open heart aneurysm repair

I was in pretty good shape before my surgery but it took me many months of recovery before I felt like I was 'back'. I also had severe pericarditis post surgery that slowed me down for the first few months... they gave me colchicine for that problem and it seemed to help. There were many times in the first few months post surgery that I felt tired, out of breath and weak but I kept pushing which is what I'd recommend for you as well. I am now almost 2 years post surgery and am back to hiking in the Rockies, walking and biking so things will get better over time. Good luck and hang in there!

@mikeneverwired Thankyou so much. Now I feel like I will make progress with your encouragement. I knew I could get some great advice and thought on here

@scottbliz I concur! This Mayo chat was very helpful for me both before and after my procedure. I got a lot of encouragement when I was nervous or having issues (like my post surgery pericarditis), etc.
One thing that I found helpful was to keep exercising despite being tired... just do a bunch of shorter bursts of walking, rest a bit and do it again. That should help both your legs and your breathing. ...and be sure to use that incentive spirometer they gave you in the hospital (I still use mine from time to time). If you don't have one, get one as it will help your breathing. Good luck!

I’m 73 yr old male AAA at 5.2…….was stable for last 7 years now all of a sudden grew from 4.6 so I’m having surgery feb 6 at university of Iowa hospital. Open abdominal repair…mine is close to kidneys so no room for a “stent” repair. To say I’m anxious is of course understatement…….i have lots of confidence in my medical team but nonetheless things can go wrong. My doc said her patients usually take from 3 to 12 months before thy really feel like themselves again depending on your motivation to exercise etc. I’ll be in intensive care for 2 days and then 3 to 4 more days in hospital. What are some experiences of recovery that might help me ? Thank you

@ymca49 There are lot of discussions on open heart surgery. I'm not sure whether your surgery is around the heart or lower in the abdomen. Regardless, it might be worth a search to find experiences. Here's one on open heart surgery: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/what-i-learned-from-my-open-heart-surgery-part-1/

@bitsygirl My aneurysm is right by the kidneys..so in the abdomen...not sure if open heart surgery is comparable?
I appreciate your time. thanks

It took me about 4 to 5 months to be up and about at around 75% and nearly a year to hit 95%. I was 60yo at the time of surgery. But I was also in surgery for over 14 hours and they did 4 major procedures and I ended up with 17 units of blood. I was in ICU for 3 days and the step down unit another 7 days. I actually started recovering well after waking up. I was under for 27 hours.

I also had open heart surgery. 3 days after I left Mayo I could not breathe so i went back down there and found out fluid built up around my heart sack, worst night of my life ever, the next morning they pulled out a liter of fluid, as soon as they tapped me instant relief. It's now been 2 years since my surgery and I still have the shortness of breath when I walk up stairs, excessive, or carry something heavy like groceries from the car to the house. For me after several trips to the doctors for this they did a stress test on a tread mill, i failed,mayo called it anxiety to the test, so I convinced them to due a nuclear stress test and found out normal resting ejection fraction was 56 percent which I was told was good, unfortunately when the heart is under stress that ejection fraction drops down to only 40 percent. The reason that I was told was when I had my heart attack it killed of some of the heart muscle and I had aortic stensos which caused the heart attack had also affected my heart muscle. So my personal opinion is to keep working out, listen to your body, when you feel out of breath or chest pains stop and rest catch your breath and then continue your workout. Make a mental note when you get out of breath, see if there's a pattern and then have a stress test to see how your heart is functioning. Good luck Dave

Thankyou. All comments and suggestions are appreciated. There are so many little things that Dr or nurses do not tell a patient. Without this message board and doing my own research there are many things I would not have known. Please everyone. Any experience you have had would benefit someone to hear about it. Keep them all coming

My experience with AAA repair is ongoing. I needed grafts to the ascending aorta and lower part of the arch. Surgery went well, but afterward my heart would not resume proper beating and needed rest. I now have right ventricle dysfunction. My chest was left open for 5 days until it could finally be closed. I was in ICU with EVMO, dialysis, intubation for many days. What was supposed to be a total hospital stay of 5 to 7 days became 21 days. I’m 78 years old and was in excellent shape going into the surgery. The worst part was the continuous testing and vital taking done morning, noon , and night for the entire hospital stay. I was completely exhausted . It took a week on a walker, then a week on a cane, and about 2 months more to feel substantially better.