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So recovery for after a bypass surgery varies with different patients. You're usually in the hospital for one week post surgery and then you require longer term rehab after that. The recovery time after a stent is usually 48 hours or less. Patients are able to go back to their normal activity as soon as they're discharged from the hospital.
So recovery for after a bypass surgery varies with different patients. You're usually in the hospital for one week post surgery and then you require longer term rehab after that. The recovery time after a stent is usually 48 hours or less. Patients are able to go back to their normal activity as soon as they're discharged from the hospital.
So once you've had a cardiac cath and the blockages in your heart has been defined and it's been determined that it cannot be fixed with stents, you are then referred to a cardiac surgeon for bypass surgery. So this is open heart surgery where they attempt to bypass these blocked vessels. They get veins either from your legs or an artery from your chest that's sewn over the blocked arteries that you have to allow blood to bypass that area of blockage. So bypass surgeries is usually recommended in patients who are not good candidates for angioplasty and stent placements. So these tend to be patients who are sicker, have multiple comorbidities, many more arteries blocked, simultaneously, or your heart function is depressed.
Some complications associated with the coronary artery procedure includes bleeding, infection, you can actually have a heart attack while having this procedure. There's also a risk of stroke and there's the risk associated with the anesthesia medications that you get during the procedure.
So coronary angioplasty is when a stent is placed in blocked arteries. So the way the procedure works is you're brought into the cardiac cath lab, you're sedated by the sedation nurse and catheters are put in through the groin and taken all the way up to the heart. Contrast is then injected into the arteries of the heart where you can see clearly which arteries are blocked. Then when the block artery is identified, a stent can then be put across that blockage and be ballooned open so that you have blood flow through that blocked artery.
Once you have been diagnosed with a heart attack and you are discharged home, you will be discharged on several new medications. It's not uncommon to feel fatigued and tired as a result of the medications, but unfortunately you have to stay on the medications because once you've had a heart attack, you're always at risk for having a second heart attack. And these medications aim to decrease your risk for having a heart attack.
Once you've been discharged home after having a heart attack, you will most likely be enrolled in a cardiac rehab program. You do physical activity while you are being monitored. Your heart rate, your blood pressure and ECG, sometimes would be monitored while you exercise. This allows for you to heal quicker and if there are any abnormalities seen while you're doing any physical activity, there are people around, they can stop, help you and get a doctor's attention quickly.
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