One individual’s experience before surgery can be altogether different from another’s yet we follow similar planning for most regular procedures.
This is because there are many varieties of heart surgery.
Most people start their journey by contacting specialist doctors and get examined (by a cardiologist) who after a precise diagnosis guides them to the cardiac surgeon. The surgeon plans the operation according to his understanding of the disease and in discussion with the cardiologist.
The patient and their relatives are counselled about the plan of treatment so that they have understood both the disease and the plan of treatment. Most people start preparing themselves very well mentally for the procedure. Then they start to plan their Hospital admission, travel and finances.
On arrival at the hospital, they will be guided to the care of the consultant in charge of the treatment by coordinators. After the consultant re-examines the patient, he/she will be admitted the previous evening for the proposed operation.

Doctors and nurses will re-examine you, take blood and urine samples and other investigations as advised by the consultant. Your consent for all procedures is once more taken and documented. The anesthesiologist will also examine your fitness for the procedure. You may need to have body hair removed by some means to help to operate unhindered. You will be given a special scrubbing solution to have a bath with, so as to reduce the chances of infection.

An intravenous (IV) line will be put into a vein in your arm to give you liquids and medicines. Just before the surgery, you’ll be moved to the operating room. You’ll be given medicines so you are relaxed and stress-free when going to the operation theatre.

The operation will be done after you have been made to go into a deep sleep so that you do not feel any pain. After the planned procedure has been completed you will be brought into the ICU where you will recover from the operation. On waking up you will find many tubes and wires attached to you, there will be sounds of computers and other machines beeping, doctors and nurses talking. This is normal. You may not be able to move or speak for some time, because of the medicines. We will wait for your complete recovery before allowing you to move and then removing the ventilator machine. Now you will be able to speak. 3 to 6 hours after removing the ventilator, you will not be given anything to eat or drink. Only when your recovery is complete will you be transferred to the wards.