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How painful is bypass surgery recovery?

Bypass surgery is a painful surgery, since it is a major procedure that involves the re-routing the blood flow to the heart.  During the surgery, and usually for a relatively short time afterward, the patient is sedated on a ventilator and does not feel pain.  As the patient is weaned off the ventilator, he is more awake, and the pain medicine given during the surgery starts to wear off.

There are oral and intravenous pain medications available that will help the patient stay comfortable, but not sedate the patient excessively.  Pain control is important to enable the patient to ambulate without distress.  Pain medications include anti-inflammatory medicine as well as narcotics.  These should all be used sparingly as needed.  The patient will usually have pain at the incision site for a number of weeks, which should decrease with activity and time.

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* Savings estimate based on a study of more than 1 billion claims comparing self-pay (or cash pay) prices of a frequency-weighted market basket of procedures to insurer-negotiated rates for the same. Claims were collected between July 2017 and July 2019. R.Lawrence Van Horn, Arthur Laffer, Robert L.Metcalf. 2019. The Transformative Potential for Price Transparency in Healthcare: Benefits for Consumers and Providers. Health Management Policy and Innovation, Volume 4, Issue 3.

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Your actual costs may be higher or lower than these cost estimates. Check with your provider and health plan details to confirm the costs that you may be charged for a service or procedure.You are responsible for costs that are not covered and for getting any pre-authorizations or referrals required by your health plan. Neither payments nor benefits are guaranteed. Provider data, including price data, provided in part by Turquoise Health.

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