Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair

In the hospital after AAA open repair

After the procedure, a member of the surgical team will take you to the recovery room or the intensive care unit (ICU) to be closely watched. You will be connected to monitors that will display your vital signs (heart activity, blood pressure, breathing rate, and your oxygen level).

You may have a tube in your throat to help you breathe until you can breathe on your own. As you wake up from the anesthesia and start to breathe on your own, a healthcare provider will adjust the breathing machine (ventilator). This will allow you to take over more of the breathing. When you are awake enough to breathe fully on your own and you are able to cough, the healthcare provider will remove the breathing tube.

After the breathing tube is out, your nurse will help you cough and take deep breaths every 2 hours. This may be uncomfortable due to soreness. But it is very important that you do this. It is to keep mucus from collecting in your lungs. This can lead to pneumonia. Your nurse will show you how to hug a pillow tightly against your chest while coughing to help ease the discomfort.

Your nurse may give you pain medicine as needed. You may be on IV medicines. These are to help your blood pressure and your heart, and to control any problems with bleeding. As you recover, your doctor will slowly decrease then stop these medicines.

Once your provider removes the breathing tube, you may be able to drink liquids. Your diet will go back to more solid foods as you are able to handle them.

If you have a drainage tube in your stomach, you will not be able to drink or eat until the tube is removed. Your provider will remove the tube when your intestines work again. This is usually a few days after the procedure.

When your healthcare provider decides that you are ready, you will be moved from the ICU to a postsurgical nursing unit. Your recovery will continue here. Your activity will be gradually increased. You will get out of bed and walk around for longer periods.

Your healthcare team will talk with you about your discharge from the hospital. You may have prescriptions for new medicines and directions for a follow-up visit with your healthcare provider.

In the hospital after EVAR

A member of the surgical team may take you to the intensive care unit (ICU) or a postanesthesia care unit (PACU). You will be connected to monitors that will display your vital signs. These include heart activity, blood pressure, breathing rate, and your oxygen level.

You will remain in either the ICU or PACU for a time and then moved to a regular nursing care unit.

Your nurse will give you pain medicine. Or you may have an epidural in place. An epidural is anesthesia that is sent through a thin catheter into the space that around the spinal cord in the lower back. It causes numbness in the lower body, abdomen, and chest.

Your activity will be slowly increased. You will get out of bed and walk around for longer periods. You will eat solid foods as soon as you can handle them.

Your healthcare team will talk with you about your discharge from the hospital. You may have prescriptions for new medicines and directions for a follow-up visit with your healthcare provider.

At home

Once you are home, make sure to keep the incision clean and dry. Your healthcare provider will give you bathing instructions. Your provider will remove the stitches or surgical staples during a follow-up office visit. In some cases, they are removed before you leave the hospital.

The incision may be sore for several days. Take a pain medicine as advised by your healthcare provider.

You should not drive until your healthcare provider tells you it’s OK. You may have other restrictions on your activity.

Tell your healthcare provider if you have any of the following:

• Fever or chills

• Redness, swelling, or bleeding or other fluid leaking from the incision site

• Increase in pain around the incision site

Your healthcare provider may give you other directions after the procedure.