one year – what a difference!

One year ago today I had open heart surgery. Seems like yesterday. I was never so afraid in all of my life. This was my very first surgery ever and boy, I picked a good one – triple bypass.

I had been admitted a few days earlier to the Inova Hospital in Lansdowne via their emergency room. I was later transferred to the Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia as that is where they performed the heart surgeries. And what an amazing place it is. Not only was I admitted to the number one rated hospital in the DC area as well as all of Virginia, I was privileged to have the services of a wonderful surgeon ,Kathleen Petro, and her brilliant all female staff. Physician’s Assistants, Anesthesiologist, Nurses and their amazing teams alongside them. I always refer to them as my Badass team of women. I am not only so grateful to them for their expertise in the field, but in awe of the wonderful job they did during surgery and after.

I think it was the night before surgery, I had a bad episode of not being able to breathe, and I thought I could see Bob as I was falling unconscious and the Rapid Response Team was filling the room. I felt stunned for a moment before I lost consciousness thinking , I wonder if he Is here to tell me everything is going to be alright or is he welcoming me “home”? I’m grateful that I passed out so quickly that I couldn’t panic.

Of course, my two boys were there each day. Jeffry arrived from Vancouver within a few short hours of Ricky calling him to tell him I was in the hospital. I received texts , calls end emails from my two daughter in laws, Grandchildren, my sisters and brother and lots of friends and clients. Such heartfelt messages caused me to realize that I guess I never knew that I mattered that much. It has been a very humbling experience, to say the least.

I understand that the surgery took around six hours. Recovery seemed to be not as bad as I thought it would be. After a week in the hospital and a night or two in recovery with Isabel and Ricky , I got to go home. Ricky came over every day sometimes bringing tidbits of information from family and friends and often, homemade dinners ready for the microwave from Isabel’s kitchen. A nurse came by my house each week for a month to chart my progress. Since I could not drive for at least 8 weeks. Ricky took me to doctor’s appointments back-and-forth and sat in on every one of them to make sure I was doing what the doctor ordered. I think he has some trust issues with his mother.

I seemed to be up and around faster than I thought I would be and a few months later found myself in cardiac rehab sessions for fourteen weeks three days a week. I got to meet yet another team of wonderful Physical therapists and nurses as they guided me through the exercises and got me back to normal living! After my last session in May, they even played the graduation Pomp and Circumstance song for me, as one of the therapists yelled out ” this is for you Connie”.

For my birthday in February, Ricky, Isabel, Victoria and Alexander came over with dinner and cake to celebrate. Ricky stated that this birthday was special because we weren’t sure it was really going to happen. That gave me pause to stop complaining about having birthdays!

And so I remember to count my blessings every day and all of my friends and family among them. Thanks for the love, encouragement and friendship. It absolutely helped me through this ordeal.

Meet my surgeon!