Comments on: What are the statistics of someone having severe COPD, lung disease, diabetes and triple bypass surgery? http://copdlungdisease.com/what-are-the-statistics-of-someone-having-severe-copd-lung-disease-diabetes-and-triple-bypass-surgery.html Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:17:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: AlliRN http://copdlungdisease.com/what-are-the-statistics-of-someone-having-severe-copd-lung-disease-diabetes-and-triple-bypass-surgery.html/comment-page-1#comment-249 AlliRN Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:47:32 +0000 http://copdlungdisease.com/what-are-the-statistics-of-someone-having-severe-copd-lung-disease-diabetes-and-triple-bypass-surgery.html#comment-249 First of all, good luck to you & your family...you're going through a lot right now. Remember that even when you have a family member who is sick, you need to take care of yourself, too. Now, to answer your question: unfortunately, there isn't a good answer. As you've guessed, the more comorbidities (other problems) a patient has, the more difficult the surgery recovery. BUT...more important than having all these other conditions is how well they are controlled--a person with well controlled diabetes will do far better than a person with uncontrolled diabetes, for example. Risks for any surgery, and especially heart surgery, are multiple. Your father's surgeon should be addressing these with him. Special consideration should be given to how easily he can come off the ventilator and his wound healing, if his diabetes is not well controlled. A very important factor is your dad's motivation to do well with this surgery. A serious complication after heart surgery can be pneumonia, and getting up frequently and moving, as well as deep breathing and coughing (as you can imagine, not too pleasant after heart surgery) is of key importance to getting out of the hospital & doing well. If your dad isn't motivated, his prognosis just won't be as good. As far as recovery, you can expect a TYPICAL heart surgical patient to be in the ICU for 1-2 days, then 4-5 days on a regular floor. Increasing activity a little each day, in the hospital and beyond is key. There is no way we can say if he's better off not having the surgery. If you're not confident in the info the doc is giving you, go to another surgeon for another opinion. Good luck. First of all, good luck to you & your family…you’re going through a lot right now. Remember that even when you have a family member who is sick, you need to take care of yourself, too.

Now, to answer your question: unfortunately, there isn’t a good answer. As you’ve guessed, the more comorbidities (other problems) a patient has, the more difficult the surgery recovery. BUT…more important than having all these other conditions is how well they are controlled–a person with well controlled diabetes will do far better than a person with uncontrolled diabetes, for example.

Risks for any surgery, and especially heart surgery, are multiple. Your father’s surgeon should be addressing these with him. Special consideration should be given to how easily he can come off the ventilator and his wound healing, if his diabetes is not well controlled.

A very important factor is your dad’s motivation to do well with this surgery. A serious complication after heart surgery can be pneumonia, and getting up frequently and moving, as well as deep breathing and coughing (as you can imagine, not too pleasant after heart surgery) is of key importance to getting out of the hospital & doing well. If your dad isn’t motivated, his prognosis just won’t be as good.

As far as recovery, you can expect a TYPICAL heart surgical patient to be in the ICU for 1-2 days, then 4-5 days on a regular floor. Increasing activity a little each day, in the hospital and beyond is key.

There is no way we can say if he’s better off not having the surgery. If you’re not confident in the info the doc is giving you, go to another surgeon for another opinion.

Good luck.

]]> By: mindy n http://copdlungdisease.com/what-are-the-statistics-of-someone-having-severe-copd-lung-disease-diabetes-and-triple-bypass-surgery.html/comment-page-1#comment-250 mindy n Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:47:32 +0000 http://copdlungdisease.com/what-are-the-statistics-of-someone-having-severe-copd-lung-disease-diabetes-and-triple-bypass-surgery.html#comment-250 This question is very involved and impossible to answer without your dads full history, tests, etc. My best piece of advice would be; get a second opinion before anything else. This question is very involved and impossible to answer without your dads full history, tests, etc. My best piece of advice would be; get a second opinion before anything else.

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