Hi Stall, I had the cardio myopathy 4 weeks ago yesterday.
• I'm a 55 YO, male, in pretty good shape (180 lbs)
• I had a great experience at Mayo.
• I had 0 pain from the surgery
• My chest felt like I was in a car accident, bruised and some muscle soreness, but no pain.
• I feared post surgery pain would be the worst - it wasn't
• I urinated a lot for the first few day - a lot
• Surgery was about 6 hours
• Dearani was my surgeon - the BEST!
• Everyone was very, very nice.
• It took a couple of days to have a bowel movement, having one is a big deal, they'll make that clear
• At home now, I do feel some pain in my chest, will see my cardiologist in 2 weeks to get more info. on that
• I do take care to obey the "no lifting over 5lb, etc. stuff but I feel like I could do far more than I do.
• Have a super-positive attitude - it WILL make all the difference.
• As a Christian I didn't / don't fear dying which made the experience all the better.

Dale G.