what to expect after 5 bypass

[sheila540]

My 48 yr old brother in law has 5 bypass surgery, 2 days later still on life support. he is not responding to verbal commands, is this normal.  they are weaning him off machines today. what should we expect?

[Encephalomalcia]

Open heart surgery is a big surgery, so you have to give him some time to get better and back to normal.  If they are weaning him off of machines that it good.  I think my mom had the respirator in for about 3 days before they removed it with her first open heart surgery of 5 bypasses, removal of the heart sack, and scraping of the scar tissue on her heart.  Once he becomes alert, you should see quite a bit of improvement each day.  The doctors will be looking at blood work and such to determine how he is recovering.  After he goes home, make sure that he does not have any pressure or shortness of breath after about a month or two.  Sometimes the bypasses do not heal in and a stent has to be put in.  It's rare, but does happen, so shortness of breath when climbing small hills or just walking is a warning sign.  It is rough when he will have to sit up in a chair, so be prepared for that.  Getting up the first time is really hard.  It gets better every day.  He is young so that is a plus.  Younger people recover sooner.  Takes about a full year to completely recover, but he should feel pretty good in about 8 weeks.  If there is anything that the doctors are concerned about as far as him not responding now, they will be testing for neurological damage and CT scans, etc.  The hospital will know if there is any complications from the surgery and let you know.  Most people that have this surgery find comfort in holding their hand and just talking to them.  Make sure that you tell him that everything went okay and that he is going to be just fine.  It is very scary for the patient to not know how they are doing.  This happened to my mom.  She was unable to respond, but was so scared that the surgery did not turn out and nobody was saying anything.  She said it would have been comforting to know that she was okay right after surgery, because she could hear everything just not respond.  Take care and try to get some rest.