Patrick's Posts

@Patrick-- I was in your situation about 7 weeks ago...I had just gotten my Mitral Valve repair scheduled, and had 3 weeks to wait. The anxiety was hard for me. But I found two things really helped me: sharing the news, and doing research. I didn't expect that sharing the news would help calm me down, but it did. So give that a shot...with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. I found people to be much more supportive that I thought they would be. Second, I searched YouTube and listened to surgeons talk about the surgery, listened to patients talk about their experiences, and even watched the surgery (maybe not for everyone). I also looked into potential complications, what recovery would be like, and more. Hope this helps a little. Best wishes on your surgery. Knowledge is power! Chris P.S. I lived in Jax for 20 years, I'm in NC now.

Thank you all. @Chris, I've also found that the more I talk about it, the better I feel about it. I have been looking for surgery videos to research how it will go. @Adam, I've added several of the books to my phone to read in the next couple of weeks.