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