your cardio surgeon on the subject. He will be more than happy to advise with necessary precautions. Moreover, your cardio surgeon advice on how to take care of yourself after heart surgery will be more apt and be suiting your health conditions in particular.
How to take care of yourself after heart surgery
Some people might fall into depression after open heart surgery or angioplasty. They might have lots of anxieties like will I be able to live life as before, will I be able to eat the foods I like, will I be able to continue healthy sex life, will I be able to do my jobs like before and much more. Such anxieties will lead the person to deep depressions.
This sort of mental illness will distort the normal balance of life and in turn, will make your heart unhealthy. Like said in previous paragraphs. After repair (surgery) if we fail to maintain our heart health, chances are it can cause repeated blocks, which will cause a threat to your life.
To avoid such instances you should protect yourself from such mental illness. Make yourself mentally strong. Self-help is the best way to cope with mental illness, But if you can’t handle it by yourself. Then better consult a psychiatrist.
Is everything OK after heart surgery?
Don’t think that after angioplasty or bypass surgery everything is Ok or alright for now. Instead, you should acquire the awareness to keep your heart healthy on the long run yet to come. For obtaining this knowledge, one should initially know what a heart attack is, what went wrong with the heart, what is being done on the heart to fix it and what is the purpose of angioplasty or bypass surgery. Those things should be cleared off by asking your doctor.
This will give a clear idea of your health conditions, and what might go wrong you fail to maintain my health hereafter.
Mostly those blocks which cover about 70% of the blood vessels are cleared using angioplasty or bypass surgery. Small blocks might be there in other blood vessels which won’t cause any harm at the initial stages. But we are supposed to take care for those blocks won’t get bigger. It’s only possible through healthy living conditions, exercise, and diet. If you fail to do so, It will lead to blocks and eventually invite heart attacks.
Check up after heart surgery
After angioplasty or bypass surgery, the very next thing we should take care is the proper periodical check-ups. But there are cases when the patient fails to do this correctly, and such faults will invite trouble soon or later.
In typical cases, depending on the health condition the patient is supposed to have a check-up after two weeks of discharge from the hospital. And the next check should be done after 1 months of surgery. After that, if the patient doesn’t feel any severe health issues, check-ups once in 6 months would be fine.
These checkup schedules are the case of a normal typical heart surgery. It may vary for each depending on their health conditions. And cardio doctors usually suggest cardio echo test once in every 2 years.
For most heart surgery gone through patients, they will do regular checkups for about 1 or 2 years after surgery, And later on, they fail to continue this. The reason for this may be financial difficulties to continue health care or distance of the heart hospital is far from their home.
Well, a solution for this is, the patient can request a transfer of medical consultation and records from the heart hospital to any local hospitals nearby.
Should we take medicine life long?
No matter bypass surgery or angioplasty, the patient is supposed to have proper medicines after surgery. Most important are the antiplatelet drugs like aspirin which will prevent blood clotting. The patient should have this medication throughout their life. If you fail to continue this medicines, it will invite complications. Sometimes it may cause bleeding, but that might not be because of having this medication.
You should understand the fact that for those who take this tablet, it will take a bit longer time to stop bleeding.
Proper check-ups intend to ensure there are no cases of any severe issue which affects the normal functioning of the heart. Usually, there won’t be any such cases of trouble in the initial one year after surgery. Not only that, he won’t experience the pains and discomfort he used to have before surgery. This doesn’t mean that everything is okay now, and it’s okay to stop using medicines now. But that’s a dangerous misconception, and it will lead to consequences.
Hope this article gave you an idea for how to take care of yourself after heart surgery.