Hey Ruby, I wanted to ask about the time you had open heart surgery!!
1. What was the scariest part?
2. What was prep like?
3. How was the healing process?
4. Any photos from before/after/DURING??
— Aaron
*What was the scariest part? *
As I mentioned, it wasn't so much me being scared as my anxiety and disappointment grew as my expectation of less invasive options was dashed.
What was prep like?
There wasn't anything special about the prep (showers with special soap, no food). A few items did stand out - the two false starts (due to emergencies taking the surgeon away), that ultimately helped calm my mood as I just wanted to get it over with, some anxious patients were given a pill to calm them down - apparently I didn't qualify as I seemed to be already calm enough ... not sure that I played that one right ...
How was the healing process?
OyVey!! - the hospital stay, everything going well, shouldn't be longer than 7-8 days. One of my neighbours was driving me absolutely batty with all kinds of noises (none of which I'll describe) all day and all night making sleep impossible. I practically killed myself exceeding any targets that they set for the patient (eg. walking 100m and climbing stairs). I was out of there in record time (I could've made in 5 days, but they insisted on 1 more!) - The initial major portion of the healing (getting back to some level of physical normalcy) and by far the most painful, took about 8 weeks (sleeping especially was hard as every time I turned, there was pain everywhere. But none of it was something that I didn't expect and as I mentioned, I tried my best to have a positive attitude and work hard. - The total healing period could take up to 12 months and there were definitely certain areas of the surgery that took that long. Pain eventually became discomfort and that eventually dissipated.
Any photos from before/after/DURING??
Only in my mind ...
@Rachel I have no idea about your dad’s noises, never having heard them. But I can assure you, one particular noise was so incredibly obnoxious and so continuous, it drove me absolutely insane and out of bed and into the corridor bringing the nurse on a run asking me what’s wrong ... I pleaded with her to go get a gun and either shoot him or me ...
You’re sure lucky to have your Ottawa “ family” around for support before, during and after!
Also the annoying roommate probably inspired you to recover quicker! I’d imagine the noises the roommate made sound a lot like dad eating dinner 😉
You're "Dead On" Adam! One part of the story that I hadn't told is the part my friends in Ottawa played. As you may know, I'm very close friends with a family here, much like yours. And while I was putzing around trying to get the best possible deal for myself (least invasive surgery option), all they could see was that I was delaying the inevitable. And since they didn't care to attend a much too early funeral, they were very much a "just get it done" people so "the annoy you enough" aspect was definitely there and was a big factor ... ;-)
I can’t say enough about them or you and yours!
And I guess the key to success is having someone annoy you enough if you don’t do it🥴
Ruby, did you say it was calming having two false starts?!?
Also, yeah i don't think i'd ever want to see a photo/video or surgery on myself either. tbh i don't think i'd want to see a photo/video of surgery on anyone.
You definitely messed up and should have pretended to be more anxious than you were to get those doctor drugs.
Thanks for the stories Ruby! I especially loved the last one 😂😂. It’s too bad you didn’t get a photo on the way in. That would have been a really great photo to look back on.
😂