Many things go through a patient’s mind when the subject of bypass surgery comes up. Not wanting to go through the pain and discomfort of surgery, patients would ask if there are other “less uncomfortable” choices. They would also like to have their problems sorted out once and for all, never having to go through anything similar again for the rest of their lives.
For many patients, a journey of sorts is involved when they are confronted with the need for bypass surgery. What they go through cannot be trivialised, even though bypass surgery is rather commonplace these days. I remember being asked by one of our teachers during training days how we (surgical trainees) would define “major surgery”. Numerous characteristics and criteria were suggested: length of time an operation would take; which parts of the body were involved; the risks associated with the procedure and so on. The teacher had a simpler (and probably more apt) definition: Any procedure done on to oneself!