Pat's Posts

It is a major surgery of our main organ that keeps us alive, it is normal to feel fearful, it is basic instinct to want to avoid that surgery. But with good knowledge and understanding why you need this surgery, how it will help you, how it will improve your health, how low acctually the risks of this surgery are etc - with all those informations comes peace, little by little, so my advice would be to inform yourself as much as possible, that way you will feel like you have some control and you should feel less anxious... Plus, our support here will do the job, too! :) Sharing your concerns is one great mechanism of relieving stress, and when there are people who truly understand what you are going through on the other side - that is a match made in heaven :))))❤️

Like Klara said, it is normal to feel fear. We all did that have been through it. I think the idea of stopping your heart is very strange and scary even though it is controlled, tried, and true. Trust in your surgical team, leaning on your family and friends, and faith in God helped me😊❤️

Hey Pat! You are going to get past this fear! The open heart news, for you, is still pretty new. As it sinks in, more, you will learn to absolutely love the id...( sorry, wrong speech.. ) lol.. OK, you probably are not going to love it, but you will begin to accept it. The more you accept it, the less your fear will take over. Honestly...give ALL of those fears to God. He tells you to. Ask Him for strength! He takes care of you...always! He will be with you throughout this process, and surgery. And I mean WITH you...so talk to him. Praying for your strength, and a lessening of fears. You will be fine.

I taught Anatomy and Physiology for more than 20 years. To give my students more experiential learning, I would take a group every semester to a local hospital that had a cardiac surgery observation dome for the students to observe a cardiac surgery in real time. It was great and I never grew tired of seeing mostly bypass surgeries and seeing my students enthralled by it all. What was not so great was when it was time for my surgery, I knew exactly what was going to happen, especially with the bypass machine. I had seen the patient's heart stopped so many times and the pump started up and watched all the blood flowing through the machine. Yikes, I was scared but then I remembered that all of the patients woke up and did well and I had great faith in my surgeon and his team that I knew I would wake up, too, and I did. I was also very worried about cognitive impairment but my doctor here at home said that usually only lasts for about 24 hours and it did. To be honest, I feel sharper mentally than I did pre-surgery, probably because I'm now getting more oxygen to the brain with my new and improved valves.

Most heart warriors have at least one or two things they are most concerned about during and/or after surgery. I think that no matter what we tell you, it may remain as something you think about. But that's okay. Just don't let it consume you, because the heart being stopped and started again while astonishing is one of the aspects the surgeons are very best at. Now the food or your room mate is a different story:)

Pat - that was one of my greatest fears too (and a very reasonable one too). After being through the surgery and now 5 weeks in recovery, I can say it ended up not being a big deal at all mostly since I was under at the time and didn’t know what was happening. Other things that I hadn’t even considered were much bigger deals but all manageable. It is perfectly normal to have the fears you are having - we’ve all had them in one way or another. I found talking to a therapist before and after surgery really helped me prepare and recover mentally and emotionally. And, all the great people at this site really help too. Good luck!

I was very anxious about the whole surgery. What I found was my experience was not as scary/bad/painful as my worrying mind would have me believe. I spent 5 nights in the hospital, started cardiac rehab at 3 weeks, and did go back to work part time at 8 weeks. You can do it!

May I ask what you are worried about? I am asking because maybe then we can better address those particular concerns. If it's a general concern then consider this. As you know already from your previous surgery, you will be completely out. You won't feel a thing. Also, you are probably safer than staying at home not getting the surgery done. During surgery you have your surgeon right next to you (obviously) and I believe by law there is a backup surgeon. Then after surgery you are under constant surveillance and if anything should happen, you have all the nurses and doctors right there. They can react within seconds compared to minutes when you are home. The heart-lung machine is also really safe. The biggest concern is probably your lungs. They are in the way during surgery so they are being collapsed. It's important that they 'unfold' again after surgery so you don't get pneumonia. That's why you really need to do those breathing exercises after surgery. In general, it's the first few days until all your tubes are out that are the hardest. Then you have the recovery and every person is different. I put in thousands of steps a day doing loops in the hospital and didn't really have any pain. Many people have similar experiences but it's quite possible that there might be some pain and fatigue. If you feel pain then ask for pain medicine when you are in the hospital and take the pain medicine they give you when you are home. Also take it easy for the first 4 weeks.