by targetmarket | Apr 30, 2024 | Heart Health, Recovery
There’s no denying that heart disease surgery is a significant life event. If you’ve undergone it or have plans to do so in the future, you should understand the psychological aspects of the recovery process. Below, with Minimally Invasive and Bloodless Heart Surgery with Dr. Ciuffo, we’ll go over what they are and what you can do to cope with them so you can stay positive and keep your emotions in check. Heart Surgery Can Be An Emotional Roller Coaster Many patients experience a variety of emotions before, during, and after heart disease surgery. These may include but are not limited to fear, anxiety, and depression. In some cases, they may also be excited and relieved once the procedure is over. It’s important to understand that recovery is different for everyone, and there are a number of factors that may impact psychological health as you recover, such as: Pain: Regardless of if your post-surgical pain is constant or occasional, it can cause frustration and take a toll on your mental health. Complications: If you’ve experienced any complications after the procedure, you may face anxiety and uncertainty, both of which can hinder your emotional well-being. Pre-Existing Conditions: Pre-existing conditions prior to the surgery and recovery process can make you even more vulnerable emotionally. Medications: The over-the-counter and prescription medications you take during recovery can impact your mood and emotions. Financial Stress: Healthcare expenses plus time off work as you recover may lead to feelings of stress and anxiety. Lifestyle Changes: If you’re unable to perform many of the activities you were able to do in the past, you may feel... by DrCiuffo | Jun 15, 2022 | Blog, Dr. Giovanni B Ciuffo, Recovery
What is Thoracic Surgery Recovery Like? What is thoracic surgery? Any surgery performed with an incision that enters through the chest is considered thoracic surgery, including open-heart surgery. Recovering from thoracic surgery is a long process. The recovery process will depend upon the exact type of surgery you have, the placement and size of the incision, the condition of the individual patient, and the care taken post-surgery. After all of these are considered, the doctors and healthcare professionals can provide the optimal recovery plan for your situation. To understand what it will look like, it is also essential to comprehend thoracic surgery itself. By learning more about thoracic surgery, you can see why the recovery process is such a long process. At the Minimally Invasive and Bloodless Heart Surgery Program, we provide you with the information that makes processes like this less intimidating from the start. There is less worry and more time to focus on reaching your important health goals. What is Thoracic Surgery? According to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, thoracic surgery often referred to as open-heart surgery, may address a problem with the heart, esophagus, lungs, trachea, aorta, or diaphragm. Open heart surgery poses a significant challenge when it comes to healing. It’s going to take time to get back to feeling your best. It’s common to feel very tired and run down for six to eight weeks following the surgery. Your chest may feel swollen and sore for up to six weeks following the surgery. Most patients with traditional open-heart surgery go home with staples or stitches holding the incision closed while it heals.... by DrCiuffo | Aug 20, 2020 | Blog, Heart Health, heart healthy foods, Heart Surgery, Recovery
Heart surgery is one of the most critical types of operations that can be done on the human body, and it is usually only pursued if other, less aggressive treatments have been exhausted. To provide the optimum conditions for a successful procedure, preoperative and postoperative guidelines must be observed. One of those guidelines pertains to the patient’s diet. What to Eat Leading up to Surgery? Simply put, one of the biggest problems complicating heart surgery is obesity. The more overweight a patient is, the more difficult the recovery will be. Diets designed to help prepare a person for heart surgery, then, are often focused on losing weight. Time is of the essence, and the more time before surgery the patient has to focus on this goal, the better. If the patient has at least two weeks before heart surgery, they might benefit from emphasizing fruits, vegetables, low-fat protein, whole grains, and low sodium in their diet to help lose weight and lower blood pressure as much as possible. The total number of calories per day, on average, to consume pre-heart surgery is fairly low, at 1,200 to 1,800. Diet recommendations include more servings of fruits and vegetables than whole grains, proteins, or healthy fats. Restrictions are suggested for sweets, alcohol, and artificial sweeteners. What to Eat After Surgery? As with the pre-surgery diet, what to eat after surgery often leads to a leaner, heart-healthy diet. Recommended is a diet with extra omega 3 fatty acids, folate, vitamin K, magnesium, and unsaturated fats. On the other hand, it is not recommended that saturated and trans fats, high sodium foods, processed... by DrCiuffo | Sep 4, 2019 | Coronary Surgery, Articles, Blog, Dr. Giovanni B Ciuffo, Heart Health, Heart Surgery, Minimally Invasive Heart Surgeons, Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery, Recovery, Uncategorized
Heart surgery is one of the most sophisticated and complex types of surgery. It is demanding and requires an excellent team of physicians, assistants, and support personnel. Minimally invasive heart surgery significantly decreases the amount of trauma and damage to the patient and makes for a much easier recovery. What is Bloodless Heart Surgery? Related to advances in heart surgery, bloodless surgery has made great strides since the 1990s. Instead of using transfusions to replace blood lost during surgery, great efforts are made to reduce bleeding during surgery and harmonic scalpels clot blood while cutting tissue. Hemostatics stop bleeding before, during, and after surgery. Bleeding vessels can be sealed by an argon beam coagulator. Also, what blood is lost during the procedure is collected and returned to the patient’s circulatory system. Bloodless surgery avoids complications of transfusion, including disease (negligible risk), depression of immune system function, allergic reaction to additives in stored blood, and inflammatory response. Avoiding transfusions can make for a better recovery after heart surgery. Combining minimal blood loss with minimally invasive heart surgery can give excellent results for recovery, even with elderly or frail patients, who would have been a poor risk with earlier kinds of techniques. Still, the doctor’s skill and experience are important factors in how well the surgery, and the recovery, go. Does This Surgery Cause Scarring? Usually, minimally invasive heart surgery is done with a two-inch incision between the ribs. So, unlike earlier versions of heart surgery, bones do not have to be broken to gain access to the heart. Given time after surgery, the scar can fade to where it is... by DrCiuffo | Mar 20, 2019 | Blog, Heart Surgery, Recovery
All forms of surgery present degrees of risk, but the complications that can follow open heart surgery pose unique dangers. Surgeons will take every precaution possible to minimize these risks and ensure their open heart surgery success rate remains high, but it’s beneficial to educate yourself on these risks and ask questions. There are numerous factors that determine what you as an individual are at most the risk of experiencing, and many of them relate to your personal health history. Let’s look at some of the most common open heart surgery risks of death and injury. Bleeding The most common complication after open heart surgery is bleeding from the area of the incision or surgery site. During the surgery itself as well as recovery, you will be closely monitored and your progress tracked. Some bleeding after surgery is expected until the blood coagulates again, but if concerns arise if the bleeding lasts for an extended period of time without slowing or if you are bleeding “in” rather than “out.” Blood Loss Too much blood loss following a major procedure like open heart surgery can quickly snowball into a life-threatening situation. This is true even given a surgeon with a great open heart surgery success rate. Anemia can follow blood loss, depriving blood of red cells and hemoglobin, ultimately curtailing delivery of oxygen to body tissue. Traditionally, blood transfusions have been used in response to blood loss, but this isn’t a viable option for everyone. There are certain religious convictions against blood transfusions, and transfusions may weaken the immune system. For patients with concerns about blood transfusions, bloodless heart surgery... by DrCiuffo | Jan 20, 2019 | Blog, Heart Surgery, Recovery
While your body has a natural healing process that tends to kick into gear after a traumatic experience, certain kinds of wounds and procedures take more of a toll on your health than others. One of the most serious surgeries you can undergo is heart surgery. Because your heart is vital to your health, anything that disrupts it can have a serious impact on the way your body functions. With this in mind, it’s perhaps not surprising that the recovery time from heart surgery generally spans several weeks to a few months, even when performed by a skilled surgeon such as Dr. Ciuffo. There are important steps you’ll need to take when recovering from surgery and practicing home care after surgery in order to regain your health. Wound Care One of the most important parts of home care after surgery is paying close attention to the wound. It’s important to keep the cut as clean and dry as possible. This includes skipping baths or showers for a few days to allow the wound time to heal a bit. You also need to watch out for any abnormalities that could indicate an infection, such as an increase in drainage or oozing, the edges of the incision pulling apart, and a warmth or redness around the cut. Any of these issues could be cause for alarm, particularly if they are accompanied by a fever of over 100° F. Reach out to Dr. Ciuffo’s staff for advice if your wound exhibits any of these issues. Expect the Pain While you are likely to be prescribed some kind of pain medication while recovering...
