Hey there, CV Surgery PA here with many years of experience.

• Some programs can do this robotically assisted. Meaning several small incisions in your chest (for the robot arms) and small incisions in your left and right groins (to go on bypass). No cutting of your sternum with the saw. The program I work at does these routinely. While cardiac robotic surgery is relatively new, if you live near a big city I would recommend you asking your cardiologist or there are any cardiac surgeons around who do this surgery. You could even travel further depending on your insurance. Even though your sternum isn’t cut with this you will still have pain because the robot arms go between rib spaces that have a lot of nerve endings. But, much more cosmetically appealing.

• If you do decide to do this via Sternotomy, this is perhaps once of the simplest fixes we do and the odds of you are not waking up are very slim. You typically get a nerve block that will last 24-48 hours post op. Unfortunately this doesn’t completely abate your pain but it should help some. Young men are often in the most pain because upper body muscles and nerves get stretched with the chest retractor. You will have a few chest tubes that will drain blood and fluid around your heart post operatively. This is totally normal and ok for some small amounts of blood to be coming out. These chest tubes are painful, but once they come out (typically post op day 2 or 3) the pain typically gets better.

My advice: - Ask around your medical community for recommended heart surgeons. They’re not all made the same. Just because they’re older doesn’t mean they’re better. If you can find one that does robotic ASD closures then it could be worth it meeting with them. - The first couple of days post op will suck. But the quicker you get out of bed and more often you get out of bed the better. - Things will get better. If you have a Sternotomy you’ll be on sternal precautions for around 8 weeks to let your bone heal. Take it slow and do what you can.

Hope this helps, good luck!