Submitted by Dr T on October 20, 2010 – 10:34am
After heart surgery two things occur:
- Correction of the heart problem to the extent this is possible (not everything is fixable);
- Recovery from the “Getting-in & getting-out”.
His shortness of breath may simply lack of stamina, but I would also suspect he may have what is called a “pleural effusion”, fluid that typically collects in space around his lung in the left chest.
He also may be still a little “fluid overloaded” and require a diuretic for a while.
If your heart is fixed, the effect on you and your body is immediate improvement. In most cases heart surgery involves cutting your breast bone and spreading your rib cage apart to allow access to your heart. this part of the operation takes at least six weeks to heal, because your body has a broken bone that heals in about the same time as fractures elsewhere.
In your husband’s case, I think he may have moved on too quickly. You can read more about recovery, exercise etc. here:
https://www.cardiachealth.org/heart-disease-treatment/heart-surgery-recovery
https://www.cardiachealth.org/heart-disease-treatment/cardiac-rehabilitation
https://www.cardiachealth.org/patients/exercise/activiies-after-heart-surgery
Hope this helps,