It’s been a year since my open heart bypass surgery. The surgery was on November 14, 2019. I think they started at around noon and I woke up at 1:30 am the next day. I was on the operating table for about seven hours and it took another five to wake up. I was technically “dead” during the surgery since they had to stop my heart and lungs to operate but I don’t remember anything. One moment I was getting wheeled into the OR, and the next moment I was trying to wake up.
I guess you can call it a second birthday since I would probably be dead now if I didn’t have the surgery. From the ER lab results and subsequent stress test and CAT scan, I probably had a heart attack days or weeks prior to the surgery, and would like had more if they didn’t replace my clogged arteries. However, it has been a difficult year, made much worse by COVID-19. I had my diabetes under control for a few years but being on dialyis and being post CABG surgery just makes me doubly at risk. For the past nine months, I’ve been at home or at dialysis, with probably less then a dozen other outings: sister’s house, work, last Thursday’s church cell meeting, etc. Not a good start on a new life. I was all gung-ho about recovery a year ago. I seriously thought I would be running 5k or 10k races after a year, but I didn’t count on all the subsequent heart issues like a-fib and pulmonary edema. Now I’m looking forward to another “birthday” when I get a kidney transplant, hoping that will be the “real” start of a new and healthier life.
Life with chronic diseases 