What is Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG)?

I have taken the story up to the night before my surgery but thought I should stop here and review just what this whole thing is all about.

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When blood is blocked from flowing to your heart you need to do something to restore the flow or your heart can be damaged.

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One of the ways to solve the problem is to take a vein from somewhere else and use it to bypass the plugged sections of the arteries around your heart.

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I asked my doctor if the veins they take for grafting are not needed where they were. He assured me that new paths for blood flow will develop as needed where they take the grafts from.

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The surgery itself takes from three to six hours. The breast bone is divided in half and the ribs are spread open to give the surgeon access to the heart. Then you are hooked up to a heart-lung machine.

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At that point your heart is stopped! The machine does the work of your heart and lungs to circulate oxygenated blood through out your body.

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In my case they took the veins from my leg to use as grafts to bypass the clogged arteries. Once they were in there they found that only three of the plugs needed grafts, the other blockage had been bypassed naturally by a vein growing to accommodate the new demand.

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Once the grafts are in place, (after several hours of life being sustained by the heart-lung machine) your heart is restarted. When your heart is beating normally they disconnect you from the heart-lung machine and close you up.

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Your breastbone is held together with wire and your wounds are stitched and stapled.

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The distinctive scars from this surgery are what give the Zipper Club its name.