It's been a while since I've been on this forum. My June 5th surgery was for the repair and replacement of most of the ascending aorta due to an enlarged Aortic Aneurysm. While it didn't show up on any imaging, they also did a valve replacement at the aortic root. I hope to be starting cardiac rehab any day now.
We live in the greater Seattle area, and the surgery was performed at the University of Washington Medical Center by Dr. Christopher Burke and his amazing cardiac surgery team. The operation took almost six hours. I don't remember much about the ICU, but the nursing staff on the Telemetry floor where I spent 10 days, was amazing, brilliant, compassionate, and always looking for ways to make me more comfortable. I owe them a personal and sincere thank you.
I was extremely anxious for weeks prior to the surgery, over the top day of. While there was some post-surgical discomfort, it was nothing like I had imagined. My only advice is to try to relax, have confidence in your surgical team and hospital staff, and lean into coming out the other end confident that your life has been saved and it was worth every second of anxiety and fear.
Quick recommendation: Get started making arrangements for cardiac rehabilitation as soon as you know your discharge date. These facilities seem to be rather full and extremely busy in our area.