Quadruple Bypass Surgery And Why You Cannot Do Anything For Months After

Bad hearts eventually fail. When you have to undergo quadruple bypass open heart surgery, you will spend months sitting around and doing nothing until your doctor okays it for you to move a little. During that time, you will need A LOT of help just doing daily tasks. If you do not have a spouse, or your spouse is unavailable to help most of the time, you will need in-home care services. The following is a list "cannot dos" that your home health care aides and nurses will have to do for you.

Cooking

Cooking requires food prep, standing, and moving from counter to stove, and then stove to table. That is a lot more movement than your doctor will allow for at least a month. Your spouse will probably manage that when he/she is home, but the rest of the time the aides/nurses will prep meals and serve them to you at the table. You will be allowed to move hands and arms to the extent that you can tolerate the pain surrounding your chest and rib muscles, so your aides and nurses do not have to feed you.

Bathing

Bathing is going to be incredibly difficult without a lot of help. An aide or nurse will lift you onto a shower chair and help you into the tub or shower. There, he or she will help you bathe your lower half and back. You will be allowed to move enough to wash your arms, chest, neck, abdomen, and stomach. Until you are okayed to move more or you are more comfortable and in less pain when you move, this is how bathing will typically go.

Cleaning the House

Your spouse has a lot to do, and, under the circumstances, you cannot help. The aides, however, will help keep the home tidy. The house has to be kept clean to prevent infections in your surgical sites. It has to be kept tidy because your wheelchair will need to clear every turn and every path through the house. If there are some household chores that your spouse cannot get to, ask your aides to do it. They should be willing to follow through.

Yard Work

Finally, aides should help with yard work too. You cannot do any of it for several more months, and when your spouse still works outside the home, he/she cannot do the yard work either. You can also hire a landscaping company for that, but most health insurance providers will not cover a landscaper. They will only cover the cost of in-home healthcare assistants.