Steve B
Member
Hi all - just wanted to put a marker down that I have my date through for AV surgery (21st Nov - woohoo!) and more importantly to share my experiences of the last few months.
In the summer I contributed to few posts and noted how tired I was feeling and that I was noticing pins & needles, breathlessness, dizzy spells, etc. I think I was feeling quite sorry for myself! At the time I was wrapping up a big piece of contract work and was building to final report submission at the end of August. So, after that was done I took off with the family to the south east of France for a couple of weeks where it was a strict regime of lounging by the pool, drinking wine and swimming in the lake - oh, with a bit of general tourism and a few gentle walks thrown in. Fantastic.
After that I had about 6 weeks back at work - all of which was wind down - before my contract was up at the end of October. I've now had a week of relaxing at home and am swimming 50+ lengths down at the pool three times a week and feeling better than ever. Apart from breathlessness (and a bit of fatigue) I seem to have no major problems ... it's all so much better than it was.
Bottom line is, I reckon that the stress of my job was being so obviously manifested as my condition was already compromised. My true underlying condition (due to a badly regurgitating bicuspid AV) wasn't that great, but wasn't that bad either. However, the additional stress that my work was putting on me, whilst 'normal' (as far as I was concerned), was making it all near unbearable. So ... my advice to myself (and anyone who cares to listen) is chill out and, once your fixed up, remember that stress from work or other external issues is b-a-d and needs to be managed. It's there - even if you don't always realise it. I really hope that some of you out there who are feeling really bad with symptoms during the pre-op wait might be able to take control and separate out the problems from your 'heart issues' from the problems imposed by 'life/work issues' and try to fix the latter to make the former more bearable ...
My word, what a rant! Sorry ...
I'll post again post-op and let the world at large know how it's all going. I'm in line for (and hoping for) a 'minimal access' procedure so there may be some interest to some folks there.
Cheers for now - Steve
In the summer I contributed to few posts and noted how tired I was feeling and that I was noticing pins & needles, breathlessness, dizzy spells, etc. I think I was feeling quite sorry for myself! At the time I was wrapping up a big piece of contract work and was building to final report submission at the end of August. So, after that was done I took off with the family to the south east of France for a couple of weeks where it was a strict regime of lounging by the pool, drinking wine and swimming in the lake - oh, with a bit of general tourism and a few gentle walks thrown in. Fantastic.
After that I had about 6 weeks back at work - all of which was wind down - before my contract was up at the end of October. I've now had a week of relaxing at home and am swimming 50+ lengths down at the pool three times a week and feeling better than ever. Apart from breathlessness (and a bit of fatigue) I seem to have no major problems ... it's all so much better than it was.
Bottom line is, I reckon that the stress of my job was being so obviously manifested as my condition was already compromised. My true underlying condition (due to a badly regurgitating bicuspid AV) wasn't that great, but wasn't that bad either. However, the additional stress that my work was putting on me, whilst 'normal' (as far as I was concerned), was making it all near unbearable. So ... my advice to myself (and anyone who cares to listen) is chill out and, once your fixed up, remember that stress from work or other external issues is b-a-d and needs to be managed. It's there - even if you don't always realise it. I really hope that some of you out there who are feeling really bad with symptoms during the pre-op wait might be able to take control and separate out the problems from your 'heart issues' from the problems imposed by 'life/work issues' and try to fix the latter to make the former more bearable ...
My word, what a rant! Sorry ...
I'll post again post-op and let the world at large know how it's all going. I'm in line for (and hoping for) a 'minimal access' procedure so there may be some interest to some folks there.
Cheers for now - Steve
