Three Months Post-Surgery

I'm feeling physically pretty well. This week I plan to start the ball rolling on joining a cardiac rehab program. It may help me to improve my conditioning. I want to try anyway. The results of my 24 hour Holter heart monitor were excellent with no arrhythmia or other abnormalities. My cardiologist took me off Amiodarone, of one of the remaining two heavier medications I'm taking. In three weeks I can stop the other (Warfarin) as long as I don't notice any palpitations or other irregularities. Then I will be completely off medications save for a daily aspirin and multivitamin. For the most part, I have made an amazing recovery from a very traumatic operation. I'm still working through mental and emotional thoughts and feelings that come with surviving such a trauma, compounded by the loss of my beloved dog, Bradley, while I was in the hospital. As I wrote at the time of my surgery, the whole experience has a surreal quality for me, and I often don't feel like I fully comprehend what happened and what the implications going forward are. This is not uncommon for heart surgery patients, The good news is that I am not debilitated or suffering from extreme depression. Hopefully things will straighten out for me with the passage of time and the loving support of my wonderful husband, who has always been there for me.

Eleven Weeks Post-Surgery

Photo: Spring on Fire Island: Beach Plum in Bloom

I am doing a lot of walking. Next week I wear a Holter for a day (three months post-surgery. Hopefully I can get off the warfarin and amiodarone if there are no abnormalities. We'll see. Feeling good with no medical issues. Battling delayed grief and depression over the loss of my dog companion. For two months I concentrated on getting myself better, but now that I'm feeling recovered, the pain of loosing him is overwhelming at times. He was put down while I was in the hospital so closure is difficult. If I had it to do over again I would have tried to find a way to keep him alive longer. He was old and failing, but I didn't realize how much delayed mental pain over him I would have later on. But what's done is done and I'll have to cope.