Helen F. Graham Cancer Center

Thoracic Surgery

Pulmonary Rehabilitation

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Sternotomy Discharge Instructions

Surgery can take a lot of strength and energy out of you. At first, you will get tired easily but this will improve slowly and steadily over the next few weeks. For a smooth recovery and to help prevent further illness, follow these tips:

Diet

Eat well balanced, healthy meals.
You will need protein to help you heal. Protein is found in lean meats, chicken, fish, beans and dairy products.
Be sure to also eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.
If you were on a special diet before your surgery (diabetes, low fat, low cholesterol, low salt, etc.), you should continue that diet at home.

Activity

You may go out to dinner, shop, do light gardening, cook, or go up and down stairs as long as you do not have problems doing so.
You may continue your usual sexual activities.
You probably will not have the energy to be very active, so pace yourself. Rest when you get tired. Stop and catch your breath if you get winded.

Exercise

Relaxation and deep breathing exercises must be done to help expand your lungs and to help clear them of mucous. The staff will teach you how to do these exercises to at home.
Use your incentive spirometer at home and take 10- 15 breaths an hour with it, while awake. Keep using the incentive spirometer until your follow-up visit.
Balance exercise with periods of rest until you regain your strength. This can take from 7-14 days. In 4-6 weeks you should be back to full activity and feel more like yourself.
Take a couple of short walks outside each day (unless the weather is bad). Walking is excellent exercise. Taking deep breaths while walking will increase your strength.
Avoid push-ups, chin-ups, or lifting weights for at least 8-12 weeks. Your muscles need to heal and regain their strength.
Be aware of your posture. Stand up straight, shoulders back and stomach in. Use your pain medicine so that you can maintain good posture.

Medicines

Take pain medicine as prescribed. You will have better pain control if you take the medicine at the first sign of pain, rather than waiting until the pain is more severe.
Prescriptions for pain medicine usually cannot be phoned to the pharmacy. They must be mailed to you or picked up from our office, so plan ahead when running low on medicine.
You may not drive while taking pain medicine.

Sleeping

Try to get eight hours of sleep each night. For the first 2-6 weeks after going home, you may have trouble sleeping for more than 3-4 hours at a time. This will get better as you heal and become more active.
You can sleep in any position that is comfortable. Some patients need to sleep sitting in an upright position at first. It may be painful to sleep on your side, but it will not hurt your heart or incisions.

Showering

You can shower as usual.
The dressing over the chest tube site should stay in place for 48 hours after going home. When you take off the bandage, shower, pat wounds dry and then place a Band-Aid or piece of dry gauze over the incisions if there is any drainage.
As you become more active, there might be some clear yellow fluid from this area. Drainage may continue for up to two weeks. Use a dressing as needed to protect your clothes.
Leave the steri-strip dressing on. You may take this dressing off after seven days; otherwise it will be removed at your follow-up visit. If staples were used, they will be removed at your follow-up visit.

Constipation

Constipation is sometimes a problem after surgery because anesthesia and pain medicine can affect your bowels.
Using a stool softener twice a day will make it easier to have a bowel movement.
Also, you may need to take a laxative. Milk of Magnesia, Citrucel or Fibercon are mild laxatives that you can try.