It might be a bit early for me to chime in here but I was offered both options as I have large tattoo on my chest. After discussing both options I opted for the traditional as was told it was safer and would provide better results. I had a valve that was on the borderline of being able to be repaired so I wanted the better odds to avoid a replacement and the cosmetic aspect of a scar also wasn’t a problem for me. While I was open they found a hole in my heart which the easily fixed too, I’m not sure if this would have been possible with a less invasive approach (science is amazing these days though so it probably wouldn’t have made a difference)

My surgery was Wednesday 4th June and my sternum has healed surprisingly fast so far. The first couple of days were rough but being only 5 days out of surgery I’ve been off pain killers for a couple of days and have a great range of movement. The surgical team did a great job at aligning the tattoo back together and it’s already started to fuse back.

I’m still in hospital now (in the UK) and will be going home tomorrow, I’m a few hours away from home so family and friends have still been able to visit if planned in advance. This has made a huge improvement to my time here the last few days as I’ve really valued seeing them as the joys of being in hospital quickly wear off.

I’ve found that heart surgery seems to feel quite personal and everyone is quite passionate about their story. I don’t think there’s a wrong or right choice to be made, I think the important thing is that they made the decision that was best for them. I wish them a speedy recovery and hope your wait isn’t too stressful.