Visit With My Heart Surgeon

This morning (March 30, 2022), I had an appointment with my cardiothoracic surgeon and his P.A. (physician's assistant) three weeks after my quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery on March 9, 2022. The 7.5-inch-long, vertical incision in my chest is healing well, as are the two horizontal, fairly short incisions in my belly from the chest drains and epicardial pacing wires directly attached to my heart for monitoring after surgery. The drains and wires were removed several days after my surgery.

They didn't look at the wound near my left knee, where I had a vein removed for the four bypasses, but my home nurse recent told me that it is healing well. I no longer have a bandage on my belly incisions, and I never had a bandage on my left leg, but I still have a bandage on a now-insignificant sore on my buttocks from the 7-hour-long surgery and hospital bed. (The abrasion on the left cheek of my face from the surgery was bandaged, but is now unbandaged and basically healed.)

My surgeon recommended cleaning my chest incision with soap and water, and losing (more) weight. I went from 224 pounds (with clothes on) to 218 pounds since slightly before my surgery, but I really need to lose much more weight. He said: no sugar to get myself off insulin (injections) and to reduce water retention.

The polyester "zipper" that is glued down the length of my chest incision will eventually fall off by itself, my surgeon said, adding that I can just pull it off now, which I am not going to do. (Is that technically called a "zipper"?) He mentioned that soon I will just have a basically unnoticeable scar in my chest. (Healing takes 2 to 3 months or even 4 to 5 months, possibly longer.)

He also took me off one of my many prescriptions: Pantoprazole (proton-pump inhibitor).

My surgeon wants to see me again in three months. He also wants me to make appointments with my cardiologist and my primary doctor.