Recovery after Quadruple Heart Bypass Surgery - Fluid around lungs

[Sherry Berry]

My father had quadruple heart by-pass surgery a month and 1/2 ago. He still hasn't fully recovered. He has been a diabetic since he turned 52.  He is now 67 years old. He has repeatedly had fluid around his lung that has been drained off by his heart doctor, but it keeps coming back. He has trouble breathing and every time this procedure is done, he has more and more liquid drained from his lung. The first time it was 1200 ccs. The second time 2800 ccs. He had it drained again today, and my mother told me that there was even more fluid. My father says that he has trouble breathing and feels like he is drowning in all this fluid. My father has had alot happen in a year's time. He had total right knee replacement surgery in April 06, eye surgery on his one and only eye in April 07 - the other eye is a glass eye due to an old coal mine accident 39 years ago - and a month or so ago this quadruple heart bypass surgery. My thinking is that he is too weak to get rid of this fluid on his own. The doctor said that the next time this happens, my dad will be admitted into the hospital for a couple of days for a procedure where the doctor will drain off the fluid again then put some sort of sealent around the lung so it won't fill up again? (I'm not sure if I'm wording this properly.) I guess, my question is why didn't the doctor do this before now? Is it a risky procedure? Why is the fluid amount getting larger and larger every time?  Thanks for your time, Sherry Berry!

[Craig13]

My father had 4way Heart by-Pass 5mths ago now and he seems to be doing well so I just want you and everyone else some hope that they will get better but it does take time to heal and get everything going properly again.

                                                                 *Craig*

[Tracey172]

Hi there, never replied on anything like this before, but I would to say that your dad will be fine, I am 42 and had a quad  bypass myself in May 08, and I am fine, the only pain I know have in around my chest area.  I was advised that i would not be 100% for about 1 year as this is how long it actually takes the body to heal, as it has had major trauma and shock and the inside has to recover too, but please note that I had my bypass in May 08 and I returned to work 13 Aug 08, so it may seem forever now but just get as much rest as possible as this does help.
Good health to one an all.    Tracey

[tschneid]

My dad had a triple bypass about a year and a half ago and is still having problems to this day...he had the fluid build up and they kept a chest tub ein him the whole time he was in the hospital.....He was in the hospital for almost a month due to different complications with the bypass, they have had to open him up two more times to fix things that have gone wrong, the first time was in the hospital and the wire broke that was wrapped around the sternum to hold it together, when it broke it sent a piece of his rib into his lung and punctured it so they had to fix that....so that caused him to have a large amount of fluid to fill up in his lungs which had to comtinually be drained out with a chest tube......then he went back in about 3 weeks ago because the wire came loose again but they also found that when the wire broke the first time and they wired it back again a piece of his rib was in the wrong place so they said and caused some bone deformation to take place on his back side where the ribs comes around....he is now back in the hospital again as we speak due to a severe subclavian stenosis, which means he has to have surgery again to fix another blockage on what I am guessing is a new vein that they put in when his bypass was done......so now he has to have an angioplasty done and maybe a stent put in, not sure yet......I hope to God your dad doesn't go through what mine has and he is 65....I hope they get all that fluid taken care of and they don't cause him to go through anymore issues then he already has......for me this has been a trying year and still more to go through what makes it all worse is my parents live in AZ and I live in FL....a long way and plane tickets aren't cheap...

[veronicaelizabeth]

my friend is 65 and had a quadruple bypass 4 years ago, he also has high blood pressure, is it possible and is it safe to have sex? He gets breathless when he walks uphill, and has a spray that he carries with him at all times. Hope some one can help. Thankyou

[Tuckamore]

Certainly that would be a question best put to his cardiologist. Usually it is OK, provided the patient feels as though they can tolerate it BUT always check with your physician. You may want to begin a new post with your question. You most likely will obtain better answers. Take care, Tuck

[DrJeff251]

I personally, not my dad, brother or uncle, have had TWO proven strokes, one 4 July 03, and one 26 Feb 08. Two MI's one way back in the Army before retiring in 1994, after the first Gulf War Oct 1994. (They only did angioplasty or bypass then, no stents; and at my age chose just the baloon angioplasty).

11 angioplasty and stents later; I ended up with a Quadruple Bypass, just 4 weeks ago. I am a Type II insulin dependent diabetic, and I have many of the symptoms you all list above. What do I do, as a worn out, in pain old fart? I walk my rear end off. It hurts, I cough, and yep, did I mention it hurts imensely? If I did not, I would be DEAD. That is actually the option. Walk or die. Exercise burns off fluid, actually helps in many cases even with the Lasix (other names too) treatments. If POSSIBLE, REMEMBER those words, if POSSIBLE, exercise, helps REMOVE more fluid than machines and SITTING. The POOL, the PARK, are my best friends. PUMPS, TISSUES, FAMILY, well they all help, but if I am actually going to SURVIVE ALL OF THIS, it will be through pure determination, and a higher power keeping me walking, swimming and doing. Barring that, it is time to go, for I am not meant ot cough in a bed for my last years. I already did that BEFORE the BYPASS. I was dead for 5 hours on a heart lung machine. Most of us were.