Shirts for the hospital

[DanielB]

I didn't know I had a choice but to wear the gowns provided and don't recall seeing any other patients that wore anything other than the gowns as well. I didn't mind though as the gowns the hospital I was at were pretty good. I couldn't tie them myself with my sternum, but once properly tied by my wife or a nurse, they were very confortable. Especially useful with all the wires and hoses attached to me right after surgery and right up to my discharge since I had a heart monitor attached that had a control box that neatly fit into my pcoket with the wires going to it via a built in slot in the gown.

 

[Greg a]

You will have a scar for some time so you may want to consider http://www.x-chrom.com/sports-bras-products/sports-bras-procedure-heart-surgery-bras

 

[Jkm7]

You've gotten lots of good advice about clothing but I want to mention you probably will not want much company from casual acquaintances. Hospital visits after heart surgery are exhuasting and sadly too many people don't have enough sense to stop by for 5-10 minutes and leave. The last thing I wanted was to feel obliged to smile and be friendly and 'entertain' guests. I needed rest and DH and I limited who and how long for company. Heart surgery introduced me to new level of fatigue I had never encountered before.

IMO, do yourself a favor and mention if would be nice if one of these work acquaintances stopped by for a brief visit and they could share an update with the others. let them decide which one gets to visit so you don't have hard feelings.

Also, keep in mind that unless you have a private room, your company is a distubrance to your 'roomate' and they may wish to nap while a steady parade of company could be unpleasant for their rest and recuperation.

 

[Lynlw]

Hubby's catheter was out the morning after surgery just before they moved him from the CTICU. Also, two of his 4 chest tubes were gone and the remaining two had soft bulbs connected to the ends so he was free to move about fairly easily. They got him out of bed and in a chair before transferring, but no walks were taken until he was at the step down unit. However, he was moved there less than 20 hours after waking up from the anesthesia. He did lug around an iv pole the first day for iv antibiotics and his oxygen bottle. He opted to stay on oxygen a little longer because he was having trouble breathing deep and his oxygen levels were right on the border...89-91 without the cannula, 96-98 with.

You brought up a good point that could make a difference if anyone waned to ask about it during the preop test day. Different hospitals have/use different chest tubes and chest tube set ups. Some use the bigger tubes connected to the big containers on the floor w/ water in them or they use the smaller tubes with the soft bulbs you mentioned. The little bulbs make it MUCH easier to move around ie you dont have to lug round the large container. Justin had a couple of the smaller bulbs his last few surgeries, and what they did was make a little "tab" around the tubing with the white surgical tape, that was safety pinned to his shirts so it made it easy to walk arund etc with out having to hold another thing..the only thing you have to remember is to unpin it before you go to take your shirt off :0