gaining or losing weight too quickly or if your healthcare provider recommends it.
Staying active: After heart bypass surgery, it is essential to stay active. You can check out specific recommendations from the American Heart Association on how much and what type of exercise you should do regularly. Before beginning any exercise program, be sure to get approval from your doctor.
Preparing for the hospital
Knowing what to bring and what to leave home when preparing to go to the hospital for your bypass surgery will help reduce your stress.
What to bring
You need to prepare a few things to bring with you on the day of your upcoming heart bypass surgery, including:
- Glasses or contact lenses (be sure to bring cases or storage containers)
- Identification card (such as your driver’s license)
- Insurance card
- Contact information (in case of an emergency)
- Comfortable, loose-fitting clothing and slippers with rubber backings
- Copy of your health-related legal documents (like your health proxy or living will)
- Detailed information about all medications you are taking (including names, dosage, and times of day you take each medication)
What you should not bring with you to the hospital:
- Valuables (such as jewelry and watches)
- Credit cards
- Cash (except a few small bills if you plan to shop at the hospital gift shop)
Note, that you won’t need personal items (such as clothing or cell phones) until you move from the surgery recovery area of the hospital to your hospital room. So, you may want to leave the things you will need after surgery packed at home on the day of your surgery. You can delegate someone to bring them in once you move from the ICU (intensive care unit) or CICU (cardiac intensive care unit) to your regular hospital room.
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What to wear
Prepare for your hospital stay by packing a bag to leave at home (until a friend or family member can bring them to the hospital after your surgery), including items such as:
- Comfortable, loose-fitting clothing to wear home from the hospital
- Loose-fitting, cotton loungewear (cotton fabric reduces friction and rubbing on sensitive areas such as incision sites after surgery)
- Comfortable foot covering (such as soft socks and rubber-backed slip-on shoes or slippers)
When to call the doctor (before your surgery)
Before your bypass surgery procedure, you should contact your healthcare provider if:
- You would like to know more about your bypass procedure, such as questions about how the procedure will be performed
- You need to make sure you’re prepared for surgery (such as knowing when to stop eating or drinking before your surgery)
- You need to confirm which medications to take on the morning of surgery (such as diabetic or blood pressure medications)
- The day before you are scheduled for surgery, you develop a fever, a cold or the flu
- Your decision to have the procedure performed has changed
- The surgical procedure needs to be rescheduled