Learning What Occurs During the Heart Valve Replacement Procedure
September 21st, 2009 by heart_health
Anyone facing a major medical process has questions. It’s a brilliant idea to get them answered before the procedure so you will be informed and not quite as scared about whatis going to occur. 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 must ask your doctor for all of the particulars about what is going to occur before, during, and after the op so you can prepare yourself and know what should be expected.
Before your heart valve replacement, you may get hooked up to an IV, and you’ll have to get rid of any jewellery, glasses, dentures, contacts, and hearing aids. Basically, anything that you are wearing that can be removed. The anesthesiologist and the doctor will chat with you about what is going to occur, and you’ll be given a sedative.
See also : mitral valve prolapse
During the process, you’ll be anesthetized. You’ll be hooked 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 sewn in, theywill unhook you from the heart 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 connected up to all kinds of tubes and wires, including one down your throat to help breath, a catheter, an IV for medicine, and tubes near your heart to scale back the fluids from this area that are left over from the surgery. Once you are awake and ready 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 be expecting 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 when you come home you will still not be back to your old self. This can take approximately 6 to 8 weeks of gradual healing. You will continue to be on medicine as well that you need to take, and you’ll need to go to the doctor from time to time for monitoring of your condition.
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