The pain after bypass surgery can be mild to severe and can occur in your shoulders, upper back and chest for around 4 to 6 weeks.
Bypass surgery itself is not painful as you'll be asleep during the procedure.
However you can experience some chest pain, shoulder pain and back pain that is usually moderate but can be severe for at least 4 to 6 weeks as you heal.
Bypass surgery is serious as the surgeon opens up your ribs and chest and then accesses your heart.
Your heart is bypassed using a heart and lung machine and the heart is stopped and then after the heart is worked on and the work is done on the heart the heart is then restarted by restoring blood flow.
Your heart is a vital organ and without it you would die so bypass surgery or any surgery done on your heart is serious.
Brain surgery is more serious and more complicated though.
Bypass surgery or bypass heart surgery is recommended when you have a blocked artery to your heart.
If you have severe chest pain that is caused by the narrowing of several arteries which supply your heart muscle and leaves the heart short of blood during exercise or rest then the doctor will usually recommend heart surgery or bypass surgery.
The heart is restarted after bypass surgery by restoring blood flow to your heart which restarts the heart and the heart should begin beating on it's own again.
However if not sometimes a mild shock using electric shocks are used to restart the heart.
There's no difference between open heart surgery and bypass surgery as they are the same surgeries.
During open heart surgery and bypass surgery a heart and lung bypass machine is used to work as your heart and lungs while your heart is stopped which is why open heart surgery is called bypass surgery.
The surgeon uses a bypass pump for your heart and lungs and can tun the bypass pump on or off when needed.
The on pump surgery for open heart surgery and bypass surgery uses the heart and lung machine that is used to circulate your blood and breathes for your body.
You can fly after bypass surgery or open heart surgery although you must wait at least 10 to 14 days after bypass surgery or open heart surgery before flying.
This rule goes for other surgeries as well.
After bypass surgery or open heart surgery you should walk at least 1 mile to 1.5 miles per day.
Walking and exercising at least 30 minutes per day at least 5 days per week helps you stay healthier and helps you recover faster from bypass surgery.
The percentage of artery blockage that requires bypass surgery is an artery blockage of 50 percent or more.
At 50 percent or more artery blockage the person with the blocked artery has an increased risk of life threatening arrhythmia, major heart attack or even death.
The chest typically hurts for 4 to 6 weeks after bypass surgery or open heart surgery.
After open heart surgery or bypass surgery your upper back, chest and shoulders can hurt for up to 6 weeks which is normal.
After bypass surgery or open heart surgery you'll be on the ventilator for 1 to 2 days and then you can usually go without the ventilator.
However in some rare cases some people may need to be on a ventilator for up to a week after bypass surgery or open heart surgery.
Open heart surgery is not painful as you'll be sedated and asleep during the procedure.
Although during recovery you may experience some slight pain but it should not be overly painful.
You do go on a ventilator after open heart surgery while in the ICU.
After open heart surgery you'll have temporary wires, tubes and also lines attached to your body which are used to assist you with the recovery and a breathing tube will be in your throat while you recover from open heart surgery.
Most people are in the ICU after open heart surgery for up to 3 days.
After open heart surgery you'll stay in the ICU room for 1 to 3 days while you recover.
The ICU room is an intensive care unit room that is for people who have just had significant surgeries such as open heart surgery.
The complications after open heart surgery are bleeding, stroke, blood clot that breaks loose soon after surgery, kidney problems, memory loss or trouble thinking clearly, infections of the chest wound and irregular heart rhythm.
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.