After Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery: In the Hospital

After surgery, you will be moved to a recovery area, or ICU, where you can be closely watched. From there, you may go to a cardiac step down unit or a regular room. The hospital stay after minimally invasive heart surgery varies but it is may be 3-5 days.

Right after surgery 

When you first wake up, you may feel groggy, thirsty, or cold. If the breathing tube given to you during surgery is still in place, you will not be able to talk. You will have flexible tubes in your chest to drain air, blood, and fluid. IV (intravenous) lines will be in your neck and/or arms to give you fluid and medicines. Monitors will be recording your heartbeat, blood pressure, and the amount of oxygen in your blood.

Managing pain

A nurse may give you pain medicines. Sometimes a special pump is used. This pump is called a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump and lets you give yourself small amounts of pain medicine as you need it.

Strength and breathing exercises

You will get out of bed to a chair the first day after your surgery (post operatively).  You will be given mobility/moving schedule and will work with a physical therapist twice a day to improve your muscle strength and blood flow. Your nurse or a therapist will help you when you first get up and walk. You may also be taught range-of-motion exercises to help stretch and strengthen your muscles as they heal. Deep breathing and coughing exercises will help keep your lungs clear, make your breathing muscles stronger, and prevent complications. A nurse or therapist may teach you these exercises before or soon after your surgery. Do these exercises as instructed.

Taking medicines

You will be given a list of all your medications and will be told if the medications you took before the surgery need to be changed.  You may need to take a blood thinner (anticoagulant) after the surgery. How much of this medicine you need will take some time to adjust. Much of this adjustment will happen before you go home. Your healthcare provider will talk with you about this and any other medicines you need.

Going home 

Before you go home, your doctor will discuss the results of your surgery with you. Your doctor will also review the next stage of your treatment plan and schedule future visits. When you are ready to leave the hospital, you will need to have an adult friend or family member drive you home. You should be sure you have an up-to-date list of medicines with you when you go home.