We arrived at the hospital Wednesday, August 15, 2018 for my husband’s ByPass surgery. The surgery went great! The staff kept in touch with me the entire time, providing me updates. He spent most of the day in surgery and recovery.

He did a great job tolerating the surgery, the recovery, coming off the ventilator. Fairly quickly after surgery, its time to get up and move around. This is when the “real work” begins! Overnight more tubes come out. He gets moved to another floor before eating which makes him tired, he finally moves a little bit. This was the day a revolving door of hospital personnel stopped by his room:

Physical Therapy, Primary Care Dr., Home Health Care, Cardiologist, Cardiac Rehab, Heart Surgeon, Former Patient for Education, Nurse, Endocrinologist and Patient Care Tech

My husband, first day after ByPass surgery was overwhelmed by the onslaught of information. Friday, two days post op overnight his heart rhythm and rate are irregular and racing. An EKG reveals he has a heart murmur, put on medication for that. He goes for Walk #1, but he feels dizzy and nauseous.

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He ultimately is diagnosed with AFib. He is given medication that regulates the heart rate and rhythm. He is good…

A few days later, the AFib reoccurs and this time it takes longer to regulate.

He leaves the hospital six days after ByPass surgery

Some stats shared with us:

*20-30% of patients develop AFib after surgery. *Persists because of swelling/inflammation from surgery. *You can live in this rhythm forever, he was put on a blood thinner to avoid blood clots. 3-6 mos for blood thinner, decreases the incidence. NP thinks its possible my husband’s heart may have a propensity for AFib. *Will be on a new calcium channel blocker good for slowing heart rate.

He comes home with a grocery bag of medications! I needed to make a spreadsheet so I knew what medication was for the AM or PM, what it was for, dosage, prescription #. This was totally new for me! That was nothing compared to what was in store once the claims starting coming in!

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Stay tuned for Part 3 – The Journey: “The New Norm”