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Anyone facing a major medical procedure has questions. It is a good idea to get them answered before the procedure so you will be informed and not quite as nervous about what’s going to happen. If you and your family & friends are comfortable, it makes the whole process a little easier. If you’re going to have heart valve replacement, you must ask your doctor for all of the details about what is going to happen before, during, and after the op so you can prepare yourself and know what to expect.

Before your heart valve replacement, you may get hitched up to an IV, and you’ll have to get rid of any jewellery, glasses, dentures, contacts, and hearing aids. Fundamentally, anything that you are wearing that can be removed. The anesthesiologist and the doctor will talk to you about what is going to happen, and youwill be given a sedative.

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During the process, youwill be anesthetized. You will be connected up to a heart lung machine that may take over for these organs so that the doctor can perform the heart valve replacement using either a mechanical or tissue valve. In order to do this they will have to cut open your sternum to access your heart. Once the old valve is removed and the new one sewn in, theywill unhook you from the heart lung machine and kick off your own heart up again. Your breastbone will be wired back together and your incision will be stitched up.

When you wake up from your heart valve replacement surgery, you will be hitched up to all sorts of tubes and wires, including one down your throat to help breath, a catheter, an IV for medication, and tubes near your heart to reduce the fluids from this area that are left over from the surgery. Once you are awake and able to breathe on your own the tube down your throat will be removed, and the others will be removed as you improve. You should expect to spend a couple days in the ICU, and then more time in a cardiac surgical floor until you are recovered enough to come home. However, even if you come home you’ll still not be back to your old self. This will take roughly six to eight weeks of gradual healing. You will still be on medication as well that you need to take, and youwill need to visit the doctor from time to time for monitoring of your condition.