I understand your concerns. I’ll share what we experienced with my Dad’s quadruple bypass in 2000 at Duke. He was 63. Things have probably changed a lot since then. He was rushed to Duke from local hospital (collapsed in stress test, catheterization, heart attack) with expectations to have the surgery the next morning, but an actual blizzard caused them to wait a couple of days with the understanding they would do it sooner, if emergency occurred.

The surgery went well and we were only allowed to see him afterwards in ICU that night. He was in a bedlike contraption, that wasn’t a true bed…harnessed in. It kept him elevated. He looked rough and was not coherent. We (my mom, brother and I) stayed only about 3 minutes. We visited perhaps twice a day like that for the next couple of days. After they took him to a regular room, we stayed in his room all day and left to go to our hotel at dinner time and returned the next morning, He was emotional and depressed. He was irrational and had a lot of fears. He wanted us in his room most of the time. It took months for him to settle out of that. He was released….I think in about a week to 10 days.

He has done quite well since then, taking meds, 3 stents and one cardioversion. His cardiologist and primary are amazed. He’s now 87. He’s weak, but…..still mobile.

I hope things go well with your husband. I’ll look forward to seeing your update.