Using A Recliner After Heart Surgery To Minimize Pain?
I recently received a great question from Jill (a caregiver) about sleep after heart surgery.
Jill’s husband, Derek, is preparing for heart valve surgery. She is concerned about incision pain and healing as Derek gets in-and-out of bed. She writes, “I have heard that broken sternum recovery following cardiac surgery is very painful. Do you think it would be more comfortable and less painful for Derek to rest / sleep in a recliner instead of a bed following his heart valve replacement?”
So you know, I did not use a recliner or Lazy-boy during my recovery.
However, I have heard of many patients who did use recliners following surgery.
A recliner can minimize the pressure on the broken sternum and the sternal wires as the patient assumes a resting position. That said, the patient may experience less pain within his/her chest following heart valve surgery.
However, there are some thoughts that being overly cautious, specific to movement post-surgery, might inhibit healing and stimulate some fear in the patient’s mind about re-animating their lives.
Following my surgery, my incision was very, very, very, very sensitive. I can attest… Broken sternum recovery is not very fun. In fact, I did not sleep on my chest for the first five weeks after surgery. Getting in-and-out of bed was a miserable experience.
That said, if I was to have cardiac surgery again, I think I would use a recliner for the first week or so after open heart surgery.
Ultimately, if you are questioning whether or not to use a recliner instead of a regular bed after heart surgery, I would chat with your surgeon about this.
Keep on tickin!
Adam Pick is the author of The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery, a unique book which integrates the clinical facts of heart valve surgery with the personal experiences of an actual heart valve surgery patient. This special book was designed to help patients and caregivers better understand the realities of heart valve surgery (heart valve replacement and heart valve repair), to minimize patient stress and to enhance the patient’s recovery. To learn more about Adam’s heart valve surgery book, click here.
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February 2nd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Adam.
This topic about sternotomy and using a recliner was very interesting to me.
My bed happens to be an adjustable one and I love it anyway, so your correspondent may want to consider that kind of bed for her husband. They honestly are not much more expensive than a good regular bed.
Leslie
Robotic Mitral Valve Repair, Dr. Shemin, , UCLA, January, 2008
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Adam, My husband is purchasing an adjustable bed. I think it is a great idea. I am not planning on using it permanately though. I would try a bed like this first, if it is in your price range.
All the best, Kathy Mccain
February 4th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Adam:
I am 2 1/2 weeks post-op from surgery for an aortic aneurysm and bicuspid aortic valve repair. Although I purchased a recliner to use post-operatively I found sleeping in my own bed more comfortable and relaxing. I just use a lot of pillows and create a sort of elevated head rest and this has worked for me. In fact, my Jack Russell Terrier has gotten more use out of the recliner than I have! With that being said, I have heard from many others who have benefitted from the use of a recliner. I think an adjustable bed would be even better because unless you can fit the recliner in your bedroom it would mean sleeping in the living room, which for me just didn’t feel right. Even though snuggling is out of the question, being in my own bed with my husband was comforting to me. Hope this helps!
Lorie
Ascending Aortic Aneurysm and Aortic Valve Repair, 1/15/08, Cedars Sinai, Los Angeles, CA
February 10th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Greetings to everyone from Leslie - it is Sunday February 10, and I am 17 days post surgery. I had a mitral valve repair done at UCLA Med Center using the da Vinci robot. This was a full on-the-pump bypass surgery which lasted many hours. Of course the robot did not act alone - there was a team of a dozen or more people, including my marvelous surgeon Dr. Richard Shemin. I cannot compare my experience to sternotomy patients, as my incision is about 2 1/2 inches long and hidden under my right breast. I have had tightness and soreness on the right side of my chest and have had to work to stretch and relax that area. That lung was also collapsed for the surgery. But I would have to say at this point in my recovery, I am able to walk twice a day for about 12-14 minutes each, do 2 sets of stretching exercises, 2 sets of strength building exercises a day, and am pretty much up and out of bed most of the day. I go out for rides and even into stores for small errands (not alone yet!) My pain medications consist of Darvocet, which I take a HALF of perhaps twice a day. (I do not like feeling zoned out.) I have good mobility, take my own showers, was my hair, dress by myself, fiddle in the kitchen, and even helped transplant a small cactus yesterday.
I am visiting Dr. Shemin at UCLA this coming Wednesday and will share what he has to say with me. I am also taking other meds including the anti arrythmic Amiodarone, not my favorite, but it did convert me back to sinus rhythm after I fell out of it into afib on my second day in the hospital. Afib after open heart surgery is very common. Dr. Shemin says I will take it a total of 6 weeks then stop and at that time I can also stop the Coumadin. I wish you all the best of health and thank Adam again for his great blog. I will continue to “check in” and if anyone has any questions I can answer I will be happy to do so. By the way I do follow Adam’s advice (and everyone else!) and make myself “take it easy.” It is a habit to always be “doing,” and a hard one to break.
Hugs from Leslie
July 16th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
My wife had by-pass surgery, through the chest. Her pain was very bad even in the adjustable hospital bed. She wanted a recliner, so I brought a adjustable lawn lounge chair, with thick cushions, and it made her pain much more tolerable. She preferred the chair to the hospital chair. She did always use a pillow for support for the arm they removed a artery from.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Hi
My dad is 89 years old and needs an aortic valve replaced. I wondered how people his age handle this operation. It’s a tough decision to operate or die. They gave him 6 months without the operation.
Thanks
Don
April 1st, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I am 14 weeks post op for an aortic valve and ascending aorta replacement. My wife and I bought a recliner for the specific purpose of helping with my recovery. If I did not have it, I don’t know how I would have made it through the first 3 weeks at home after surgery. The pain from my sternum along with the plurasy that I came down with made laying horizontal virtually impossible for me. As much as I yearned to be in my own bed with my wife by my side, I was resigned to sleeping in the living room on my recliner. I am so greatful that we had the forethought to make that purchase. The day I was able to sleep in my own bed will go down as one of my most cherished experiences of my life. Sometimes you just don’t realize how important some things are until you don’t have them.
April 25th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I live in VA but had Aortic valve replaced with a mechanial one at John Hopkins in Baltimore MD, thankfully my daughter lives there and when i wasreleased, they rented a recliner that raised up, all i had to do was back up to it and it would go down and then i could recline. zafter 4 days my wife and I headed out for home, she had never drove the full trip, I spent 2 weeks in my recliner at home and then it was off and on with the bed. I had my surgery on my 67th birthday, 2 June 2008. I took one day at a time, i’d wake up and hear the valve clicking, did it bother me? no, it ment that I was still alive. If anyone wishes to e-mail me i’m/worker@att.net
May 21st, 2009 at 11:14 pm
I had Aorta Valve Replacement on April 13th and and I am in my 6th week of recovery. After reading Adam’s book, he said that it was painful getting in and out of bed during his home recovery. So, before my surgery, I purchased a foam wedge bed pillow from my local bed and bath store. It has a cotton cover that zips on and off for easy washing. I put my regular pillow up on top of the wedge and it helped keep my torso upright and I have been pretty comfortabl in my bed. It is an affordable solution that worked well for me. Also, we had a tall bed, so I purchased a sturdy step stool to get in and out of bed as well. Hope this helps your readers Adam! Maureen
September 9th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I had open heart surgery in 1967 and remember every day of pain and what helped it. My doctors made me a “pony” that attached to the bed frame and I was able to use it help me sit up by grabbing it and pulling on it - it was more like leverage and caused no pain and I was able to get in and out of bed easily. I am very surprised that this method is not used anymore. The pillow thing just sounds tortureous and very painful.
Any idea why this is no longer used?