When my dad was 48, he was evaluated for chest pain, and they discovered that he had multiple vessels blocked. He had to have a triple bypass. A couple of weeks later, he and my mom took me and my BFF to the beach for the day — thinking that this would be a relaxing diversion for him. But while we were there dad started having chest pain and he told my mom, “I think I’m having a heart attack…” He went to his cardiologist, who confirmed that his bypassed blood vessels were failing. Back to the hospital, now for a quadruple bypass. Afterwards, the doctor met my mom and my oldest sister (then 18) in the waiting room and said, “I think I’ve gotten him 5 more years…”

This was 1978 and this doctor was trained by Dr. Debakey, at Baylor College of Medicine. I was 9 years old (and ironically, I work for Baylor College of Medicine now.)

Anyway, my dad decided that if he was going to die soon, he’d rather take early retirement and buy property in the country and enjoy his last years by puttering around out there.

He died in December of 2024. He was 94. He started having multiple medical problems, and was getting too weak to do self care, but he wanted to die at home, not in a healthcare facility. So. We did everything we could to make that possible, and also to find home health care providers who not only took care of my dad, but also did some housework, to help my mom, who was 91.

Apart from the two surgeries, things that my dad and mom did at the time to improve his health were:

Radical diet changes. We used to eat a lot of beef: grilled, smoked, etc. Every weekend was a total beef-a-rama. We immediately switched to chicken, fish, some pork, and beef on very rare occasions. No canned vegetables — too much salt. Reduced starches. No sweets. Cut back on alcohol.

Reduce stress. Remember “Mad Men”? In the 60s, my dad looked exactly like John Hamm’s character. Only he was VP for marketing and sales at his company — so, he would have been the client that John Hamm and his colleagues would have pitched ideas too. My dad traveled 3-4 days a week out of 3-4 weeks every month. His job was so stressful. So many parties, taking clients out to lunch or dinner, being taken out for lunch or dinner…My parents threw parties all the time, lots of entertaining of people for my dad’s company, clients from out of town…It all had to be drastically reduced for my dad’s health. That’s why he decided to take early retirement.

Exercise. He started walking 5 miles a day every morning. He did the same route. I joined him a lot.

Weight loss— he lost a lot of weight.

They kept up with all of it for many years. Unfortunately he did gradually regain a lot of weight over the decades. But. He lived 46 years after those two back to back bypass surgeries. He rarely had heart problems again. He outlived all of his doctors.

I take care of a lot of patients who have CABGs. I try to encourage them to take their health seriously, and make the necessary changes to their lives in order to help them get better. I often use my dad as an example. I’m Catholic, so I’m not above using that Catholic Guilt Trip, to help make my point.

OP, sorry for my long post. But, I hope that you and others here will find some inspiration from it for your own recovery and your future health care. While the lifestyle changes can sometimes be difficult, they also can make a huge difference. I wish you all the best in your recovery and that this surgery will help your health improve.