Heart Bypass

dude i know this must be very scary for your dad and you and your family ........ BUT heart bypass surgery is almost routine these days, David Letterman had it, Bill Clinton and on and on - i've known a bunch of my parents' friends who've had bypasses and all pulled through well and better for it. the more times doctors do a certain surgery the better they get at it and with the millions of bypasses that have been done it's a routine surgery for a cardiac surgeon.

good luck - if your dad is real worried the doctor should hook him up to talk to a patient who has gone through it.

what is heart bypass?... Im just wondering becuase ive been having strange pains in that area lately.

Damn, hope everything goes ok...

My grandpa has had several. His first one was 16 years ago.

http://www.veoh.com/vlogs/GrandpaCaleb

right, support group might help goodluck dude

Like said above it's pretty routine now. You will always be nervous but it's definately not certain death so try to relax a little and hope for the best.

Thanks for the imput, and yes I can see it is for many an almost routine OP. Still scrared the shit out of us all when we heard the doctor telling us what was needed. Damn liife has a way a biting you when its going great

There are worse things that could happen if bypass surgery is NOT done. The procedure is becoming more refined everyday, and the recovery times are getting quicker too.

And I happen to know a bit about all of this because I had a triple-bypass less than two months ago, and I'm already back to working full time. The only thing that does take a while to heal, is where they have to split the sternum, that takes around a full 90-days to really set. Other than that I was up and walking around in the hospital in less than two days after surgery.

Best of luck to your Dad's surgery.

np - it is serious surgery and would scare anybody - BUT finding out your dad needs bypass surgery is way better than other major medical problems - such as cancer. surgery is surgery - even when you get put under to get your wisdom teeth out they'll tell you there's a risk - but success rates for bypass surgery are extremely high.

they have people walking around the day after a bypass i think these days and out of the hospital a few days later if things are going well.

Sorry to hear that man...seriously..

......welcome again then

I pray for the safe bypass procedure for your old man

I had one in October of 2005. IT is routine, but not a walk in the park for the patient. They have to cut the chest bone...

I would advise that you make sure he has a power recliner to sleep in the first few nights when he gets home. I used pillows the first couple night. My g/f had to lift me up so I could get out of bed. The power recliner that lefts all the way up did the trick. Rented one from a medical supply company for a month. Used it about two weeks...

The other issue is it is important that he cough up any fluid in his lungs. They give you a breathing exercise device that cause you to cough any thing in the lungs up. Since they collapse your lungs during the operation, you wanna get them working right again as soon as possible. Will make him feel better.

After recovery from the initial surgery stuff , I feel better and noticed a marked improvement in my breathing etc.. Typically it is an operation you don't have a lot of choice on, so the sooner the better in most cases. Beats a heart attack that might kill!

Best of luck to your dad!!!

PS - The operation itself is a breeze, they give ya drugs so you don't feel anything, don't care and don't remember.

That is really sad to hear..I hope he gets well soon.. goodluck with the surgery

Best of luck to your pops