Generally, your choice of hospital and doctors plays a great role in deciding how well post-surgery care is taken. You might consider looking for best hospitals in your locality or consider medical tourism if hospitals nearby seem too expensive for you. Going for a country like India, where the cost of living is less as compared to other countries could help you in getting affordable as well as quality treatment. Cardiac surgery in India, even if done at one of the best hospitals would cost you much less than one of the western countries.
Once you have successfully been through the surgery, here are few of the tips that can help you in a healthy recovery.
Taking care of the wound
You should keep the surgery cut clean and dry all the time. Few days after the surgery, your surgeon will allow you to take bath or shower. You should keep a check on your body and consult your doctor immediately if you see any signs of infection, fever, more than usual oozing of blood from the wound, redness or a warmth around the surgical cut. You should also see your doctor if you feel that your bones are shifting, popping or cracking as you move.
Getting back to routine
This starts with baby steps unless your doctor suggests something else you can go for small tasks with plenty of breaks in between. Walking, light cleaning, laundry, cooking are few tasks you can go for, always remember not to overdo any of them. You can also climb stairs unless your doctors have suggested you otherwise. But it is too soon to drive now, you should wait for instructions from your doctor before doing any serious tasks. You at any cost should not lift push or pull anything that exceeds 10 pounds in weight.
Diet
The food you eat plays a vital role in your recovery, however, you may feel that you have lost your appetite after the surgery. You may not feel like eating or you may be too tired to eat something. You need to understand that this is usual but your body needs some nourishment to recover. Try to maintain a balanced diet, consume adequate fluids so that you can restore your bowel pattern to normal. Your dietician may have already suggested some diet plan that you are required to follow. Avoid the extremes such as too much sugar, or things with too much sodium or cholesterol content.
Staying Motivated
Get a good night’s sleep
You may face some problems in sleeping for initial few days but your sleep pattern would restore itself soon, while this happens, try to avoid taking caffeine during evening times. Avoid taking too many naps during the daytime. Make sure you are sleeping in a comfortable position and arrange for pillows if your body needs some support.
Everyone has his or her own recovery speed, therefore no matter how the body responds, stay calm and optimistic always and consult your doctor if any other kind of discomfort bothers you.
