After Surgery— Relief and Recovery

Abstract

The previous chapter examined the men and their wives’ expectations of the operation and its possible benefits; these expectations provided the framework within which they would later judge the outcome of surgery. While several of the couples had hopes for various outcomes later on, all of the husbands and wives nevertheless expected bypass surgery to give the men immediate relief from symptoms. In the descriptions of the effects of coronary disease on these people’s lives, it has been shown that they were sometimes severely hindered in their activities by the onset of chest pain or breathlessness. Owing to the fact that change in the patients’ bodily condition was a basic reason for treatment, and because it would have a dramatic effect on their lives, this chapter is devoted to the ways in which both the husbands and wives reported the immediate effects of surgery.