Cancelled my surgery at last minute, I'm an emotional wreck

[BigOwl]

I have an enormous amount of sympathy for what you're going through. I was told last December that this needs to be done sooner rather than later. Like "Now". But I couldn't bring myself to leave my students and my colleagues completely in the lurch, especially since I was teaching a new class that people had signed up to take just because I was teaching it. When I asked if I could put it off until the summer, my cardio asked, "Are you nuts?" The answer is probably yes. We postpone surgery for a variety of reasons. In my case it may make things a little more difficult (not sure about this, and won't find out until the cath on Tuesday), but maybe not. I'll get it done after having completed the class (which everyone loved, by the way--all 40 students), I've had time to prep my subs, and I've got my leave and my disability ducks in a row. In the end it's our choice. We make it for our own reasons. We know our bodies, and I'm pretty sure most of us really do know when we're ready.

We're all thinking about you and will be with you when it does finally happen for you.

 

[runninn]

If you have faith in God it is straightforward.

I actually looked forward to my Ross procedure and said a prayer for His Will to be done right before I went under the operation.

In 50 or 75 years we will all be with our maker...

 

[axeldog]

You can do it! Think of all the good things that are going to happen once you recover. Do it for you and your loved ones, they want you around.

 

[Ross]

In 50 or 75 years we will all be with our maker...

........but I wanna live forever and dominate the world!

 

[debster913]

Gerard,
I've been keeping up with the posts and reading everything others have said. I haven't replied because I haven't really felt as if there was anything I could offer until I spoke with a colleague from work the other day.

Her father died a few years ago because he refused to have valve surgery. Like you, he was apprehensive and afraid. She and the rest of the family literally begged him to change his mind, he didn't, and he died. She still deals with the grief and anger of his passing. It wasn't like he died of cancer or a heart attack, he had a choice.

While none of us can force you to have surgery, you are still young and you have more life ahead of you. Don't let this fear affect you and your family. Please have the surgery. You family will be devastated in the long run if you don't.

Best,
Debi (debster913)

 

[neil]

Hi Gerard.....Like you i was scared ..i remember getting myself on the Train at penzance and seeing my mother and sister see me off ..waving ..i had tears in my eyes..thinking "would i ever see them again"...I Arrived at Derriford /plymouth from a taxi ..on my own and feeling pretty damn pettrified...ive never had an operation before..i just had to put myself in a frame of mind that this has to be done...i broke everything down in stages ...from all the tests ...etc ...fine thats over with , now climb the next rung on the ladder....any how, after all of this ...the operation was no where near as bad as i expected.....once its over with, you will be fine ...i promise you....ps i had a replacement mechanical aortic valve.

 

[neil]

cooker ,,....Thats a great avatar you have .....the monkey with wild hair..made me laugh

 

[hensylee]

Hi Gerard.....Like you i was scared ..i remember getting myself on the Train at penzance and seeing my mother and sister see me off ..waving ..i had tears in my eyes..thinking "would i ever see them again"...I Arrived at Derriford /plymouth from a taxi ..on my own and feeling pretty damn pettrified...ive never had an operation before..i just had to put myself in a frame of mind that this has to be done...i broke everything down in stages ...from all the tests ...etc ...fine thats over with , now climb the next rung on the ladder....any how, after all of this ...the operation was no where near as bad as i expected.....once its over with, you will be fine ...i promise you....ps i had a replacement mechanical aortic valve.

Hi, Neil welcome to vr. tks for your input. sounds like you are just like most of us here. blessins..........

 

[Dina]

I was told last December that this needs to be done sooner rather than later.
When I asked if I could put it off until the summer, my cardio asked, "Are you nuts?" The answer is probably yes.

Sometimes when our doctors speak to us naturally,as yours did to you, it
kinda snaps us out of being scared of the surgery,and instead makes us
scared to NOT have it. The medical lingo doesn't seem to touch us as intimately
as " are you nuts?!"

I just wonder if Gerard's doc put this question to him in this manner,
would it have hit target and changed the outcome...?