My uncle, 71, underwent 10 hours of heart surgery on Wednesday.  He had a triple bypass, mitral valve replacement, tricuspid valve repair, and a surprise aortic valve replacement.  After 40 hours he is still on a ventilator and is retaining fluid.  Any idea what is going on?  I was told his doctor said he had had only about an 80% chance of surviving the surgery, to begin with.  Thank You
Hello thanks for posting here. I have gone through your description. See he has got triple bypass plus two values replaced and one repaired. This is a supra major surgery, and he is suffering from associated complications. In this case 40 hrs is very early for him to come out of ventilator. Since he was on the heart lung machine and also the valves are replaced, he seems to have gone into fluid overload.  He needs to be on supportive medications like diuretics, blood pressure supporting medications and ventilator support till HIA fluid retention settles, and all other parameters are stable. It will take a good 15-20 days in the hospital. Wishing him good healthRegards