ITS HAS BEEN 5 WEEKS SINCE I HAD MY QUADRUPLE HEART BYPASS!
I survived and I am doing much better than anticipated. I do have lots of stories and experiences i have been documenting on my social media account. I have meet a few other people on tiktok with open heart surgery and i am so positive with them. I stayed in a “skilled nursing facility” that I am filing a complaint on. They had the most unintelligent staff there. Most didn’t know why I was there and I had to explain what a heart bypass was to them. I thought these were nurses and CNAs? They didn’t have a recliner for me to sit in just a wheel chair to prop up my chest straights. The food was under cooked and high carb. I could go on for days about that place let alone not getting my meds correct.
I will say this…. the Diabetes medical community needs to do a better job of testing and warning new diabetes of LIPOPROTEINS in addition to just giving a patient a LDL number. it was only 2 months before my surgery I found out my Lipoprotein a was 167. Of course i am thinking if I had known this 17 years ago that could have changed alot of what I was doing. I am now on repatha which has been available since 2015. I think about I could have been taking it since then and really could have gotten my LDL and lipo proteins under control. I had insurance and I had the money to pay for it. I have to blame my previous endos for not bring thing to my attention when it was apart of their training.
I am making changes in my lie and i am looking forward to becoming a personal trainer and athlete.
The only exercise that I know of that is a problem until the sternum heals is swimming and possibly rows. It takes about 6 months for that bone to heal.
Thinking about it, weight will be limited to 8 pounds (a gallon of milk). Hopefully you will get some competent physical therapy to guide you while you heal.
My understanding is that after 6 months you should be good to go.
I will be ready in a month to drive and go back to work. I finally got contacted by cardio rehab. I told them i am already doing 4K to 7K steps per day. They said that was great. So i will go in at least 2-3 times to get hooked up to monitors to prove everything is cool. I am already trying to do a dance class!
I checked my self out of the skill nursing place. They specialize in geriatric and dementia people not heart bypass. They admitted they didn’t know why I was there and this was a learning experience. WHAT…. I am not trying to be a science experiment. They would never contact the roving doctor for when i had questions about missing medications and doses. I never got a low carb diet. I had to eat it cuz they would take 2 hours to make another meal. They didn’t have any reclining chair for me to sit in and prop my back. I had to sit in a wheel chair during the day. They were always late in removing out food trays. The food was always undercooked are super salty. I had to explain what a bypass was to the staff they didn’t know. My blood pressure and glucose levels were always high. They didn’t do anything about getting them adjusted or even calling the roving doctor. So i told the doctor i was leaving on a friday and she said she didn’t have a problem with it. Funny the Charge RN ask me did i get any permission to leave. I told him NO this place is not good for my overall health. Right now i am going through the process of grievenaces. UGGHHH… i am so happy i am home!
I’ve been in the hospital twice since my diagnosis. I refuse to let them manage my sugars, as I know I’ll be better at it than them. However after a bypass, I’m not sure I would be able to at first.
It’s really apparent thst we all need an advocate and someone payings attention to what is happening husband or wife is usually the default, but a parent or other family can also do it. I’ve been lucky with agreeable hospital staff and I’m married to someone who understands the basics and knows how to advocate for me
I hope I wont ever need another stay but being prepared is key
I had a triple in March, one artery 99% blocked. No mystery how I got there, T2 diabetic for 20 years, great stress with an alcoholic wife, overweight with poor lifestyle including lots of fast food (the emotional pain and stress of living with an alcoholic tends to make you turn to food pleasure as a salve).
Now the good news: Six months later I’m eating very healthy, taking my meds religiously, now up to 50m a day doing hard cardio at my max heartrate in the gym, 5x a week. I feel 20 years younger (I’m 63). Before surgery I was so sick — would feel nauseated all the time, vaped THC to have an appetite to eat, and more badness. All gone. No more vaping, a light beer here and there (on average 6 weeks between), appetite back voraciously! I love cooking and eating different fish and chicken meals, veggies. My heart is doing great, strong and happy, rest pulse down to 65-70 from 90’s before surgery; I have a hard time getting it above my doctor’s limit of 128 in the gym. Walking, dancing, errands, everything — I’ve been given a second chance at life.
Only negative is a relatively minor complication of being in the 5% with incomplete sternal healing. Bottom third or so down to the Xyphoid Process didn’t bind. It’s fortunately painless, just annoying — pops here and there as I rotate my torso. I’ll be heading back in for an outpatient surgery to debride, clamp, and plate the area that didn’t knit closed, which will fix it. Can schedule at my discretion.
Take care of your replumbed heart and enjoy your second chance at life. Follow doctors orders, and most of all, work out your heart and make it really strong. It’s a miracle to live in 2025 when we can have such incredible medical care. 50 Years ago I would have had a bad heart attack eventually, and if I survived, the rest of my short remaining time on this mortal coil would have been miserable, full of health problems. I’ve been given a second chance, and plan to make the most of it I possibly can.
Did your doctors talk with you about how often they’ll recheck your lipoprotein(a) and cholesterol now that you’re on Repatha, and what goals they want you to aim for going forward?
What a relief.