Lindsay's Posts

6 weeks post op and while I have had many more good days than hard days, today was definitely a hard day. The hard days tend to show up during transitions. The first day or two in the hospital after surgery were hard. The first 3-4 days home from the hospital were hard. The first time driving after surgery was hard. This week I started cardiac rehab workouts and transitioning back to my office job...in.the.same.week! I'm also trying to get back to a normal sleep schedule and my body is revolting. It wasn't the plan to start all of that but here we are. More physically tired than I expected, mentally exhausted trying to get caught up on what I missed over the last 6 weeks and socially stretched and overwhelmed for my introvert self. Today was a hard day...This week may be a hard week but God continues to show up even when the days and weeks are long and hard. Sleep and rest also help too!

I hit 5 weeks post-op on Monday. Had my follow-up echo and surgeon visit on Tuesday and he seemed very happy with my progress and said the echo looked good! Weaning off most of my medicines, no more weight lifting restriction and I can start transitioning back to work. I go see my cardiologist on Monday to start follow-ups with her. Had my first post-op chiropractic adjustment and counseling session and those both went very well. I also went to cardiac rehab orientation today. Now I am very much for cardiac rehab and the whole time was like "Sign me up". Even if the main benefit I will receive is peace of mind being monitored as I get back into exercising. I called my insurance company today to see how it would be covered and I have to pay a $30 copay (after my deductible is met) each session and the program is 3 sessions per week for 8-12 weeks. That is $90 per week and total out of pocket cost of $720-$1,080. This is also on top of the $6,000 I already paid out of pocket for appointments and tests and surgery. Now I know this is such a minuscule amount compared to what my insurance company actually paid for my surgery but I have had a very blessed recovery and it just kills me to pay that much for basically a monitored gym program. I still plan on participating in cardiac rehab because I do believe I can benefit some especially in the beginning but I probably will not "graduate" from the program. This brings me to my questions: 1. How long did you participate in cardiac rehab? 2. What were benefits you experienced besides peace of mind with heart monitoring? 3. Would you say 2-4 weeks seems reasonable given my age and what my recovery has been like up to this point? Thank you everyone for your encouragement and kind words along the journey! This site really has made a big difference in my recovery!

I'm 4 weeks post-op and feeling pretty good! I've been released to drive so I've been getting more out and about. I still get some nerve pain especially in the evenings and I still am fairly tired if I've had a big day. I'm starting to think about transition plans back to work and cardiac rehab over the few weeks. I've reduced a lot of medicines that I was taking and am hopeful to get off all of them soon. I even had someone at church yesterday ask if I even had my surgery yet because I'm doing so well. What a gift and testimony!! There are times that I think "That was it?" But then there are a lot of other times that I do not want to go through this again at all if I can help it!