Sounds normal to me, brumasterj. IMHO you are doing better than fine.

I'm meeting with the cardiac surgeon a week from today and expect to be scheduling septal myectomy in the following weeks (after 6 months on mavacamten did not lead to significant relief of HOCM symptoms), and I find myself similarly getting passwords in order, etc.

I just turned 73, and have always been fairly active, lots of bicycling, hiking, regular gym-going. Despite HCM diagnosis 6 or 8 years ago I felt no symptoms till last summer.

Congrats to you, brumasterj, for expecting the best, but yes, preparing for the very small chance of a less than ideal outcome, and meanwhile, taking the opportunity to appreciate the miracles of everyday life.

Thanks for your contributions to this site, and best of luck next week. I'm looking forward to your post-op reports when you're ready.

You describe what many of us thought leading up to the big day! You are so well prepared, remember, this is a big deal surgery, you would be abnormal without these (terrifying?) thoughts. The thoughts will ease when you wake up from surgery! Your wife will be at your side. I woke up and realized it was over! It was 4 hours after it was over. I wrote messages in my hubby's hand - the nurse rushed over with pencil and pad before I fell back to sleep. "I have found my self this week preparing passwords and financial data for my wife just in case and even have contemplated making a video for her and all my family and friends????" Yup! I prepared for the worse, too, you'd be negligent if you did not. Do you geocache? We did that between appointments. Does your wife like to walk? Parks and Pill Hill (the area where many doctors live) were interesting. My husband explored Rochester for mental therapy. The Mayo campus has many pretty gardens with historic/informative signs. Look for the historic doors. The Carillion. Find things you like to do to help rest your mind and impress upon your wife to take good care of herself, that will help in YOUR recovery.

@brumasterj While I sure cannot answer your questions about what to do, I believe that you are putting yourself in the very best hands in the world. You will be on the other side of this very soon, and I am really hoping you will come back here to share how everything goes. My surgery is in 32 days, and I am experiencing many of your same thoughts. I have asked my family to keep a journal of what I am going through each day from their perspective. They think I am crazy, but when I get to the other side of it, I want to know what happened because I won’t remember or have been aware! One finds strength as they realize what they got through. I believe you are going to be so thankful you did this! I also believe everything you are going through is normal.