My experience of having Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Surgery

Good morning Gary. You've had a coronary artery bypass graft some time ago. Tell us about your experience. Well I was admitted to the Hammersmith Hospital as an emergency admission and it was discovered that my heart was in very poor condition. I was admitted to intensive care where I had to remain for five days while a team was assembled who would contribute towards the surgery. Because it was an emergency, I didn't presume everybody was standing around waiting for me to arrive. So people had to be pulled from different jobs and brought back from holidays and whatever. So I was in intensive care for five days and then at 6 a.m. on the Monday morning in 2010, January 2010, I was taken to have surgery for which I felt totally relaxed and totally trusting of the people I was with. I tend not to panic in situations because I don't think it helps regarding your health. So yes, the surgery took a number of hours, I don't know how much, I wasn't awake. And when I recovered, it seemed it might have been a success and when I was transferred from intensive care to the recovery ward afterwards, the HGU recovery, I was there for a week and then was was sent home. But I did find that my several things weren't didn't feel right. I found life quite a bit of a struggle. I was maintaining personal care and but I had loss of appetite and just felt weak a lot. But I still endeavoured to do what was required of me i.e. you know exercise, minimum exercise and my care for my diet etc. How long before you felt back to normal? I didn't it was three months later I came to see a cardiologist at St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington and it was there I was told that my the grafts had not been a a success. On the bypass they hadn't expanded as expected so the blood was not flowing accordingly and I would need to have three stents fitted. How did they find the grafts weren't working? An angiogram probably. An angiogram and also I was struggling to breathe you know I found it really was quite a struggle and it found it was putting pressure on my heart during that period. And then you had the stents put in? Then I had the stents put in and they were in for, they settled and within a few weeks I really felt an incredible improvement. I feel my breathing was improved, my energy level started to increase and I was, each day I was able to do a little bit more and a little bit more and since then it's been rather good although in 2013 I had sorry to early 2014 I had a stroke and as a consequence of that I was I had an implanted cardiac defibrillator that's not related to the heart bypass though separation it's a separate issue but because of my history of heart attacks, it was recommended I have an implanted defibrillator. But the heart felt better after the stents? You felt better in yourself? Yes, I did. Yes, I did. And felt I was considerably improving and things, yes, started to look up considerably after that. Thank you.