Glenn's Posts

Well, the time has come when I log onto this webpage and see my own smiling face as one of those now "on deck." It is getting close. My wife and I are currently travelling to be ready to do the pre-op visits September 11th. If all goes well I will begin my recovery September 12th. I'm mostly ready. I know everyone prepares for challenges like surgery differently, and we each have our approach for finding some strength in the midst of understandable bouts of emotions and anxiety. For me, these things have helped so far 1. Guided Imagery. The materials from Mayo Clinic recommended, among other options, the use of recorded guided meditations engaging in positive imagery. There apparently are studies showing a remarkable effectiveness to these methods for those going through and recovering from surgery. (A subject for an article or interview, Adam?). For a lot of reasons, this suggestion was something familiar and comfortable to me. It may not work for everyone. I have used a set of audio files recorded by Bellaruth Naperstack called "Guided Meditations To Promote Successful Surgery." You can find these for download or online listening on Amazon and elsewhere. For me, these have done a lot to overcome negativity and improve my readiness for surgery. I listen to one every night and am finding my mood much improved. There is more information out there, for example from the VA: https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY/tools/guided-imagery.asp 2. Statistics. It truly helped to keep the statistics we all know front of mind. These all reflect that it is a safe, secure bet and the risks of not going forward with the surgery are much greater over the long run. 3. Others' successful experiences. I was surprised to discover so many of my friends have had something like this and sailed through it. One friend brought me up short with her experience: We are getting my surgery done so I can recover and then help my wife who will have knee replacement surgery next spring. Our friend had both open heart surgery and a knee replacement. She announced my wife had drawn the more challenging card! 4. Make the decision, then stop. This site and other resources provided so much information and wisdom as to how to proceed. We prayed for wisdom, listened to others, took our time. It helped my wife and I to recall the times we made other good decisions using the wisdom we have brought with us to this set of decisions. We are grateful for those good decisions and their outcome, and that gives us hope that our decisions on this set of issues will be good. Perfect? Of course not. But the odds are on it being a good decision. While we don't want to be stubborn or naive, once we made the decision I spent a lot less time on the research and videos on this site and elsewhere. That helps with the positivity. 5. Feel the feels, then stop. I believe in the truism: If you don't have your emotions, they will have you. I have made it a practice to notice them, name them, talk about them, journal about them. But I also eventually realized I was wallowing in feelings just to maintain whatever it was that made them linger. I went for walks, distracted myself with tasks and eventually got out of the funks. Yes, the feelings pop up unexpectedly, but I try to notice them and accept them and then be productive about something. Try is the operative word - while I'm better at this I am far from accomplished at this. 6. Don't get sucked in by other's fear of surgery. As I have grown more "ready," I've noticed what reaction I receive when I tell neighbors or acquaintances of the upcoming surgery. Just like I felt shock and aversion to something so bizarre as open heart surgery at the beginning of my journey, they will have that same early reaction. They will react with fear and concern and share that with you. You will find you are doing the reassuring of them! This is OK, but I am trying to avoid a steady diet of these conversations for my own mindset. 7. I have a number of other thoughts, but this is long enough. Pray for me, as I pray for you.