Helping Your Elderly Grandparent Through Open Heart Surgery And Recovery

If you are very close with your grandparent and act as one of their caregivers and helpers on a regular basis, you may feel disconcerted and worried when you find out the news that they need to have open heart surgery. However, in order to help ensure that your grandparent is not overly frightened of their upcoming surgery or the recovery process, you will need to learn more about how you can help your elderly grandparent through their open heart surgery and recovery. Once you know what you are doing, then you can better help your grandparent to handle the situation as well.

Clear Your Schedule the Day of the Surgery

You want to be sure that your grandparent knows that there are people at the hospital waiting for their surgery to be complete that care about them and that will be there through the whole process. As such, one of the first steps in the process will be to clear your schedule for the full day of the surgery and if possible, the day or days immediately afterwards as well.

Oftentimes, the fear of being alone and vulnerable in the hospital will be one of the biggest sources of apprehension your elderly grandparent will have when they are scheduled to have surgery. By assuring them that you will be there and 100 percent available during and around their surgery, you will given them better peace of mind to that regard.

Know that You Will Need to Help Encourage and Push Your Grandparent During Recovery

The sooner an elderly person gets up and moving after open heart surgery, the more likely they will be to recover well and swiftly. Of course, the last thing that your grandparent will want to do after major open heart surgery is to get up and move around. Know that it will be partially your responsibility to provide inspiration and motivation to your grandparent to get up and moving.

You will need to encourage them to move about by offering to walk with them, going to physical therapy with them, assisting them with their exercises, and the like. And you need to know that some elderly people are more stubborn than others and may refuse to comply with therapist and doctor recommendations, thinking that they know best. Because of this, you may need to be tough and push them sometimes. While you may not like playing this role in your grandparent's recovery from surgery, it will be to their benefit for you to do so in the long run.

With these tips in mind, you can better begin the process of preparing to help your elderly grandparent through the open heart surgery and recovery process. Contact a facility like Firelands Regional Medical Center to learn more.


Share