Preparing for Open-Heart Surgery: A Patient’s Guide for Success

Boots Knighton [: 00:00:02

Welcome to open heart surgery with Boots, a podcast for heart patients by me, a heart patient. Join me as I take you on a journey through the intricacies of the human heart, revealing the triumphs and challenges of those who undergo the life changing event of heart surgery. We're not just exploring medical procedures, we're delving into the human experience. Be sure you hit subscribe and also leave a review. That means the world to me and I read every single one. Also, if you have a story to share or want to hear something that I haven't covered on this program, you can send me an email which is linked in the show notes, but without further delay. Let's get to this week's episode. Thanks for coming back today to open heart surgery with boots.

Boots Knighton [: 00:01:02

I am doing a bunch of shorter episodes this summer, more like quick, fast hitting episodes, just so you can listen on the go. If you're facing heart surgery, this will be just hopefully, quick, actionable steps you could take to get ready. So today's episode is focusing on what should you do physically to prepare for open heart surgery. So there's twelve things I want to quickly go over. I will have a link in the show notes where you can print this out. And I also encourage you to take notes because remember, I am one human who's been through one heart surgery, so it doesn't mean that I have it all figured out. I also want to remind you that I am not a doctor. I don't even pretend to play one on tv.

Boots Knighton [: 00:01:52

I am just here to be your heart buddy and to be in your ears to remind you that you're amazing, that you're loved, and that you can go through heart surgery and come out the other side better than before. So just know that that I am here. You can send me an email bootsheheartchamberpodcast.com if you need additional support. I am always ready to help in any way I can. And I absolutely, absolutely love hearing from listeners. Whether you are just scared and facing heart surgery and just need a heart buddy to answer an email to, letting me know if this was helpful or not, I want to hear it all. So don't hold back. Okay, let's get into the physical preparation of heart surgery.

Boots Knighton [: 00:02:43

Obviously, number one, pre surgery, do the physical examination to make sure that you can go through the heart surgery. So obviously you're going to be consulting your doctors. That could be your internist, it could be an Ob gyn. It just depends on what the heart surgery is for and what other issues you might be also dealing with going into heart surgery. I've said this in previous episodes. You know, we don't get to have heart surgery in a vacuum. The other parts of our body continue to do their things, and the world around us continues to do its thing. And so not only are we managing our heart condition, but we're also managing other parts of our body and issues and aches and pains, and then the world around us.

Boots Knighton [: 00:03:33

So, sorry, I hate to break it to you, but that's just a tough reality. That is heart surgery. So you want to make sure you're talking to specialists like cardiologists, obviously, the anesthesiologist. That's usually not till the. Either the day before or the day of. And then you want to make sure that you have a physical therapist in tow throughout this whole ordeal. Okay? So that's number one. Okay.

Boots Knighton [: 00:03:59

Number two, exercise and physical activity. I hope that you have been able to be active leading up to heart surgery, but a lot of times people can't be. I know I had been an athlete, and then my heart, once it made itself known, I went from 60 miles an hour to basically 0 mile an hour pretty quickly. And that is just the tough reality of a lot of heart conditions. But it's important that while you are going through the start of this heart surgery journey, that you are likely on that if you can't be active, that you think ahead and envision yourself healed on the other side and start preparing and planning for physical activity, even if your heart is giving you so much trouble while you're waiting for heart surgery, there's actually things you still can do under the supervision of a cardiac rehabilitation program or physical therapist, or even working with a trainer that has experience working with heart patients. There are still things you can do. I mean, even simple stretching will help. But go ahead and start planning for the future and planning for being well and coming back from heart surgery stronger than you've ever been in your life.

Boots Knighton [: 00:05:31

It will actually just, that act of hope will get you to the other side and thriving much more quickly than if you weren't envisioning that. It's pretty amazing how well it works. Okay, number three, a healthy diet. So I have had profound effects working with a dietitian. I link her in almost every show note episode because I am so buoyed by her expertise and support. And if you don't want to work with the one I recommend, that's totally fine. But find a dietitian who is actually has gone to school for nutrition. It is so important because you will likely be on some medications, if you aren't already, and you need to take into account the medications that you're on and having a complimentary diet that will help buoy those medications.

Boots Knighton [: 00:06:31

And dare I say it, you could be on a diet that helps wean you off certain heart medications. Okay, now, remember, again, I'm not a doctor, but it is possible to wean yourself off cardiac medications. I have done it, and I do feel so much better. Limiting sodium is number one, should be top priority. My goodness. I tell you, it has been three and a half years since my heart surgery as of this recording, and I still cannot tolerate sodium. Heaven forbid I eat a large amount of sodium because the next day, I am like a beached whale. Just super bloated.

Boots Knighton [: 00:07:12

Sodium just does not get along with my body anymore, and that's okay. As well as, you know, reducing processed foods, sugar, I mean, we all know this, it is harder to do it in real life. I tell you, I can justify junk food so effectively, it is a little embarrassing. But the more that I stay away from it, the easier it is to stay away from it. And then hydration. You know, the dietitian, Michelle, that I'm working with, she explained hydration to me in a whole new way recently. The more hydrated we are, the less sticky our blood is, and then the more fluid it is, and then it doesn't strain our hearts as much. And that just makes so much sense.

Boots Knighton [: 00:08:04

I mean, it almost seems common sense, but my cardiologist had never explained it to me like that, but the dietitian did, and so I'm. Again, I just. I keep tooting like my dietitian's horn. But it's. It's worth doing that because she complements my cardiologist really well. My cardiologist is trained to focus on the heart and the function of it, whereas the dietitian is, like, treating the whole body, the inflammation, and helping me nurture and heal and nourish the heart. And we can't expect one cardiologist or one surgeon or just one healthcare provider in general to, like, do all the things we need to educate us on all things heart. Everyone is in their lane for very specific reasons, and so we do need the whole team to help us get over the finish line that is heart surgery.

Boots Knighton [: 00:09:04

And on the other side, anyway, enough about healthy diet. Number four, weight management. A healthy weight, obviously, is super important. The more weight you're carrying around, the more strain you're putting on your heart. Now, taking weight off is incredibly difficult, but I like to think of with my weight journey, I wasn't particularly overweight, but I did gain some weight after heart surgery because, duh, heart surgery. And it was a lot on my body. But once I kind of got to the place of finally radically accepting the fact that my body was not the same as before, I have just committed myself to being 1% better every day at taking care of my body. And that has been everything.

Boots Knighton [: 00:09:53

It took time to put weight on, it takes time to take it off, and that's just the reality. And so just enjoying the ride, making the next right choices for my body, has been how I've gotten through that. And I just like to offer that to you. Number five, quitting smoking. I have never smoked, so I don't know what it's like, but I have heard it is profoundly difficult to stop smoking. So my heart goes out to you. If you're listening to this and you smoke, I hear it as one of the hardest things you will ever do, which is quitting smoking. And I'd like to offer up a nugget.

Boots Knighton [: 00:10:35

Again, I am saying this as a never smoker, so I don't feel like I have a whole lot that I can say about this and have any sort of credibility. But how about this? What if you thought about it as like, what is the most loving thing you can do for your body today? And maybe it is smoking because you are having a hard day and today is just not the day for you to try to tackle quitting smoking. I get it. And what if the most loving thing you could do is to try today to be day number one of stopping smoking? You deserve it. You deserve to have health and vitality and to live a life that is beautiful and clean and free of addiction. You deserve that, and I want that for you. My mom died because she had been a smoker for a really long time. She was also an alcoholic.

Boots Knighton [: 00:11:34

Which brings me to number six, alcohol consumption. My mom died because of smoking and drinking. And guess what she died of heart failure. And it was directly linked to smoking and drinking. I am grateful to say I quit drinking in 2010, and I haven't looked back, and it was one of the most loving things I've ever done for myself. And my dietitian told me that no amount of alcohol is beneficial for the body, especially the heart. And so, again, the most loving thing any of us heart patients or anyone with a heart can do is to never smoke or to quit smoking, and to not drink, or at least very much limit the amount of alcohol you consume in a week? Sure, I'd love to pour a glass of wine every now and again, but I know that I just don't have the. I just don't have the wiggle room to drink.

Boots Knighton [: 00:12:39

It just doesn't work for my body. It doesn't work for my peace, my inner peace or my mental health. And now that I know that I am, you know, a cardiac patient, it definitely doesn't work for my heart. Number seven, medication management. Obviously, you're going to want to take all prescribed medications as directed. There are some medications that you're going to need to adjust or stop before surgeries, like blood thinners. A lot of the different supplements you might be on, they all can interact with your open heart surgery and cause you to have complications. So your anesthesiologist will go over that, your surgeon, your surgeon's pa, make sure they have all the information.

Boots Knighton [: 00:13:27

Don't leave anything out of what you are putting in your body because all of that does matter in the act. That is open heart surgery. Number eight, managing chronic conditions. So what else do you have going on? Do you have high blood pressure or low blood pressure? Are you a diabetic? Do you have kidney disease or lung disease or chronic asthma? How about chronic inflammation? A lot of doctors don't think about the inflammation going into heart surgery. I've spoken about this on previous episodes. The more you can reduce your inflammation, the quicker you're going to heal and the better outcome you're going to have with heart surgery. But those other ones I just mentioned are even heavier hitting, like the kidney disease, lung disease, and they're going to make sure they check all that before they put you under anesthesia. So make sure you are being very upfront with your, your healthcare providers about these other chronic conditions you're managing.

Boots Knighton [: 00:14:33

I also want to say another chronic condition would be mental health. So do you struggle with anxiety, depression? Those are actually exacerbated after heart surgery. I am speaking from experience, and so be sure that you're also very upfront with your providers about that. And that would be a time, if you aren't already. I would go ahead and start looking for and hiring to be part of your team, a mental health therapist, because if you're anxious now and you've had anxiety before, your heart made itself known. Just wait till after heart surgery. Cardiac depression is real. It is a serious thing.

Boots Knighton [: 00:15:18

You can get through it, and it is, you will need the tools in order to get through it. So that would be, I would list that under chronic conditions as well. Okay. Number nine, stress reduction and mental preparation. So, like I was saying, with mental health, I have recorded several different episodes on this. Now, prior to my open heart surgery, I worked with my mental health therapists that I had already been working with for several years. We used EMDR for me to process and picture going through open heart surgery successfully and getting to the other side. But before we could even do that, I had to process the fact that I had lived 42 years up to that point thinking I had a perfectly fine heart.

Boots Knighton [: 00:16:11

And so I had to go through this whole radical acceptance piece. And then it was managing the absolute fear, I would say actual terror, of open heart surgery. And I had plenty of time. I think we got in twelve sessions before my surgery took place, which was amazing because once the day of heart surgery arrived, I was relatively calm. Relatively. I mean, it's still heart surgery, so I can't stress enough working with a professional on preparing you. There's also an incredible amount of resources for like meditations you can listen to and you can do like yoga Nidra. I've used yoga Nidra to prepare.

Boots Knighton [: 00:16:56

That was really helpful. So don't be afraid to ask for support. There's also support groups online. There's like a support group for just about anything on Facebook, any congenital defect you're looking at, or any other pathology of the heart. There seems to be a Facebook support group for whatever you have going on. It's really cool, actually, so don't be afraid to look. Okay, we're almost done. Number ten, pre surgical instructions.

Boots Knighton [: 00:17:27

Make sure you follow this to a t. So there's always going to be the fasting piece. You're going to have to take pre surgical showers with an antiseptic soap. I had to do. I had to take a shower the night before. I had to check into the hospital the day before, where I took a pre surgical shower that night. And then they got me up the next morning at five where I had to take another one. And so they're going to tell you, you know, to stop medications, to stop drinking and eating at a certain time.

Boots Knighton [: 00:17:58

It's really important you follow those to a t or else your surgery could be delayed or canceled. And then number eleven, arrange post surgery support. So have a caregiver plan. Arrange for someone to help you with your daily activities post surgery. That's so important. And then knowing that you have that support system on the other side already set up, that will actually help keep your nervous system more calm going into the whole thing. And then also prepare your home before you leave for surgery. For when you come home from surgery, because remember, you're going to have a lot of limitations you're not going to be able to lift.

Boots Knighton [: 00:18:49

I would even say buy some clothes that feel really cozy on, that are easy to put on. I did that and I'm so glad I did. I had, like, I called them my heart surgery clothes and I have since taken them to the thrift store because I am done with that chapter. I am really glad I did it. It felt cozy at the time, but then I just needed that chapter to be done. And so I have now donated them so that they can go help someone else. And then lastly, education and understanding. Know what to expect.

Boots Knighton [: 00:19:23

That's one of the reasons why I have this podcast. This is your spoken resource to know what to expect but also read about it. I wouldn't spend a lot of time reading about potential risks. It is important to educate yourself, but I challenge you to spend more time thinking about thriving after open heart surgery instead of what could go wrong. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Send me questions. Send your surgeon questions, cardiologists, nurses, physical therapists. I will say, the more you know, the more your nervous system will stay calm.

Boots Knighton [: 00:20:02

I don't know about you, I don't do very well with not knowing. And so I want to know, like exactly what to expect. How many days will I be in the hospital? How will it all work? There's a balance, though, because I'm really glad I didn't watch an open heart surgery, say, on YouTube prior to my experience. To this day, I still kind of, I try to watch them, but I really can't. There are some people who, they really need to know exactly what's going to take place, and so they do watch surgeries. That is up to you. I say proceed at your own risk, but it's just a matter of managing your nervous system and wading in deep enough into the information to know enough to keep your nervous system calm but not going too deep that you get overwhelmed and then scared out of your mind. So those are my twelve things for you to think about as you physically prepare for open heart surgery again.

Boots Knighton [: 00:21:08

Reach out to me boots@theheartchamberpodcast.com should you need any further support or want any more guidance, I am your heart buddy and your ears, helping you get to the other side. That is heart surgery. I believe in you. I love you. You're not alone. Come back next week and we'll go over how to mentally prepare for open heart surgery.