Am I allowed to celebrate my six month anniversary?

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almost_hectic

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 30, 2015
Messages
779
Location
naples, florida
It seems like its been a lot longer but today marks six months since the day of mu surgery. Its been a long trek to get here and so much to go through, but Im feeling very very good and excited to think its going to only continue to improve! I was even thinking of visiting my hospital this weekend and go up to the fourth floor atrium where I used to go out of the hallway from my room to walk. I don't want the memory of what I went through to fade. I want to somehow carry it with me. Is that weird?
 
First of all congrats I just had my one year on the 7th. I wouldn't say it's weird everyone has different reactions. Last week my wife, son and I were across the street from where I had my surgery for my follow up and I had little desire to go there other than to possibly thank the people who helped me but I'm sure they see so many patients they wouldn't remember me.
 
cldlhd;n862555 said:
First of all congrats I just had my one year on the 7th. I wouldn't say it's weird everyone has different reactions. Last week my wife, son and I were across the street from where I had my surgery for my follow up and I had little desire to go there other than to possibly thank the people who helped me but I'm sure they see so many patients they wouldn't remember me.

Congrats on one year. Im guessing mine will be here before I know it. I actually stopped back up to the floor I was on at about 6 weeks after my surgery and brought the nurses cupcakes with a thank you note. A few of them recognized me and remembered me, said it was great to see me doing so well. No that it was important that they remember me. I just wanted to do something nice to say thank you.
 
Every day is a good day to celebrate a successful surgery. If you want to keep the memory fresh, get involved with Mended Hearts( national support group with chapters in major cities). Visiting with new pre and post-op heart surgery patients will keep your memories fresh and will do a lot for the new patients........who are scared and have questions about life after surgery.
 
congrats! btw, the place i go for cardiac rehab is on the same campus where i had my mitral valve repair. there's been more than a few times i wanted to go back to visit so i can thank the nurses that took really good care of me. i may just go pay a visit after i get over this damn cold...
 
tsanjose;n862563 said:
congrats! btw, the place i go for cardiac rehab is on the same campus where i had my mitral valve repair. there's been more than a few times i wanted to go back to visit so i can thank the nurses that took really good care of me. i may just go pay a visit after i get over this damn cold...

Yeah it actually kind of surprises me that I can just walk into the hospital, go up the elevator and walk right down the hall and nobody asks where Im going or anything...
 
almost_hectic;n862554 said:
I don't want the memory of what I went through to fade. I want to somehow carry it with me. Is that weird?

If so, then I'm weird too. I even rather like having a [fading] scar as a tangible reminder. And I celebrated my six-month anniversary last weekend by going out to dinner with my boyfriend.
 
Congratulations Almost_hectic l hope one day l feel the same However lm going to be perfectly honest l am 5 and a half weeks out and l have never been so miserable in my entire life.
Continue success to you Xx that awesome you feel so amazing!
 
Almost_hectic, I am weird, too! I can totally see me bringing in treats to thank the people who helped me. I know that these procedures we discuss happen around the world, every day of the week, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a really big deal for me, when I had OHS.

I saw something the other day online that made me smile. It was a lighthouse (I love lighthouses) but a caption said, "Let your weird light shine. If you don't, how will the other weird people know how to find you?" Taking time out of your day to celebrate, and express gratitude is a nice kind of weird!

Amy
 
AmyBL;n862586 said:
Almost_hectic, I am weird, too! I can totally see me bringing in treats to thank the people who helped me. I know that these procedures we discuss happen around the world, every day of the week, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a really big deal for me, when I had OHS.

I saw something the other day online that made me smile. It was a lighthouse (I love lighthouses) but a caption said, "Let your weird light shine. If you don't, how will the other weird people know how to find you?" Taking time out of your day to celebrate, and express gratitude is a nice kind of weird!

Amy

Well for me the whole experience of surgery was very emotional but became very meaningful once I was on the other side of it. I think it was in large party a reaction of letting all the stress go finally and then piling lots of narcotics on top of where the stress used to be... or something like that, not sure how to describe it. Actually heres a great topic that describes it really really well
http://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/forum/post-surgery/853373-post-surgery-anxiety
 
Sure man, 6 months is a milestone. At 6 months your energy starts coming back and your body is finally use to the Warfarin plus the INR is stabilized, or should be.

Congrats! Many more 6 month milestones to come.
 
W. Carter;n862598 said:
Sure man, 6 months is a milestone. At 6 months your energy starts coming back and your body is finally use to the Warfarin plus the INR is stabilized, or should be.

Congrats! Many more 6 month milestones to come.

THANKS! it feels good to feel good.
 
Hi almost_hectic, I read the post from workmonkey that you re-posted. It does seem to be a very important topic. At one month out, I am mostly focused on the physical aspects of recovery but I am glad you brought up the fact that healing is multi-faceted with physical and emotional components. One part of Workmonkey's post jumped out at me:

"It took several months (with the help of books, online resources, meditation, talk therapy and of course this forum) to sort through the residual emotions
and thoughts and fears from the surgery. Medicine isn’t well-equipped for this: my surgeon and cardiologist were great, but they’re in the business of
hearts, not heads. We may not talk enough about it, but surgery isn’t just a physical challenge; it is psychological and emotional one as well. I was
unprepared for that part."

It seems as if Workmonkey, and probably many, many others, experience the surgery as a touchstone for existence. It provides an opportunity to reflect on relationships, the direction one's life is headed, meaning and purpose in one's existence. So from that vantage point, it seems that a celebration or acknowledgement of some kind would be time well spent.
 
AmyBL;n862797 said:
Hi almost_hectic, I read the post from workmonkey that you re-posted. It does seem to be a very important topic. At one month out, I am mostly focused on the physical aspects of recovery but I am glad you brought up the fact that healing is multi-faceted with physical and emotional components. One part of Workmonkey's post jumped out at me:

"It took several months (with the help of books, online resources, meditation, talk therapy and of course this forum) to sort through the residual emotions
and thoughts and fears from the surgery. Medicine isn’t well-equipped for this: my surgeon and cardiologist were great, but they’re in the business of
hearts, not heads. We may not talk enough about it, but surgery isn’t just a physical challenge; it is psychological and emotional one as well. I was
unprepared for that part."

It seems as if Workmonkey, and probably many, many others, experience the surgery as a touchstone for existence. It provides an opportunity to reflect on relationships, the direction one's life is headed, meaning and purpose in one's existence. So from that vantage point, it seems that a celebration or acknowledgement of some kind would be time well spent.

Yeah I suppose its not to be expected that everyone will experience the same thing, but it did hit me kinda hard for the first 3 or 4 months after surgery. I was able to shake it but I guess it made me really think about the big picture issues of life. I think it was a mix of the situation and pain meds that clouded my thinking ability. But it is a major thing to have to go through so the gravity of it all was a lot to grasp. I did go back to the hospital on my six month anniversary. Not to visit nurses or anything like that. I just went up to the 4th floor outside where my room was. Theres a large open atrium where I would walk to build strength and other patients can be seen there coming and going, or doctors and nurses and other visitors pass by. I just went up there and sat in a club chair for an hour or so. Just to sit and watch people and reflect.
 
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