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What I Learned From My Open Heart Surgery
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) | Last Active: 4 days ago | Replies (83)Comment receiving replies
How wonderful @joyrcc, and thank you for coming back to let us know.
I remember thinking to myself, "I should be short of breath right now." Or "Wow, my heart isn't pounding a 150 mph anymore."
It's wonderful to rid our bodies of these terrible symptoms and feel decent again. It's just like you said, we just don't realize how "diminished" we are until recover some life back in our life!
What would you say was the biggest surprise in your recovery? Good and bad.
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@karukgirl
I guess my worst surprise was the muscle spasms (extremities mostly) I experienced due to my electrolytes being off the first week. My best surprise besides my own experience, was the observations from friends and acquaintances, when I began getting out more. I knew I was struggling before, but as I began feeling stronger, how noticeable it was to others, especially my energy and color.
As I commented previously, I didn't realize how I had diminished I was dealing with HOCM (for 20 years) and wished I had pursued the myectomy sooner.
Again, NO regrets and based on others' challenges recently discussed, I am very grateful my United Healthcare/Medicare insurance covered all but my deductible at Mayo. (My personal thought is it was less costly in the long run than the monthly reimbursement for the Camzyos.)
I am also grateful for the anticipatory guidance from this Connect forum and the Clinic so that was a nice NON surprise.