Gail's Guestbook

Hi Shannon. My situation is a tad different than yours because I had my first OHS before having my kid's. I was 30 when I had OHS the first time, then had my two kid's when I was 35 and 37. The reason I share that is my kid's have always known (since they were old enough to understand and ask) that the scar I had was from heart surgery. It's been over the last 3-4 years that I knew surgery #2 was going to happen sooner rather than later. I DID NOT share this with my kid's until the pre-op testing started which was about 6-8 weeks prior to my surgery date. I decided to not keep all the pre-op prep a secret and thought it would help prepare them for my surgery. I decided my kid's needed to be a part of this journey rather than try to keep it a secret. For example, when I went in to have my cardiac cath the kid's knew and were very helpful when I got home. I had a few other tests that they knew I was going to have before the "big day". Again, I think it helped prepare them. We kept is simple when my husband and I told them the news. I got a little teary eyed, but they seemed to take it OK. We just told them I had to have my heart fixed up so I would be around for a long long time. They processed it and asked questions along the way. I tried to be as honest as possible without freaking them out. I did do something special with each kid the week before my surgery. Nothing fabulous, but special to them. I took my son to get his new lacrosse helmet and cleats (he loves lacrosse) and then a bite to eat. I took my daughter to design her own notebook as she loves drawing, coloring and writing stories. I was going to make a big to-do for when I was gone and have stuff for them from me to have/open, but decided that may make it worse. We had them come visit me when I was in step down and most of the tubes were removed. My son was nervous and kinda stayed in the corner. My daughter was curious and asked a million questions and wants to be a doctor! I hope this helps!? Let me know if you have more questions after reading this and I'll try to answer them.