PostsAnyone facing a major medical procedure has questions. It’s a brilliant idea to get them answered before the process so 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 need to ask your doctor for all of the particulars about what is going to happen before, during, and after the surgery so you can prepare yourself and know what can be expected.
Before your heart valve replacement, youwill get hooked up to an IV, and you will have to remove any jewellery, glasses, dentures, contacts, and hearing aids. Fundamentally, anything that you are wearing that can be removed. The anesthesiologist and the doctor will chat to you about what’s going to happen, and youwill be given a sedative.
See also : mitral valve prolapse
During the surgery, youwill be anesthetized. You will be hooked up to a heart lung machine that may take over for these organs so that the doctor can perform the heart valve replacement using either a mechanical or tissue valve. In order to do this they are going to have to chop open your sternum to access your heart. Once the old valve is removed and the new one sewn 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 will be connected up to all sorts of tubes and wires, including one down your throat to helpyou 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 get better. You should expect to spend a couple days in the ICU, and then more time in a cardiac surgical floor until you are recovered enough to return home. However, even when you return home you will still not be back to your old self. This can take roughly six to 8 weeks of gradual 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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