As part of treatment for your cardiac condition you may need to have surgery. The surgery you may need will depend on your heart condition. You should talk to your surgeon or cardiac team to find out more. 

In preparing for surgery it can be helpful to know what will happen both before and following surgery. As part of the preparation you will recieve an appointment to come to surgical clinic. This is an opportunity to talk to all the different members of the team such as the surgeon, nurse specialist and psychologist about the planned operation. They will talk to you about why they think you should have the procedure, what might happen if you didn't, looking after yourself before and after surgery and support available. You can ask questions too. 

If you require surgery you will need to have a review within the six months before your surgery date. This is to reduce the risk of developing an infection called infective endocarditis. 

When you have a date for surgery, you will usually come in for a pre-admission clinic close to the date of your surgery and then be admitted the night before. You will meet members of the team including the anaesthetist, and may have a few tests such as an ECHO, ECG, blood test and blood pressure taken to ensure you are well enough for surgery. With most cardiac operations you will go to the intensive care unit for a day or two following surgery, and there is usually an opportuntity to go and see what this is like before you go for surgery too. 

On the day of surgery you will be taken to the anaesthetic room before going into theatre. Following your surgery you will be taken to intensive care, to allow your body and heart to recover you are usually kept sedated (asleep) for a period of time. On intensive care they are able to monitor you more closely than on a ward. When you are a bit stronger you will be moved to the high dependency unit and following this the ward before you are discharged. You may find that it takes a bit of time to feel stronger following surgery, a physiotherapist will help you to get up and move around more. This is really important to help your recovery. 

You can read more about the cardiac pathway in adult services here and our cardiac team will be able to support you and answer any questions you have.