How to Help Someone After Bypass Surgery in the Hospital

Bypass surgery requires a lengthy recovery period. During that time, your loved one will need help and TLC. Providing care requires a basic understanding of what he or she needs after major surgery.

Things You'll Need

• Antimicrobial Soap
• Surgical Masks

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Instructions

• 1

  Visit the patient as much as you can unless she or her doctor advise you not to.

• 2

  Help her with meals. The nurses will set the patient's tray up and get her started. Don't hover or fuss, but give her a hand if she needs it.

• 3

  Help her walk. It's comforting for a patient to have a loving arm to lean against when she's strolling up and down the hall, gaining strength in her legs.

• 4

  Encourage her to walk, cough and breathe deeply, and avoid stress, but be relaxed about it.

• 5

  Avoid having lots of people in to visit unless the patient asks for them. Remember she's still in the midst of a major recovery. Limit visitors to only the most immediate family members. Leave the children at home if possible.

• 6

  Encourage the patient to follow the instructions of her doctors and nurses. Let the patient complain, but don't take her side and tell her it's OK to skip her post-op activities when she feels like it.

• 7

  Ask the doctors and nurses questions when there's something you don't understand. Have faith in the medical staff.