Medical Management

When it comes to matters of the heart, we at Riverside Healthcare know that staying healthy is priority number one. That's especially true after you’ve been treated for a heart condition. So our experts at the Riverside Heart & Vascular Institute have compiled tips for maintaining your wellbeing and getting back to your normal life — all with an eye toward keeping your ticker ticking well.

Managing Your Heart Condition

Whether you’re recovering after an open heart operation, returning home after a minimally invasive procedure or managing your cardiac condition with medication, it’s important to practice healthy habits.

Tips to help you help you achieve and maintain wellbeing include:

• Rest and relaxation: If you’ve had surgery, you may feel tired for two to three weeks afterward. Plan two short rest periods per day. If you're having trouble sleeping at night, try not to nap after 3 p.m. and consider taking a warm shower before going to bed.
• A healthy diet: Eat regularly and follow the diet that your doctor prescribed you. Try your best to limit your sodium intake to help prevent swelling in your body.
• Pain management: Take your prescribed pain medication and do your recommended rehab exercises as directed.
• Exercise: Activity is important, as long as you exercise at a comfortable pace and take care not to expose yourself to extreme heat or cold.
• Caution and self-control: Don’t overexert yourself. Limit yourself to light lifting and housework, avoid contact sports, climb stairs slowly and follow your doctor’s recommendations for resuming work and sexual relations.
• Medication: Always take your heart medications as prescribed by your provider.

If you experience shortness of breath, a fast irregular heartbeat for more than 10 minutes, incision healing concerns or a temperature of 101 degrees or higher, call your physician.

Riverside Medical Center Anticoagulation Clinic

If your doctor prescribes Warfarin —an anticoagulant, or blood thinner, also known as Coumadin— he or she may also refer you to our Anticoagulation Clinic. Here, our certified clinical pharmacists will work closely with you and your physician to give you all the information you need to take your medication safely and properly.

During an initial visit and a series of follow-up visits, the Anticoagulation Clinic team will help you:

• Learn about appropriate lifestyle modifications
• Learn about Warfarin and why it’s important to monitor the medicine closely
• Determine the proper dosage for your optimal health
• Monitor and adjust your treatment as needed
• Maintain a consistent schedule of Warfarin doses

Warfarin can be a life-saving medication when it is taken as prescribed, but it can also be dangerous if it is not closely monitored. We’re here to help you get the best results from this important medicine.

Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeries at Riverside

• Coronary artery bypass surgery
• Heart valve surgery
• Heart arrhythmia surgery
• Surgery on the thoracic aorta
• Comprehensive thoracic surgery
• Video-assisted thoracoscopy with minimally invasive incisions
• Treatment of aortic aneurysms
• Anti-amputation procedures using natural, synthetic and composite conduits
• Carotid surgery
• Hemodialysis access procedures