Fatigue and shortness of breath-normal after surgery?

[ecowboy]

My dad had triple bypass surgery Mar 23, 2009.  4 months into his recovery he was still have severe chest pains. His surgeon and cardiologist wanted him to give it another 2 months to see if the syptoms would subside. With the chest pain still presistant he insisted his cardiologist run more test. The did find another blockage that required a stent. His chest pain has eased some but is still constantly fatigue and has a shortness of breath. He actually felt better prior to having the surgery. Is this normal or could something else be going on?

[ed34]

It can take a while for food to taste normal. My food tasted like metal for about a month. I would try cheese flavoured biscuits because they were the only thing that tasted normal for me. I wish I had found that out earlier because it seemed to trigger my taste buds back into action.

[Bumpa73]

my husband  had triple by pass a week ago he is doing amazing but he has the worse breth since the surgery and it's affecting  the taste of his food. Is this normal

[tsalmons]

I am in the same fix. I think every thing is fast now a days. With my first surgery they kept me for months and it took me years before I was even keeping up with children my own age. now they were saying I could go back to work in just a few months. It is not happening. I feel tired and short of breath with exertion and still have pain in my chest with lifting, pushing or pulling. and we just found out that I have a stress fracture in my shoulder that is causing me constant arm, shoulder and neck pain. I didn't feel great before the surgery, I knew something was wrong, but in some ways, right now, I feel worse than I did before the surgery. I can't wait until I feel better. I am missing out on so much life.

[ed34]

When I was at Cardiac rehabilitation after my bypass surgery, I was amazed at how different people seem to recover at different rates. I'm not talking about a few days or weeks, for example there was one man who couldn't start rehab until one year after surgery. The normal is 5-6 weeks because this is when the sternum should be healed up. Although I did rehab I have chest pains for about a year and was then finally able to turn over in bed with no discomfort.
With regards to shortness of breath, this is something very difficult to diagnose because many people find it hard to use their lungs properly for several months due to the discomfort. I was taking shallow breaths for about 6 months and so it seemed as though I was gasping half the time during exercise, but I was simply taking smaller breaths but faster. Of course it can also mean there is a circulation problem or a problem with the coronary arteries. Personally I think Cardiologists expect miracles with recovery, I was told I could return to building work after just three months but there was no way I could life anything heavy, my chest was far too painful for that.