The reason they give you a pillow after heart surgery is because the pillow provides an extra layer of pressure to counteract any jolting from a cough, sneeze or movement.
The pillow also helps reduce any pain because it also holds the incision and sensitive skin that surrounds the incision firmly in place.
To fully recover after having open heart surgery takes around 3 months.
After 3 months you should be fully recovered from the open heart surgery.
After open heart surgery you need to sleep on your back for at least a month and then you can usually switch to sleeping on your side.
The best sleeping position after open heart surgery is to sleep on your back as sleeping on your back after open heart surgery allows your spine, head and neck to be aligned properly which reduces the pressure of the heart and chest.
Surgeons open the rib cage by cutting through the breastbone also known as the sternum and the muscles and then the surgeon spreads the ribs open.
The breast bone also known as the sternum does grow back and fuse back together over the course of a few months or so.
It can take 6 months or more for the breast bone to fuse back together but the breast bone will grow back and fuse together eventually.
The surgeon uses a strong wire to hold the cut bones together which allows your new cells to grow.
Muscles are cut during open heart surgery.
To access your heart for open heart surgery the surgeon will make a vertical incision in your skin and muscle in the middle of your chest and then cut through the breastbone also known as the sternum.
The surgeon does cut your sternum for open heart surgery and then spreads your ribs to access your heart.
They don't break your ribs during open heart surgery but the surgeon does cut through the sternum which is the breastbone and spread the ribs to access the heart.
It's sometimes called cracking the chest although they don't break the ribs.
The open heart surgery procedure takes from 3 hours to 5 hours from start to finish.
During the open heart surgery procedure the heart surgeon will cut into you by making an incision down the middle of your breastbone which will be around 7 to 8 inches long.
After open heart surgery you may cough for around 8 weeks which is normal.
Coughing and coughing up phlegm or mucus after open heart surgery or other surgery is a normal process.
The coughing after surgery is a natural, vital way that the body gets rid of excess mucus in the lungs.
If mucus is stuck in the lungs for too long, an infection can start.
This is why it's important to regularly cough after surgery, even if it can be unpleasant.
The open heart surgery itself is not painful as you will be put to sleep with anesthesia although you may experience some pain after the open heart surgery as your ribs and body heals from the surgery but it should not be very painful.
You might also feel some slight pain or discomfort after the open heart surgery when you sneeze, cough or laugh but the pain is only brief.
The only difference between bypass and open heart surgery is that bypass surgery is open heart surgery that is done with the use of a bypass machine.
The surgeon uses a bypass pump to take the place of the heart and lungs to keep you alive while they work on the heart.
Other than that open heart surgery and bypass heart surgery are basically the same thing.
The reason they leave the chest open after open heart surgery is for low cardiac output.
This is also known as delayed sternal closure after cardiac operations.
Delayed sternal closure (DSC) is defined as delaying the sternal closure either as a principal method or after failure of one or several trials of closure at the end of the operation.
The long term effects after having open heart surgery are blood clots, kidney problems, trouble thinking clearly and memory loss.
Not everyone will experience these issues after open heart surgery but they are some long term effects that can occur to some people after open heart surgery.
Bleeding at the site of surgery or from the incision is the most common complication after having open heart surgery.
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.