Anyone have type 1 diabetes and open heart surgery?

Hi @pattynelson Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. You are dealing with a lot right now and have found this good place to share encouragement.

I imagine your mind is all over the place as you prepare for your open heart procedure. I am curious to understand more about your situation, and knowing a bit more may help others better comment as well.

Are you comfortable with your providers/surgeon, and do you have someone walking through this with you? Mostly, what is your biggest concern right now, what is causing you the most fear?

I was an internist working as a Hospitalist ( I only took care of hospitalized patients) for a few years at a large tertiary cardio thoracic surgery hospital. I cared for many diabetic patients postop from various open heart procedures. Expect your insulin doses to change, you may even be placed on an iv insulin drip, depending on your needs. Your sugars will be closely monitored and you will probably be on more short acting insulin than you are used to. I fully expect your surgeon to consult with an internist, intensivist, or endocrinologist. If you have good nurses and good consultants you will be in good hands. Make sure to ask the nurses what your sugars are when they test (when your feeling up to it) and if you don’t feel your getting good sugar control, don’t be shy about asking for an endocrinologist if you don’t have one.

I hope this puts your mind at ease.

@jlharsh I feel I’ve picked the best hospital in my area, but no one is walking me through this yet, I have only seen the surgeon once, I’m scheduled for a cardiac cath soon and will meet with the surgeon after that, my biggest fear is not healing or getting infections because of my diabetes, I feel I will make it through surgery but afraid I won’t make it through the recovery, I can’t find any diabetics to talk to that’s been through this, so I can’t put my mind at ease until I do, I’m having an aortic valve replaced with a mechanical one because of a congenital birth defect, I have a bicuspid valve

@laura1970 what would really put my mind at ease is to know other diabetics got through recovery fine without infections or really slow healing, this is a big fear for me, do you know how the diabetic patients you worked with recovered, was it harder for them, were there complications for them, did they survive their recovery, I wish I could talk to a diabetic type1 that has been through open heart surgery but I have not found any, was hoping getting on here I would get a response from one

I can’t think of any cases that come easily to mind that had a difficult road with complications stemming from uncontrolled type 1 diabetes , especially juvenile onset DM. I don’t know your age , I am presuming it was juvenile onset.please correct me if I am mistaken.

Slow healing is expected in DM but in my cases I don’t remember them being particularly slow, especially if you take care of yourself now with good HgA1C , exercising, eating well, etc. if you nd like you can fill me in on your current diabetic control and lifestyle. And your current age and current meds

There are those that feel moderate control postop is fine. I am not in this camp. I think if tight control can be accomplished without many episodes of hypoglycemia, outcomes are improved. I don’t know of studies that favor one over the other. You could search google scholar if you want studies. I stopped working as a Hospitalist at that particular hospital in 2000, so it’s possible care has changed.

In 2000 I became a Hospitalist at a medium sized community hospital that did not perform open heart surgery. Tight glucose control was tougher because of the general health of the average diabetic seen and the absence of excellent well trained RNs. There I did see complications such as infection and poor wound healing on a much more regular basis.

If you have another appointment with your surgeon before surgery you could ask for an appointment with the doc he plans to consult. If this is a Hospitalist know there are usually a large number that rotate in an out, so you won’t the same opportunity to meet one on one.

In general we, be sure you are going to a well respected top notch regional facility with a cardiothoracic program that is seen as elite. They generally can’t get this reputation without good ancillary staff. The ancillary staff are an important part of intraolerative and post op treatment

Is this more what you were looking for?

@pattynelson It sounds like you are addressing your concerns thoughtfully to set yourself up for a successful surgery and recovery. Thank you for providing a bit more about your situation so others will know more how to comment.

I want to help you find diabetics to talk to that have been through open heart surgery so you can prepare for managing your diabetes throughout the process. I am tagging others that have commented on discussions related to members with diabetes looking at open heart surgeries hoping they will have first-hand experience (or know someone who does): @acarrollga1956 , @kbauer23 , @bjanderson , @lioness. @badmac created a discussion you may want to browse, Freaking out a bit - upcoming surgery https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/freaking-out-a-bit/

@laura1970 has provided excellent guidance for you to know before meeting with your surgeon again. You mention having a heart cath. When is it scheduled?

@laura1970 I am 60yrs old have had diabetes since 15yrs of age so juvenile diabetic, I have no diabetic problems, no neuropathy, no swelling in legs or ankles, eyes are good, I do try to take care of myself, don’t drink or smoke, I’m active at my job and outside of my job, so if I understood right you did not work in a hospital that did open heart surgeries if that is correct you will not be able to answer my questions about how diabetics did in recovery, I do take care of myself but the fact still remains that I am diabetic and want to know others that have been through this or someone that has seen 1st hand how recovery is for a diabetic

@jlharsh thank you so much for your efforts in trying to help me find someone to talk with that shares my same experience, I hope someone out there will answer, I feel like I won’t have this surgery till I talk to someone to help me with my feelings and who is also type 1 juvenile diabetic, I’m 60yrs old now but was diagnosed around the age of 17

I have been a type one diabetic for 49 years. I was diagnosed in 2010 with sub Aortic Stenosis and had open heart surgery, then in 2019 they found out that it was growing back so they went back in to fix it and while they were in there they found that my tricuspid valve was also leaking so they put a ring on it. I highly recommend using a pillow to hold against your chest when you sneeze or cough. Also, make sure to go to physical therapy afterwards. It really helps with the recovery. Wishing you all the best with your surgery

Thank you for commenting, did you have any slower healing or infections with any of the surgeries, that is a fear of mine, I’m active and healthy for being diabetic, I try to take care of myself but the fact that I am type 1 for so long the recovery really has me scared, how well did you recover? So sorry you had to go through that twice, once is bad enough 😔