I am starting week three of my recovery from my second open-heart surgery during which my docs corrected a couple of congenital heart defects. My docs told me that my total recovery time is somewhere between eight to twelve weeks yet there are mile stones at two, four and six weeks of which I am focused when it comes to returning to my “regularly scheduled life” – both personal and professional.
I thought I would start week three by attending a few webinars. As much as my binging the Mission Impossible and Harry Potter franchises are a great way to heal, it is time to take it up a notch.
My docs, before the surgery, stated that my recovery requires rebuilding my stamina and endurance both physically and mentally. On the mental side, I have found in the past two weeks that I struggle to remain focused on tasks and concentrate for any extended periods of time. Currently, I can concentrate and focus for a short period of time before I “run out of gas“. I can find it increasingly difficult to engage in conversation, read a book, play a video game, watch a video or a television program. All I want to and can do is sit and stare out of the window, at the snow or take a nap or go for a short walk.
My docs told me that my MIND and BODY have endured a great trauma due to the surgery and it takes time for my mind and body to heal and get back to previous levels, maybe even getting to higher levels, of stamina and endurance.
So, attending a webinar seemed like a good barometer for checking out where I am.
So far, I have been able to focus and concentrate for slightly longer periods of time, which is good. They key here, as with ALL recovery processes, is to be patient, to focus on progress not perfection, to rejoice and celebrate small gains, to understand my recovery is a journey and not a destination. I will continue to heal and my body and mind will continue to change each and every day.
My docs told me yesterday, at my first two-week follow-up, that my heart is shrinking (meaning healing as hypertrophy or swelling decreasing) and reinventing itself to do things it has NEVER done over the past fifty-eight years of my life.
So I too, need to reinvent myself. Start to do “things” that I have never done like being more patient, being more gracious to me and others., seeing the recovery journey as a great adventure and new chapter in my life.
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