Recovery From LVAD Surgery and Heart Transplant Surgery

Many people ask me which was a harder recovery: the transplant or LVAD surgery? So, let’s set the scene. Before I had LVAD surgery I suffered a stroke, so my body was weak. I suffered the stroke on December 4, 2018, and I didn’t have LVAD surgery until January 8, 2019.

After getting released from rehab I was back in the hospital within 4 days. The doctors couldn’t find out what was wrong with me until this one doctor from cardiology came in and wanted to do a right heart catheterization on me (basically they go in the neck and test the pressures of the heart with a small catheter).

I needed an LVAD first

The results came back and I was in advanced heart failure. To make a long story short, I needed the LVAD or I would’ve died. I know a lot of people get choices and get weeks to decide but for me, it was LVAD or death at that point.

Recovery was painful

Fast forward to recovery. When I woke up it was so painful. Just sitting down was painful and it was even worse laying down. When the nurse would come in to change the dressing around the site where the driveline came out, it was unbearable. Every move I made was uncomfortable and painful.

In the meantime, I was recovering from a stroke learning how to walk, talk, write, and become independent again. The speech therapist, occupational therapist, and a nurse came during the week. The physical therapist came one day and said I was moving faster than him up the stairs so he cleared me after the first session. 

I wasn’t so lucky when it came to speech and occupational therapy. The different therapists were coming to my house for 6 weeks until the sessions were complete. It took me months to recover and that is the only difference between the LVAD and the heart transplant surgeries.

Switching my focus

After all the sessions of therapy were over, I could now focus my attention on getting healthier. I had to complete cardiac rehab next which was 3 months long. I couldn’t wait to do cardiac rehab because I got to work out for an hour, and I love to exercise. I was finally able to drive by the time cardiac started. I wasn’t able to drive for three months because I was on sternal precautions. I actually had not driven since December 2018.

My heart transplant

The scene was different for the transplant because I was in the gym 5 sometimes 6 days a week so my body was strong. When I got the call for a new heart, I was so shocked and surprised. A lot of questions were running through my mind. Was I strong enough to go through another open-heart surgery? The pain was on my mind too. Would recovery be like it was with the LVAD? I didn’t have the time to think about all these questions, I just put it in God’s hands.

When I woke up from heart transplant surgery I didn’t have pain at all like I did when I had the LVAD surgery, it was like night and day. I would just get annoyed when they told me I had to walk. I was forced to get up and walk within two days after surgery (notice I said forced-haha). There was 1 nurse who loved torturing me when she got on the shift for the evening and would have me walk before bed. But I’m grateful to her and all the staff at the University of Maryland Medical Center for all their hard work.

The physical therapist would also come twice a day to walk with me which was uncomfortable because of the different tubes on me draining the liquid from my body. As for pain, I took pain medication one time the entire 2 weeks I was in the hospital. I will say that the reason why the LVAD surgery was hard for me is because I was so sick and with the heart transplant I was more prepared for it. So the pain was different, the length of my stay at the hospital was different, and the recovery was night and day.

Overall, I had a better experience with my heart transplant surgery than with my LVAD surgery.