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Kirk’s Journey Through Open-Heart Surgery
Kirk’s Journey Through Open-Heart Surgery“I knew I had a problem. I noticed my heart beating fast under exertion. I had no symptoms of what I would saya heart attack, like a shortness of breath, pain in my chest, no excessive sweating. But something wasn’t right.”“They showed me after that, very vividly, that I had major blockages in the coronary arteries in my heart. Ineeded bypass surgery.”“His journey through heart surgery was- was a shock, I mean it came out of nowhere. We thought he had aminor problem quickly found out in the hospital that it wasn’t minor that they weren’t releasing him that he didneed major surgery.”“The one thing that crosses my mind immediately when you find you’re having open-heart surgery, which is a-yeah, to my mind, that was a- that was a s- a very complicated, serious type of a surgery. You start thinkingabout your of course, yourself, your life, your your family-- the wife, the kids, the grandchildren and things, yourfriends and things.”“When I woke up in the ICU that afternoon, the what I remember was, basically, there was my wife, mydaughter, my son, you know, standing there with me, and I don’t remember any major pain. It just you know, Ihad obviously been through a major operation, but I was there, and they were there to comfort me, and thingsfelt good.”“Shortly after surgery, they I was surprised how soon they started basically, recovering, you know, procedures,and one of the things was the incentive spirometer that they gave me to, you know, to check my lung powerand my, you know, my lungs and things.”“Within a within a day or so, I was they started unhooking lines and removed me from the ICU to a regularroom in the in the cardiac wing, and just moving down to a regular room in a regular wing of the hospital mademe feel like I was that much more closer to getting home, truthfully, within several days.”“Another surprise was the how fast you feel like you’re recovering. Once you get to that regular the regularroom in there, they have you sitting up. Next thing you know, you’re allowed to walk and move around, up anddown the halls and things, and it just feels like you’re that much you know, you’ve recovered so much fasterthan I would’ve imagined from major open-heart surgery.”“I have things I want to do with my life. I have a future to look forward to. This gave me the future that I reallydid not have before this. This is an important thing to you need-- if you need this done, you need to do it. Theyeah, you need to face the consequences, but it’s truthfully, overall, this has not been a terrible experience. I’mvery glad that I had it done, and I’m very glad I found out I needed this done before it was too late, orsomething worse happened.”This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.VER60071B EN KirksJourneyThroughOpenHeartSurgery.pdf© The Wellness NetworkPage 1 of 1
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Heart & Vascular Center
Watch this animation to see how surgeons restore normal blood flow within a heart that has narrowed or blocked arteries.
Learn what you need to do in preparation for your heart surgery.
Become familiar with the medications you may receive and the restrictions you will have during your brief stay in the hospital.
Understand what is provided in a cardiac rehabilitation program and recognize how it contributes to you living a long, heart healthy future.
