Yes, they normally use the saphenous vein, the longest vein the body. I don’t know when your MIL had the surgery but it’s done endoscopically today so there should be less pain from the smaller incision.
I’ve read that arteries from the chest can also be used, but I don’t think there’s enough extra there to do a triple bypass.
A a home health nurse who worked for a lot of families with a loved one recovering from surgery, yes, you were definitely doing it right. Wish more people had spouses/kids/friends like you.
When I had my quad bypass, they took one artery from my chest and two from my inner knees. I don’t know where the fourth came from.
One of my inner thighs was black and blue for months, nothing more than a cosmetic problem.
I’m going to add that when the hospital I worked at later starting doing open heart procedures, in the early 00s, the main surgeon came down to the pharmacy to meet us and ask any questions we might have. One pharmacist asked, “So, do a lot of them have to go on TPNs?” and I almost cracked up laughing because I knew how infrequently that happened, and I did tell him later about my stifled reaction. In this case, I just smiled and shook my head no.
http://www.nutritioncare.org/about_clinical_nutrition/what_is_parenteral_nutrition/
IIRC, most patients were taking liquids the next day, and a steadily increasing diet after that. They’re on a regular diet, whatever that may be for them, by the time they’re discharged.
A couple more questions.
How aware were you in the ICU? I’ve read that I’ll be sedated, but I don’t know exactly how out of it that implies. How uncomfortable was using the breathing tube?
I have severe shortness of breath for anything like climbing stairs. If you also had that, did it go away immediately after the operation or did you have to hit full recovery first?
In my case, I was sedated when they inserted the tube (I assume everyone is). I woke up on the prep table, and was paralyzed (presumably due to the drugs that they use to prevent movement during surgery. I was a bit panicked, and then someone (I suspect the anesthesiologist) looked over, saw my eyes open, and said “you go back to sleep now,” and I did.
The next thing I knew, I was in the recover room, with no tube in me, and feeling like I had been on the losing end of a fight.
I never had any debilitating symptoms before my surgery, but afterward I felt like I had more energy.
I woke up with the trach tube still in. It pissed me off a bit and I found that my foot could tap on something at the bottom of the bed and cause a bit of a racket, so I started tapping to get someone’s attention.
A nurse looked over and said “You’re going to break it” and she put me under again.
My surgery was on a Monday, and at some point in the ICU someone mentioned that today was Wednesday. In my mind it was the day after surgery. I had lost an entire day. After that, I was totally aware.
The breathing tube didn’t bother me at all, and its removal was a non-event, But I do remember being very thirsty, and trying to reach the table that had a cup of water on it. I also remember yelling at one of the doctors, who had told me the wrong way to do my breathing exercises. Yes, you’ll have to do breathing exercises, even when you get home.
OK, sounds like sedated means really out-of-it sedated. Fine with me.
I had triple in 2000. The trach tube bothered me as I have a strong gag reflex. I made a writing motion with my hand and the nurse brought me a pencil and paper. I wrote a note and asked them to remove it. She smiled and I guess I went back to sleep. Later they handed me my note and it clearly said, “I htse a sponty gasreftrye”
Keep a full pillow nearby as you will need to clutch it to your chest .if you need to cough or sneeze. You will quickly learn to never do that again.
They gave me a red heart-shaped pillow. I still have it.
I had my bypass surgery in 2005 and the two most vivid memories that I have now are:
and
Still have mine, too.
I’m a collector of 1930s rocket mail stamps. (Yes, I know there were no rockets in the 1930s. That didn’t stop amateurs from trying what were essentially oversized fireworks. The half-burned letters are more collectible than the unburnt ones.) My wife found a thick pillow with a rocket mail stamp design as a present. I plan to use it because it’s nice and sturdy. I’ll be curious to see if I get a heart myself for splinting. (The Nirvana song that never was: Heart-Shaped Splint.)
Not bypass surgery, but still probably relevant:
My partner was in the ICU after a life-threatening complication of her pregnancy, and two emergency operations. She was kept intubated for about a day, with sedation for the entire time she was intubated. She would from time to time seem to be conscious, and would try to speak or motion to write. All of the writing was nonsense though, like mixdenny’s story, and she’d sometimes seem to get frustrated that we didn’t understand. The ICU nurse would just say reassuring things, but not give her paper and pen, which I realized was probably the kinder approach. Even after the ICU, she was really out of it for many days afterward.
Oh – have you looked into the aftereffects of general anesthesia? A few days fter I had relatively minor surgery, I made an uncharacteristically rash financial decision. (And had some poor judgment about my own well-being as well.) After a few people attributed it to the anesthesia, I looked into it. Definitely be prepared to not make any kind of important decision, and not have your full mental faculties for a week or two. One thing you can do is talk to your doctor’s about not putting you under too deeply.
I’ve been anesthetized for several operations without no after effects. Lucky that way.
Or so you thought… 
Well, I do post here…
Large cardiac study says bypass and stents are no better than medicine for many people with heart issues