After I recovered a bit, I picked up a book to read. However, after reading a few pages, I found myself needing to go back and reread the previous ones. Watching a TV movie was also challenging as I couldn’t follow the plot. This continued on and on. It was frightening because it wasn’t like me at all. Before my surgery, I was referred to as “the filing cabinet”
…colleagues/FRIENDS/RELATIVES often relied on me to remind them of issues, situations, or people from years past, appreciating my excellent photographic memory. All of that was gone. Although I regained some of my memory over time, it was never quite the same. It was saddening. Yet,
When I accepted my new cognitive state, I began to improve
, though not to the level I was at before surgery.
Don’t let this be discouraging! In my case, I was in surgery for seven hours… after my chest was closed up, they had to reopen my chest because my heart stopped. No one told me this after my surgery until I read it in the surgery report months later!
Despite everything, I’m grateful to be here, able to manage extremely well and able to serve those around me in need.
