Does a 10 year old successful Coronary bypass surgery mean I have an underlying medical condition?
Having undergone a Coronary bypass surgery deemed successful 10 years later is indeed a cause for satisfaction. The quality of life after the bypass has multifactorial components, however. At the top of the list among multifactorial components that could increase the risk of subsequent complications is the presence of an infection. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic provides a very toxic environment, especially to the elderly and to those with an underlying medical condition. Yes, having a successful bypass still places one in the category of people with underlying medical conditions because one must keep in mind the conditions that led to the Coronary bypass surgery in the first place. Diet, exercise, age hypertension, hyperlipidemia, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Diabetes, renal failure, liver failure, cancer, and psychological factors such as stress and mood disorders are all potential factors that can make COVID-19 infection more complicated and fatal.
What does remaining healthy after surgery mean? The World Health Organization has defined health as a state not only of the absence of disease and infirmity but also of the presence of physical, mental and social well-being. Health after a Coronary bypass depends on multiple factors and post-operative quality of life is dependent on medicine, social sciences and healthcare. These affect not only the clinical and physiological well-being of a person but also a person’s perceptions after the bypass about life in general, formed by the ability to perform physical and social activities considered part of a normal, healthy lifestyle. Also included most significantly for this discussion, surviving in an environment that may have high risk of infections like the COVID-19 pandemic, influenza season etc.
All patients that undergo bypass surgery are encouraged highly to maintain their vaccinations afterwards for potential infections like influenza, pneumonia, hepatitis, and tuberculosis, etc. COVID-19 again provides a reminder of the seasonal, annual threat to at-risk post-operative Coronary bypass patients and to other patients with various other underlying medical conditions. The main challenge right now is keeping the bypass patients protected from Coronavirus of COVID-19 that has created a particularly highly toxic and infectious human to human communicable environment. So far, no vaccine is available to keep one protected from COVID-19 although many medical teams across the globe are working on the development of a vaccine. Presently the key to keeping oneself protected from the COVID-19 is to break the human to human chain and hence transmission of the Coronavirus that is seen to spread through droplet infection. Prevention of COVID-19 by breaking the chain of transmission through humans can be achieved through frequent hand washing and disinfection of all hard surfaces, social distancing, and monitoring of symptoms of COVID-19 like cough, fever and dyspnea. Dyspnea is a main symptom of Congestive Cardiac Failure (heart failure) also, so it must be checked out immediately by a doctor to determine the root cause triggering it. For this reason all bypass patients are strongly encouraged to register with their cardiologist and family physician on a telecommunication platform for quick, easy, fast and effective communication.