Do the breathing exercises you learned in the hospital for 4 to 6 weeks. Shower every day, washing the incision gently with soap and water. DO NOT swim, soak in a hot tub, or take baths until your incision is completely healed.

Do not spend time in a jacuzzi, wet sauna, dry sauna or extremely hot shower immediately after cardiac surgery. High temperatures force the heart to work harder to circulate blood throughout the body.

If you have a heart condition or have high blood pressure, it is generally advisable not to use spa facilities – including baths, saunas, and jacuzzis or steam rooms. Sudden changes in temperature can put extra strain on your heart and circulation.

Do not exercise outside when it is too cold or too hot. Stop if you feel short of breath, dizzy, or any pain in your chest. Do not do any activity or exercise that causes pulling or pain across your chest, such as using a rowing machine or weight lifting.

Recovering from a coronary artery bypass graft procedure takes time and everyone recovers at slightly different speeds. Generally, you should be able to sit in a chair after 1 day, walk after 3 days, and walk up and down stairs after 5 or 6 days. Most people make a full recovery within 12 weeks of the operation.

In fact, the survival rate for bypass patients who make it through the first month after the operation is close to that of the population in general. But 8-10 years after a heart bypass operation, mortality increases by 60-80 per cent.

It’s OK to sleep on your back, side or stomach. You will not hurt your incisions.

The good news is that recent decades have seen a steep drop in serious complications. Today, more than 95 percent of people who undergo coronary bypass surgery do not experience serious complications, and the risk of death immediately after the procedure is only 1–2 percent.

You will feel tired and sore for the first few weeks after surgery. You may have some brief, sharp pains on either side of your chest. Your chest, shoulders, and upper back may ache. The incision in your chest and the area where the healthy vein was taken may be sore or swollen.

Open-heart surgery requires opening the chest wall to make the heart easier for the surgeon to reach. To access the heart, surgeons cut through the sternum (breastbone) and spread the ribs. Sometimes people call this cracking the chest. Open-heart surgery is a reliable way for surgeons to perform heart surgery.

As with all types of surgery, a coronary artery bypass graft carries a risk of complications. These are usually relatively minor and treatable, such as an irregular heartbeat or a wound infection, but there’s also a risk of serious complications, such as a stroke or heart attack.

“For three-vessel coronary disease, bypass now has been shown to be superior to stenting, with the possible exception of some cases in which the narrowing in the artery is very short,” Cutlip says. “But by and large the debate is settled that bypass surgery is better.”

Usually, there is an average waiting time of three months for planned elective routine surgery from the time of placement on the waiting list.

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery usually lasts 3 to 6 hours. But it may take longer depending on how many blood vessels are being attached. Blood vessels can be taken from your leg (saphenous vein), inside your chest (internal mammary artery), or your arm (radial artery).

Gastric bypass can be very expensive. The average cost of gastric bypass surgery is between $20,000 and $25,000, and the actual cost to you will depend on several factors.

Conclusions: Cardiac surgery can be performed in patients 85 years and older with good results. There is an associated prolonged hospital stay for elderly patients.

Your recovery will begin in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) and typically will continue in another area of the hospital for three to five days before you go home. Once you have been discharged from the hospital, recovery typically takes six weeks or more.

Risks

• Bleeding.
• An irregular heart rhythm.
• Infections of the chest wound.
• Memory loss or trouble thinking clearly, which often improves within six to 12 months.
• Kidney problems.
• Stroke.
• Heart attack, if a blood clot breaks loose soon after surgery.

Those patients who survive are either extubated in less than 14 days or require prolonged mechanical ventilation beyond that point. In our opinion, patients should be given 1 wk to recover and one trial of weaning from the ventilator.