The most common complication after open heart surgery is bleeding which usually occurs from the incision or surgery site.
During the open heart surgery and recovery in the hospital you'll be monitored closely and your progress will be tracked.
The ribs are not broken for open heart surgery but the ribs are cut and then moved around and out of the way to gain access to the heart to perform the open heart surgery.
During open heart surgery your heart is worked on inside of your body and not removed.
During open heart surgery you'll be connected to a heart and lung bypass machine or a bypass pump during the open heart surgery.
Your heart is stopped during open heart surgery and while connected to this machine.
The surgeon will open your heart and work on it and then seal it back up and then restart the heart.
The machine you're connected too keeps you alive as it does the work of your heart and lungs while your heart is stopped for the open heart surgery.
Open heart surgery is pretty safe and rarely causes death although it's still a serious surgery.
Open heart surgery is a major operation that requires close monitoring and immediate post-operative support.
It is normal for a person to remain in the intensive care unit (ICU) for a couple of days after the procedure to receive further care.
Healing time after open heart surgery will take at least two to three months.
After the open heart surgery you can expect to have good and bad days during this time and you may feel tired, irritable, anxious, depressed or simply not quite yourself for a few weeks.
Don't be worried if you express your moods and feelings more than before.
The types of heart surgery include.
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
Heart valve repair or replacement.
Insertion of a pacemaker or an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).
Maze surgery.
Aneurysm repair.
Heart transplant.
Insertion of a ventricular assist device (VAD) or total artificial heart (TAH).
Generally, open heart surgery is not a painful experience.
One notable exception is the removal of the drainage tubes, which typically occurs on post-operative day one.
It may feel a bit odd and sometimes can be a brief source of pain.
It will feel uncomfortable when you cough, laugh or sneeze.
After having open heart surgery or heart surgery 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.
The death rate or mortality rate of open heart surgery is only 2.9% which is pretty low.
Open Heart Surgery has a pretty high successful rate which is 98% so you're very unlikely to die during open heart surgery.
Open Heart Surgery is still pretty dangerous even with advances in medicine and medical technology and the knowledge of today's open heart surgeons who perform the open heart surgery.
Several people have gone through open heart surgery and survived it so it's pretty successful and even babies have had and do have open heart surgery and even then it's pretty successful.