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What You Need to Know About Open Heart Surgery

Surgeon provides Sternum Stabilization

No matter where you go in the medical industry, there's always more to learn. That's especially true when it comes to open-heart surgery. Those three words, in particular, are often shrouded in misunderstanding, discomfort, and worry--so today we'll explore the basics of open-heart surgery, in hopes that understanding will lead to a bit more comfort.

Not Quite Rocket Science

Open-heart surgery is complicated and delicate, yes, but the details tend to get exaggerated in the public mind (which is fair, considering that open heart surgery used to be something very different than it is now). The truth is that open-heart surgery may not be simple, but it's not as bad as we tend to think. Here are some details that might change the way you see this procedure.

"Open-heart" doesn't mean what you think.

3 Sternal Precautions You Need to Follow After Surgery

Sternum Stabilization

After heart surgery, it’s normal to want to return to everyday activities. Your routine will occur with time, but first, your body needs proper rest to heal the sternum after the procedure. To ensure that you recover and advance at the appropriate rate, there are precautions to take for sternum stabilization.

1. Avoid Lifting Heavy Weights

It can be difficult to adjust to limited exercises, but it will help speed up recovery time. If you are used to performing arm exercises, do not lift anything heavier than ten pounds. For the first eight weeks of your recovery, you should only raise one-half or one pound weights to improve sternum stabilization. Ten bicep curls on each side is a gentle start. Make sure to have a pillow or some form of security harness to protect your sternum.

A Postoperative Bra Can Help

Postoperative Bra, Cardiac Surgery Rehabilitation

We've all likely heard it at least once it our lives: "All you need to focus on is getting better." It sounds so simple--but, in reality, "getting better" is actually a pretty big concept to focus on, especially after cardiac surgery. Rehabilitation requires lifestyle changes. It requires determination. It requires work. In order to recover from cardiac surgery, you often have to focus on things that we've all spent a lifetime taking for granted, like breathing, moving, eating, and sleeping. Even though "all you need to focus on is getting better," there's still a lot to do--but with a surgical support garment like a Postoperative Bra, you can mark a few things off the list.

Considering Respiratory Splinting for a Fractured Rib

Sternum Stabilization, Respiratory Splinting

Considering how important they are, our ribs are often overlooked. We pay more attention to the bones that are always moving, always working, and we don't spare much more than a fleeting thought for our ribs. It hasn't always been this way. When we were young and learning about human bone structure, our eyes were often drawn to the ribs on the school diagram—after all, ribs are fascinating, strange, like protective fingers stretched over our vital organs, and our young minds found it strange that such an alien bone-structure existed inside of us. Now, though, we rarely see such diagrams, the fascination has faded, and the ribs are dismissed in daily life. The moment something goes wrong, however, like a fractured rib, our attention is immediately returned to these bones.

What is Cardiac Rehab?

Cardiac Rehab

The human body is a truly amazing machine. Against all odds, our bones, muscles, and organs work together to keep us alive, functioning in ways that we still don't fully understand. Consider, for just a moment, all of the events taking place within any of us right now. The heart is beating. The lungs are working to breathe. The brain is computing thousands of thoughts, sensations, and messages every second. The body is completely responsible for these functions, ensuring that they take place and that they succeed--and it's a good thing, too, because no one really knows how to voluntarily beat their own heart or control messages sent by the brain. When it comes right down to it, we do very little to take care of our bodies considering how much they do for us. However, there are some occasions when the body demands more care, like after cardiac surgery--and on those occasions, rehabilitation is the answer.

Post-Op Cardiac Rehab Exercises

Cardiac Rehab

Since we were very young, we've been learning how important it is to take good care of our bodies. We learn what foods to eat and what foods to avoid; we learn the benefits and drawbacks of medicine; we even learn--some of us more eagerly than others--how to get our bodies moving. It's true: exercise isn't always popular in our minds, but at the end of the day, we do have to admit that moving is good for our bodies. So, whether we like it or not, we fill our days with treadmills, weights, and gym memberships. We get moving. It's not always easy and it's not always fun, but it's good for us, so we do it. However, exercise after surgery is an entirely different challenge--and an extremely worthy challenge at that.

Managing Pain After Open Heart Surgery

Pain After Open Heart Surgery

We've all heard it before: "life's a journey, not a destination." While that may be true in life, there are some things that are defined by the destination and not the journey. For example, what about a trip to the grocery store? Chances are, you're not too focused on the journey itself; it's a combination of roads you've driven a thousand times before, stoplights you know like the back of your hand, and turns you could make with your eyes closed (although that's not recommended). In this case, most of us are more concerned with the destination. What do we need at the store? Will it be crowded? How fast can we get the job done? It's true: there are many things in life where destination is emphasized over journey--and heart surgery is one of them.

What Happens After a Sternotomy?

pain after sternotomy

If you were a character in a book, what would a chapter about your daily life look like? You've read chapters like these about your favorite fictional characters; it is the "average life" portion of the story, the part where everything is normal right before things change and the journey begins. What would your chapter look like? For example, what would you eat for breakfast? Which clothes would you put on? Would you feed a dog, or would you feed a cat, or both? What kind of car would you drive? Where would you go? These are all aspects of your life; but, just like in the stories, your current life becomes your "old life" when a journey begins--a journey like surgery. Managing pain after a sternotomy is one big part of that journey, and it is the part that's going to change your chapter the most.

Sternum Stabilization with the Surgi Support Vest

Sternum Stabilization, Surgi Support Vest

When you don't feel well, what is it that you look for or do to make yourself feel better? For some of us, the key to comfort might be a movie and a warm drink. For others, listening to good music might be the key. Still others prefer to turn to comfort food to make themselves feel better--after all, there's a reason it's known as comfort food! Whatever it is that you turn to when trying to make yourself feel better, you can clearly see that your body and your mind, working together, know what to do in order to help you. It's like your body was programmed to know what it needs (even if it's just a chocolate bar) and when it needs it. The same is true after heart surgery--although your body might require a little help knowing just what it needs.

Avoiding Sternal Dehiscence with Heart Hugger

Sternal Dehiscence

No matter who we are or what we do, one word that we all shudder at is complications. In the medical field, this is especially true. Everyone involved in the medical field--doctors, nurses, patients, even receptionists and delivery people--don't like hearing the word complications, because it means that there will be more pain, more suffering, and more danger. For example, one all-too-common complication is sternal dehiscence, and it can strike fear into the bravest heart. How can we avoid having to hear or use the infamous word complications? One crucial step in avoiding complications after surgery is ensuring that patients know what to do to take care of their bodies and how to do it properly. Often, they need a little help with that--and that's where Heart Hugger comes in.

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