Recovering From Heart Surgery - Wound Care

Heart surgery is one of the most invasive surgeries imaginable and can be a very trying time. You should anticipate a fairly long recovery period after your surgery. Fortunately, with proper preparation and a little patience, you will be able to speed up your recovery from heart surgery and begin to enjoy all of the health benefits that follow after successful surgery on the heart.

 

If you have open heart surgery, you will have a fairly large incision in your chest. This incision will need to be properly cared for during heart surgery recovery. Your surgeon or nurse should provide you with directions to care for the surgical wound. In general, the area should be kept clean and dry. If the dressing or bandages show blood, they should be changed. The wound from heart surgery should only be cleaned with a mild soap and water (antibacterial soap is fine, though not critical). Ask your physician if you should apply any antibiotic ointment to the area. Otherwise, do not. Obviously you will want to shower or bathe after surgery, but pay special attention to the surgical wound. When in the shower, try to limit the amount of water that directly contacts the incision. Turn away from the shower spray or keep your chest above the water line in the bath.

 

 

When recovering from heart surgery, it is useful to be able to recognize the signs of wound infection. The area will be pink and tender after the surgery but this will improve over time. If the area around the incision becomes red, swollen, and warm to the touch, or the pink area gets larger, these may be signs of infection. Consult your doctor as soon as possible if you see any thick drainage coming from the wound, like pus, or if you experience a fever of above 101.5° F.

 

It is also important to be aware of the quality of pain that you are experiencing during heart surgery recovery. Chances are you had a certain sensation within your chest that led you to seek medical advice. For most people that is a crushing or squeezing pain. The pain or discomfort that occurs during heart surgery recovery is sharper and may feel more like itchiness than a true pain. Pain from the incision is focused mainly on the surface of the chest while the pain that you experienced prior to surgery was likely deeper. Why is this difference important? Surgical pain during heart surgery recovery is normal and to be expected. Cardiac chest pain, like the kind that you experienced before your surgery, is not normal. If you experience cardiac chest pain during heart surgery recovery, you should contact your doctor immediately.

 

Most patients recovering from heart surgery have several medications that they need to take at regular intervals. Make sure that you have sufficient quantities of your medicines, including pain medicine, and that these drugs are easily accessible.

 

If you are having coronary bypass surgery, a vein or artery will be taken from some other area of the body. You will need to care for that wound as well, using the same guidelines as above. Remember, if a vein was taken from the leg, it is considered normal if the leg swells a bit. After the leg has healed, your doctor may prescribe a pressure stocking to reduce swelling in the area. You can ease the swelling by keeping your leg elevated.

 

Heart surgery recovery can be challenging, but proper care of your surgical wounds can help ease the process.