Quadruple Bypass surgery recovery?

[Bamaman]

My doctor does a bunch of physicals on an aging group of patients. He got a treadmill and a EKG machine. Since he started putting patients on the treadmill, he's had no heart attacks in patients. He's spotted abnormal heartbeats and referred them to a cardiologist to address the problem. I was okay on slow and medium speeds, but my heart won't kick into high gear when the treadmill is at its fastest settings.

Next is a heart scan where a big x-ray machine incircles the patient scanning the heart. Then they'll put you on a treadmill to get your heart pumping fast. Patients that cannot walk well will get a very expensive shot to dilate the heart. Then it's back on the scanner to see the "after" view of the heart. This scan is how they spot abnormalities like potential blockages. If problems show up on the scanner, they'll do an arteriogram where they send the catheter from your groin to your heart--looking for blockages, etc. And when there are blockages, the doctors can often install a stunt to avoid surgery.

Heart issues are nothing to ignore.

 

[HenryD]

The heart CT scan is expensive and most insurances will not pay for it.

Four of us went as a family to get those $100 CAC screening scans.
DW (50): 0 CAC
MIL (68): 0 CAC, previously unknown aortic anomaly
Aunt (72): 0 CAC
Me (52): 240 CAC Now I'm on the Ornish diet and vitamin L.
$400 well spent IMO

 

[Boose]

Hi Scuba, no particular medical wisdom here, just healing wishes for you and your DH! That was scary for both of you.

My dad had a mild heart attack with a stent subsequently placed, and benefited psychologically as well as physically from cardiac rehab. Unfortunately, he hasn't picked it up again after the covid shutdown.

 

[Chuckanut]

No advice, other than to say I know several people who have had that surgery and went on to live well into their 80's. One guy managed to hit the low-mid 90's. On lady I know went back to Scottish dancing at local festivals - a real workout!

 

[Buckeye]

Just out of curiosity, I looked up my bill for a heart scan last December. Radiology charged $393.00, Blue Shield paid $0, I paid $393.00.

I’m not a cardiologist, but from what I’ve read, a heart scan is a CT of the heart looking for the presence of and extent of calcifications in the coronary arteries. Absence of calcifications gives a high probability that plaque rupture in the coronary arteries will not occur in the next 5 years.

DH did a self-pay at Orlando Health and it was $99.

 

[swakyaby]

DH did a self-pay at Orlando Health and it was $99.

Ugh, how does my local radiology center get away with charging 400% more than the going rate? I know, I know, it’s up to the patient to shop around. I tried getting a cost estimate from the facility prior to the procedure, as required by federal law, but they said it was not able to because I needed the exact procedure code, so they wouldn’t say, not even ball-park.

 

[Turbo29]

Should I Get a Coronary CT Scan?


JAMA Internal Medicine Patient Page--Should I Get a Coronary CT Scan?

 

[aja8888]

My DSI had a bad case of Covid. Normally, she has low blood pressure. Out of the blue, her heart would start racing and BP shoots up. She's been to ER several times and wore a heart monitor. Drs can't figure it out. Due to Covid? This happens every so often now. She's under normal daily stress and back to the ER.

Same thing happened to me a few years ago. Turned out to be Super Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT). An ablation fixed it. I'm surprised the heart monitor did not pick that up as mine did at the time.

I have a thread on my issue somewhere on this site.

 

[ivinsfan]

Maybe this can give some perspective, based on my recent, ongoing, experience: 2 months ago I had 2 stents put in 2 coronary arteries; 4 weeks later (March 25) had 2 additional stents. Prior to this I was an avid runner, swimmer, cyclist, weightlifter. I'm still in recovery, so cannot resume my activities yet. I am currently up to walking 10 minutes at a time, 3 times a day.
In addition, I am now doing "cardiac rehab." This is a controlled set of exercising as an outpatient at hospital. I'm on a monitor while I do exercises on stationary and recumbent bikes, as well as hand cycle. I will later "graduate" to weights and treadmill, over the 8 week program. If this has not yet been mentioned to your DH, you should ask about cardiac rehab. My understanding is that bypass surgery is much more invasive than stenting, so it's possible cardiac rehab may be too soon for DH, but you should ask.

ETA: I didn't eat a bad diet before, but I had my vices. My doctor told me - no surprise - "everything in moderation," and as long as I don't go overboard I do not have to deprive myself of the OCCASIONAL treat. In my case, anyway, he said over time I will be back to my pre-surgical lifestyle and exercising.

There actually no evidence that any type of food is bad.If you eat too much and are overweight that's one thing but no food is actually bad on it's own. Now a donut might not offer much nutrition but it's not actually bad! I don't know what you mean by a "diet vice"

 

[ivinsfan]

I had a different kind of heart problem. Last month I spent 4 days in the ICU from a Saddle Pulmonary Embolism. The Cardiologist at the hospital said it was “life threatening”. I was able to do my daily 3 mile walk on Monday. Struggled and out of breath on Tuesday. Didn’t walk and in denial on Wednesday and in the Emergency room on Thursday. Before that I had no warning signs.
In its wake it left me with Atrial Flutter and a reduced Ejection Fraction %. I’m 61, thin and very active. At least I was very active. After a month of recovery my doctor has limited me to 45 minutes of light exercise a day.
I will have a stint put in at the end of this month and a probable Ablation procedure in the near future.

Just for reference had you recently had a Covid vaxx...my friend/in-law had number 3 and shortly after started having runs of Afib, out of the blue. Her doc told her not a get any more boosters. I don't want anyone hollering at me that I'm anti-vax information is useful.

 

[ivinsfan]

Thank you all for sharing your stories. It sounds encouraging. I hope DH can in time live a relatively normal life again. He definitely needs to be more active and I’m willing to be more vigilant in the kitchen to support our health.

We have a trip booked in 11 weeks to Croatia for a couple of months. I’m thinking we will have to cancel, but we have some time before we have to decide. I’m feeling like we shouldn’t push it and should perhaps defer any travel until the fall. Am I being too pessimistic?

Don't underestimate the mental toll this will take on both of you. I've been there twice with DH all though it was valve issues not blockage. In your shoes I'd postpone so that you both have a chance to process and not feel anxious about things and being away from your medical people.

 

[Scuba]

Don't underestimate the mental toll this will take on both of you. I've been there twice with DH all though it was valve issues not blockage. In your shoes I'd postpone so that you both have a chance to process and not feel anxious about things and being away from your medical people.

Yes I suspect you are right. We will likely wait a month or so to decide for sure, but I think it will be too much pressure and it would be better to take a trip later that doesn’t involve as much exertion.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

So sorry you are having to go through this, but I'm glad it wasn't worse. Hope he recovers quickly!

 

[Gumby]

Just an optimistic data point for you - after a life of smoking, being overweight and physically inactive, my father had a quadruple bypass at the age of 46. He lived another 32 years after that, eventually dying at 78 of Alzheimer's.

Best wishes to your husband for a rapid and strong recovery.

 

[Montecfo]

Should I Get a Coronary CT Scan?


JAMA Internal Medicine Patient Page--Should I Get a Coronary CT Scan?

Thanks for that very interesting table. I do think these scans may provide valuable info to people at known risk.

But will they send you to cath lab based on those results or just use meds and wait for you to have a heart attack or keel over?

That's the question.

 

[gailwinters]

I just had a CT angiogram. I haven’t been back to my cardiologist yet, so I will be interested to see what treatment he might suggest. I didn’t have major blockages, but I do have some calcium.

 

[ERhoosier]

Scuba-
Best wishes that your DH continues to do well.
FWIW- Bypass surgery 'runs in my family', inc father and brother. (My GF, a heavy smoker, passed from a heart attack in the pre-bypass era). Most folks enjoy many years of active life post-bypass surgery. My brother recovered well and even ran his first half-marathon later in life.

For most, including my family members, the biggest challenge after initial recovery from surgery was sticking to the prescribed lifestyle changes. Following the prescribed medications, diet and exercise programs for some weeks after surgery is one thing, but then it becomes easy over the following months/years to backslide into the old sedentary patterns and dietary habits that increased coronary risks in the first place.



My thoughts and prayers are with you & your DH for a speedy recovery & bright future.

 

[SeanPizzle]

The heart CT scan is expensive and most insurances will not pay for it.

It is true that most insurance doesnt pay for a heart CT (CAC scan). However, out of pocket cost for me and others I have seen is 125 to 175 dollars. It is the most accurate predictor of future heart MI. I have high LDL (175+) and a CAC score of zero (53 years old). My doc has been pushing statins on me for 10 years. I keep responding that my CAC is zero.

Keep moving the body, keep sugars and grains and seed oils out of your diet and you should avoid most CVD issues.

 

[ncbill]

Same thing happened to me a few years ago. Turned out to be Super Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT). An ablation fixed it. I'm surprised the heart monitor did not pick that up as mine did at the time.

I have a thread on my issue somewhere on this site.

Does anybody use AliveCor's KardiaMobile ECG?

Thinking of picking up the 6-lead one with a year's service (my grandmother's a-fib killed her)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097Q4SLDP/

 

[Scuba]

Scuba-
Best wishes that your DH continues to do well.
FWIW- Bypass surgery 'runs in my family', inc father and brother. (My GF, a heavy smoker, passed from a heart attack in the pre-bypass era). Most folks enjoy many years of active life post-bypass surgery. My brother recovered well and even ran his first half-marathon later in life.

For most, including my family members, the biggest challenge after initial recovery from surgery was sticking to the prescribed lifestyle changes. Following the prescribed medications, diet and exercise programs for some weeks after surgery is one thing, but then it becomes easy over the following months/years to backslide into the old sedentary patterns and dietary habits that increased coronary risks in the first place.



My thoughts and prayers are with you & your DH for a speedy recovery & bright future.

Thank you. I agree 100%. After a scare like this, it’s easy now to cook really healthy food, avoid alcohol, and DH has been very committed to walking a mile per day as directed by his cardiac surgeon. I was just thinking tonight that it would be very easy after some time passes for DH to slip back into a sedentary lifestyle and/or unhealthy diet. We will need to be vigilant.

 

[Alan]

Does anybody use AliveCor's KardiaMobile ECG?

Thinking of picking up the 6-lead one with a year's service (my grandmother's a-fib killed her)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097Q4SLDP/

I’ve had one (2 fingers on a pad version) for a number of years and think it is excellent. The heart unit at my local hospital also like it. My Afib was paroxysmal and was never picked up on an EKG at the doctors or hospital or even on the 48 hour heart monitor. But it produced symptoms when I went into Afib - dizziness, rapid heart rate and breathlessness if I was hiking a steep incline. The Kardia device would confirm I was in Afib and produce an EKG trace I could forward onto my doctors.

The only time I was in Afib while on an EKG machine was the very first time when I went to a 24hr place late one Sunday evening, and while being admitted for cryoablation. Obviously feeling stressed at that moment!

 

[RAE]

The heart CT scan is expensive and most insurances will not pay for it. I ran into that myself. I will do a treadmill test and if that indicates a need then the cardiologist can try and get it through.
We can all have plaques in the arteries, and function just fine until one of the plaques ruptures and starts the full blockage that results in an MI.

The average cost of the Cardiac CT Scan Scoring test is roughly $200-$250, I believe. It may be cheaper than that in some parts of the country, and more expensive than that in other areas. Not really that bad, in my opinion, if you value your health. Also, in my experience, not all doctors order the important blood tests that should be done in order to get a good picture of cardiac health (none of them are expensive, and most or all are covered by insurance). My insurance pays for all of those tests, so I request that my doctor order them for me every year, and so far he has done so without any issues. The best predictor of cardiac health (based on several published medical studies) is your triglyceride/HDL ratio, so you definitely want to make sure you know those numbers (a standard lipid panel test will have them, along with LDL, total cholesterol, etc). If your triglyceride ratio is above 2.0, you may be headed for cardiac health issues, even though a lot of doctors will not say much about it. You really want that ratio to be at or below 1.0, for optimum cardiac health. Other blood tests that are important as indicators of overall metabolic health (and thus cardiac health also) are: fasting glucose; HbA1C; fasting insulin; CRP-HS, serum ferritin. Again, the reference ranges that most labs use for these things tends to be way too "wide", in my opinion. For example, fasting insulin really should be below 6.0 for optimum health, but the reference range my lab uses is 3-19. There is evidence from several published medical studies that anything above 8 or so is an indicator that you could be sliding toward diabetes and related health issues, like cardiac health. HbA1C is another one to watch - you want to be around 4% - 5.5%. Above 6% is another indicator that you could be sliding toward poor metabolic health. I discuss all of these test results with my doctor every year, but even if he feels everything is "fine", I do my own interpretation of them, and decide whether I need to make any lifestyle changes to head off future problems. Several years ago, my serum ferritin test result was WAY too high at about 520 (as I later found out), yet the doctor I had at the time told me it was fine. The reference range for serum ferritin our hospital lab uses is from 20-550, which is crazy. I did not feel well at all that year (had an irregular heartbeat, for one thing), and it was eventually determined (by another doctor) that my high serum ferritin was the cause. Once I got that down a lot (under 100), I started to feel fine. My health is the most important thing I have, and I feel strongly that each of us needs to take some responsibility for monitoring it, and making whatever changes are needed to stay on a healthy path. If you have a great doctor who understands all this and is willing to discuss it with you, that is even better.

 

[RAE]

My DH had emergency quadruple bypass surgery yesterday. We were completely shocked as he just had an annual physical on 3/28 with no indication of any issues. Wednesday night he had chest pain that radiated to his arm so I took him to the ER. Fortunately he survived the surgery and the Cardiac ICU nurses say he’s doing really well. He is 63 and had no previous health issues - has never smoked, light drinker, very slightly overweight (200-210, 6 ft tall), no diabetes or any other chronic disease). He didn’t exercise much and he did drink a lot of cappuccino - probably 6+ per day.

For those of you who have been through this, what lifestyle changes were necessary to minimize future cardiac risk?

If you are a spouse of someone who had a major cardiac event, how has this affected your life? I’m scared now that he could have another heart attack or worse yet, a stroke.

Thank you for any information you’re willing to share.

Scuba - a couple things your DH may want to consider after he recovers from this are increasing the amount of exercise he gets, and reviewing his diet to make sure it is healthy overall. In my earlier post I mentioned the triglyceride/HDL ratio. If he had a lipid panel test done recently, he should have those numbers, and be able to figure out what his ratio is. Basically, you want to lower triglyceride, and raise HDL, so that your ratio is at or near 1.0. The best way to lower triglycerides is to reduce the amount of sugar and processed grains in the diet (things like bread, pasta, cookies, crackers, pretzels, chips, etc). Replace those things with whole foods, like veggies of all kinds, fish, eggs, grass-fed meat, and healthy fats. The best way to raise HDL is to get more exercise - some cardio, and also some resistance exercises to build muscle. One last thing - a few cappuccino's a day shouldn't be a big problem, unless he is drinking the "sweetened" cappuccinos, which can be loaded with either sugar or artificial sweeteners. I would personally avoid drinking anything with added sugar if I was concerned about cardiac health. Anyway, just some things to consider - hope he is still doing well and makes a full recovery.

 

[RAE]

Keep moving the body, keep sugars and grains and seed oils out of your diet and you should avoid most CVD issues.

Great point on the seed oils, I forgot to mention those in my last post about diet. I personally avoid ALL of the highly-processed seed oils - soybean oil, corn oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil and a few others (basically any of the oils that come in big jugs). They all promote oxidative stress and inflammation, which can damage the arteries and lead to heart disease/heart attacks. Stick with the healthy fats........coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, butter. Another thing to consider is that virtually all restaurants use the industrial seed oils in their cooking, as they are much cheaper than the healthier oils. That's one reason I don't eat out very much anymore.

 

[RAE]

It is true that most insurance doesnt pay for a heart CT (CAC scan). However, out of pocket cost for me and others I have seen is 125 to 175 dollars. It is the most accurate predictor of future heart MI. I have high LDL (175+) and a CAC score of zero (53 years old). My doc has been pushing statins on me for 10 years. I keep responding that my CAC is zero.

Keep moving the body, keep sugars and grains and seed oils out of your diet and you should avoid most CVD issues.

Yeah, my LDL is considered high also (149), and my doctor also used to push statins on me. I declined the statins, but asked him to do an LDL particle size test, and he agreed to do it. The results came back showing that the vast majority of my LDL consisted of the larger, fluffy particles, which pose no danger to the heart (probably because I don't eat many processed grain products, and consume very little sugar). That result, combined with my other cardiac blood test markers (which were all good), caused him to finally stop pushing the statins.