Learning What Occurs During the Heart Valve Replacement Surgery
Anyone facing a major medical procedure has questions. It is a smart idea to get them answered before the process so that you will be informed and not quite as frightened about whatis going to happen. If you and your family & friends are comfortable, it makes the whole process a little easier. If you are going to have heart valve replacement, you should ask your doctor for all the particulars about what is going to happen before, during, and following the operation so you can prepare yourself and know what should be expected.
Before your heart valve replacement, youwill get hitched up to an IV, and you’ll have to get rid of any jewelry, glasses, dentures, contacts, and hearing aids. Basically, anything that you are wearing that can be removed. The anesthesiologist and the doctor will talk to you about what’s going to happen, and youwill be given a sedative.
See also : mitral valve prolapse
During the process, youwill be anesthetized. You’ll be connected up to a heart lung machine that may take over for these organs so the doctor can perform the heart valve replacement using either a mechanical or tissue valve. To do this they will have to chop open your sternum to access your heart. Once the old valve is removed and the new one stitched in, theywill unfasten you from within lung machine and launch your own heart up again. Your breastbone will be wired back together and your incision will be stitched up.
When you wake up from your heart valve replacement surgery, you’ll be hitched up to all kinds of tubes and wires, including one down your throat to help breath, a catheter, an IV for medication, and tubes near your heart to reduce the fluids from this area that are left over from the surgery. Once you are awake and able to breathe on your own the tube down your throat will be removed, and the others will be removed as you improve. You should expect to spend a pair days in the ICU, and then more time in a cardiac surgical floor until you are recovered enough to come home. However, even if you come home you will still not be back to your old self. This could take roughly six to 8 weeks of gentle healing. You will continue to be on medication as well you need to take, and youwill need to go to the doctor from time to time for monitoring of your condition.
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