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The First Week After Open-Heart Aortic Aneurysm Dissection Repair Surgery · From Recovery to Wellness | Life After Heart Surgery, Aneurysm Repair & Cardiac Healing

0:08
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Welcome
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to our second episode of From Recovery to Wellness.
0:18
Now we'll get right into it. Now first we're
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going to cover the first weeks after your open
0:27
heart aneurysm surgery or any type of of cardiac
0:32
surgery that you've had. So or and if you're
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getting ready for surgery or in your first week
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of recovery or caring for someone after cardiac
0:45
surgery this episode is for you. Now these early
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days can feel confusing, emotional, and even
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a little unpredictable. Sometimes even when everything
0:59
is technically going well. Today we're going
1:02
to walk through what's normal, what to watch
1:05
for, and how to support yourself gently during
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this first stage of healing. Now we'll go from
1:14
the transition from ICU to step down. Now during
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this time, you'll still be in the hospital transitioning
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from the intensive care unit to the step down
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unit. Now on average, hospital stays last about
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five to 10 days. Some people are ready to go
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home sooner, while others may need a bit more
1:38
time if recovery is slower or complications come
1:42
up, which God forbid. Once you move out of the
1:48
ICU and into step down, your recovery enters
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an important new phase. It's very normal to feel
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sore and extremely tired at this point, but with
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support, you'll begin getting out of bed and
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taking short walks. For many patients, this starts
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around day two or three after surgery and plays
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a key role in safely rebuilding strength. During
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this phase, chest tubes are usually removed and
2:18
your care team continues to monitor how your
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body is responding. Now, this includes watching
2:25
your heart rhythm, gradually resuming eating,
2:28
noticing the return of bowel function, and practicing
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breathing exercises to help prevent pneumonia.
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Now, pain is typically managed with oral medications
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to keep you as comfortable as possible while
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you heal. Now this is just an overview. There
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may be some other things or items that your care
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team may attend to as they're bringing you to
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the step -down unit. And then as you continue
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recovering in the step -down unit, education
3:02
becomes an important part of who you are, part
3:05
of your care, I'm sorry. This is when your health
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care team begins preparing you and your caregiver
3:15
if you have one for going home. You'll learn
3:18
how to care for your incision, understand activity
3:21
restrictions, and manage your blood pressure
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safely. They'll also review warning signs to
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watch for once you're home so you know what's
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normal and when to call for help. Now this education
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happens gradually because you don't want to be
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overwhelmed. You're already, you know, pain in
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pain and this is maybe all new to you if this
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is your first surgery and hopefully your last.
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And so they don't, the care team doesn't want
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to overwhelm you, but with plenty of opportunity,
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but there is plenty of opportunity to ask questions
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and get clarity if you need to. Now, this is
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how the doctors decide if you're ready for discharge
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to go home. Now, what they normally do, it isn't
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based on any specific number of days. It's based
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on safety and readiness. Now, the time span that
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I gave you at the beginning, that's just an average.
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That's when the majority of people stay in the
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hospital and then get discharged. So that's not...
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uh, cut in stone. Uh, so, uh, you don't have
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necessarily have to feel good though, or fully,
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um, be recovered to go home. Uh, again, that's
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just, um, just a gauge to letting you know when,
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uh, the, the average time span is, is, uh, that
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is allotted for when you get ready to be discharged.
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And again, everyone is different. So, um, just
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don't let that, don't set that up as a goal.
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Yeah, the goal to go home, but the timeframe,
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the doctor will give you instructions on that.
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And then you just simply need to be safe, stable,
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and supported for the next phase of healing.
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And some, one of the things that, a couple of
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the things that I experienced when it was time
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for me to go home, and at one point it felt like
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that I wasn't ready. Because I was so sore but
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I had been up walking and this wasn't my first
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surgery I've had six other surgeries over my
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lifetime and this one was the toughest but and
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then with this I I just I Just had to keep the
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mindset that I was healing and that I had just
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had an incision cut into my chest for open heart
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surgery about three or four days prior. So, and
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I knew that it was going to get better. So that
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was my hope. And so I tried as much as I could
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to get up and walk and keep hydrated. And so
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that's a bit of encouragement because that's
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where you're ultimately you're going to get to.
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be well enough or stable enough to go home and
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then your healing is going to continue. And so
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upon your discharge home basically that means
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going home through those some patients may benefit
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from a short stay in rehab in a rehab facility
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or if mobility or strength is limited. But usually
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you go straight home unless you have some underlying
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conditions that need to be attended to as you're
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healing from your open heart surgery or your
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aneurysm repair or whatever cardiac incident
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that you're healing from. Now the decision isn't
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about, again, hitting a day on the calendar,
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it's about being ready. And in general, the discharge
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happens when you can walk short distances, your
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pain is controlled with oral medications, your
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heart rhythm and blood pressure are stable and
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you can eat, breathe comfortably and use the
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bathroom independently. Now when these pieces
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come together it's a sign that healing can continue
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safely outside the hospital and then once you're
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at home you want to monitor your body safely.
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And that becomes a part of your daily life, but
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it doesn't have to feel overwhelming. Your care
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team may ask you to keep an eye on things like
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blood pressure and heart rate, depending on your
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situation. You'll also want to check your incision.
7:58
regularly for signs of healing now what you might
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experience and usually you do with the scar that
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you have down the center of your chest you may
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see a rise in your the skin there and that is
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called a keloid it's where the skin is trying
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to heal and it over proliferates Or it just starts
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to heal and build up and now that's going to
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cause me have me to skip to my did you know segment
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and so to just kind of let you know what that
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is or what's causing it. It is called a keloid
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when the skin rises like that as it's trying
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to heal But you won't see a lot of that yet because
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you're probably still swollen but after it the
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swelling goes down and you begin to see this
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rise in your skin and it's it could be hard and
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it's just that one little ridge where you were
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the where the the stitches are the sutures are
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stitches and what that is is it's collagen that
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builds up inside of the underneath the skin like
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I said going through the process of trying to
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heal itself and it is called a keloid and that
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is a protein that provides structure and strength
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to repair the damaged skin tissue and so once
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you see that you that is pretty normal. Now,
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if you have not a lot of melanin or no melanin
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at all in your skin, it may appear red, you know,
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a deep red and it may lighten up as you as you
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heal and along with a lot of itching. And then
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if you are one who has a lot of melanin in your
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skin, it may turn darker and then lighten as
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you heal. Now, what to do for that? is to just
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massage that every day. And I had been instructed
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and I kind of researched more of this too, that
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for the first two years you do want to massage
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that every day because it is doing most of its
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healing at that point. And so that it may even
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flatten out some more and then your... your skin
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may get closer to its natural tone and then it
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may not. It just depends on the individual. As
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you know, everyone is different. And so just
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kind of nurture that every day. And then there
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are certain appointments and jails that you can
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apply but in that particular case please ask
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your doctor what to put on your skin now when
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i first. Came home. The doctor told me don't
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put anything on it because I was getting ready
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to use cocoa butter to kind of make the the Melanin
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fade away and he said don't put that on there
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Don't put anything at this point and then as
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I began to heal I began to itch a whole lot more
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and that's where the nerves have been sutured
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and they're trying to mend back together and
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Your skin is just going through the process of
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what it does, you know when your skin is trying
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to get back to normal. So that's one of the things
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that you want to do and just be sure to continue
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to monitor how you feel at each time the same
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day because you want to know if things are improving,
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staying the same or changing. So now I just want
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to talk about nutrition, general nutrition, and
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it's a very integral part of your healing. Now
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in the first week after surgery, focus on plant
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-based, easy -to -digest meals that are simple,
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nourishing, and forgiving. And hydration, again,
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is important. Remember to sip water regularly.
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Aim for a balance of protein and fiber to support
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healing, but please don't pressure yourself to
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follow a perfect diet. The goal is nourishment,
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not perfection. So now I'll introduce the food
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of the week. It's a basic that probably every
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one of you has had and probably still eat. It's
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oatmeal. You can enjoy it savory. in a savory
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fashion or lightly sweet. But what I recommend
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is sweetening with fruit if you need to have
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that sweet taste, such as blueberries or any
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fruit that you prefer. But if you can, avoid
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refined sugar or use it sparingly. Now I do want
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to interject and say, That well before i say
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this i just want to say to that you're eating
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that eating the oatmeal it's easy to digest is
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customizable meaning that you can kind of add
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different things to it you know you can have
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milk you can have cinnamon you can have your
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your berries and it's gentle on your appetite
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and Right now food doesn't have to be complicated
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but just think simple nourishing and forgiving
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uh foods and again make sure you're hydrated
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drink your water you know i i take um i take
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i have three flask uh the um um oh what do you
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call them the um thermals i used to carry them
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at work to make sure that i got hydrated throughout
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the day and my water was good and cold And I
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have collected some along the way from places
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that I used to work. They used to give them as
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gifts. And then one I actually bought, but I
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have three that I rotate all day, every day,
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and they hold 16 ounces of water each. And so
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I always get my water in and that's the only
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way that I can drink it. But I hadn't forgotten.
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I wanted to share something too about this is
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still on nutrition about. about the oatmeal and
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the sweetening of it. Now, when I first got home,
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I thought this was the wildest thing. My taste
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buds had just went haywire. I could not taste,
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I didn't have a sweet taste for... for about
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three months. And it made me kind of scared because
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I'm like, if I can't taste anything or if nothing
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is sweet, I'm wondering how am I going to, you
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know, get through this. I knew that I would have
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to get used to it, but it would have really been
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very difficult. And those first three months
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that my taste buds, my, my sweet, um, um, the
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sweet sensation was gone. Uh, I, I, I did, that
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was just That was just almost unbearable. And
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then actually it was a blessing in disguise for
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that temporary moment because it kept me from
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eating sweet things. And so, and then I want
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to always keep the sweet things to a minimum
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because you know, they can wreak havoc with your
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body as well. It can make your blood pressure
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go up. Your sugar can, the sugar, it can be,
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cause you to have sugar spikes and increase your
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A1c, you know, all those types of things, but
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I'm not a doctor, so I'm not going to go in deep
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on that. I just wanted to mention those things,
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throw that out there, you know, as something
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to consider or maybe even research. And so, like
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again, I said that the food doesn't have to be
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complicated right now. Just think simple, nourishing
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and forgiving. And one of the things that I did
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do too was I didn't feel like eating, you know,
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a lot of times because I was so sorry to seem
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to have taken my appetite away. So what I did
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was I had a lot of soups and just again, simple
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things, you know, something that would wasn't
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too complicated to fix something that wasn't
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too too tough to eat. And one of the nice things
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about my my meals is that I don't eat a lot of
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meat. The only thing that I don't eat red meat
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if I do is very occasionally. But I usually have
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chicken, fish, and turkey in some form or fashion.
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It's never fried. I usually bake, broil, or boil
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my poultry and my fish. Now, I'll move on to
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emotional awareness and did you know? Did you
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know that emotional swings after surgery are
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extremely common even when recovery is progressing
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well? Stress hormones, medications, and sleep
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disruption all play a role. Feeling emotional
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doesn't mean something is wrong, and it doesn't
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mean you're failing. These reactions are normal
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and temporary. Just realize that your body has
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gone through a traumatic experience. Your brain
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and your heart were artificially functioning
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by way of pumps and machines. And now I have
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a reflection question for you. What has been
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the most surprising part of your first week,
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physically or emotionally? I'd love to hear your
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thoughts and you can email me at amwms1 at gmail
17:48
.com or DM me if you'd like to share. If having
17:53
something structured helps you feel calmer, I
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sometimes talk about journals and wellness tools
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I personally use. These are always optional and
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you can find them through my website or show
18:05
notes if you're curious. Next week we'll talk
18:08
about anxiety and emotional recovery, something
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many people don't expect but deeply experience.
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Thanks for listening. And remember to be gentle
18:17
with yourself during this early stage of healing.
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And I'll see you in the new year. Take care and
18:23
be well.