How long is the recovery period for a patient that will undergo a valve replacement?

Varies: This depends on what type of surgery was done and on what your performance status was before surgery. Your thoracic surgeon is the one to guide your activity level postoperatively. Most patients without complications are back in full activity within 8 to 12 weeks.

It depends: Depends on how healthy the patient is otherwise, and how the patient is recovering from the operation. Some patients are walking around the even of the operation, or the next day. Many go home 4-5 days later, although it can be longer. If the breastbone was split, it will take two months for that to completely heal.