2nd AVR with bypass recommended

[esvaja]

Has anybody else had a bypass done when they did your AVR? What was the reason,pls & if you had it what additional recovery time
or followup was needed? Pls & thx

 

[epstns]

I had a single bypass (LIMA-LAD. . . they used my Left Interior Mammary Artery to feed blood ino my Left Anterior Descending artery) at the same time as my valve replacement. We chose to do this because when I had my pre-operative heart cath before surgery they noted that I had one artery that was blocked 50%. My surgeon told my cardio "Don't bother stenting it. I'll just bypass it while I'm in there."

To the very best of my recollection, there was no impact on my recovery trajectory, recovery time or hospitalization time due to the bypass. Also, in my case, there was absolutely no additional follow-up. This was because the "donor" site for my bypass was completely internal. Had they used the sapphenous vein from my leg to supply the vein for connecting my heart to its new blood source, then there would have been wound care and recovery impacts in the affected leg.

I guess I do have one after-effect, though. From all the internal cutting they did to perform the bypass, I have an area on the left side of my chest that remains to this day (10 years after) partly numb. They said this could be permanent or temporary. I never really worried about it, and the numbness is much less as time goes on.

 

[esvaja]

I had a single bypass (LIMA-LAD. . . they used my Left Interior Mammary Artery to feed blood ino my Left Anterior Descending artery) at the same time as my valve replacement. We chose to do this because when I had my pre-operative heart cath before surgery they noted that I had one artery that was blocked 50%. My surgeon told my cardio "Don't bother stenting it. I'll just bypass it while I'm in there."

To the very best of my recollection, there was no impact on my recovery trajectory, recovery time or hospitalization time due to the bypass. Also, in my case, there was absolutely no additional follow-up. This was because the "donor" site for my bypass was completely internal. Had they used the sapphenous vein from my leg to supply the vein for connecting my heart to its new blood source, then there would have been wound care and recovery impacts in the affected leg.

I guess I do have one after-effect, though. From all the internal cutting they did to perform the bypass, I have an area on the left side of my chest that remains to this day (10 years after) partly numb. They said this could be permanent or temporary. I never really worried about it, and the numbness is much less as time goes on.

 

[esvaja]

thx for the info, it was a kind of a shock when then told me this since the Cath people did not mention it