As I write this entry, I realize it was three weeks ago* right now that I went in for my CABG Open Heart Surgery. CABG, for the uninitiatied, stands for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft, and is pronounced like the vegetable, cabbage. CABG is an open heart bypass surgery, and this is my story of having one at 56 years old.
I wanted to share my story because I did not find a lot of information I needed when I was preparing for surgery.
As you can imagine, I used Google a lot and the doctors kept telling me to stop Googling, because it wasn't giving me the right information. I also leaned heavily on the American Heart Association and their online support groups (Click the link to learn more - those people were a godsend!)
But much of what I found —
- was not that helpful
- was not helpful for women
- was not helpful for women in their mid 50s
- did not help provide access to things I would need for recovery
- made it seem a lot more daunting and terrifying than it ended up being.
My husband even helped me take photos along the way, so I am going to share with you photos of my incision, what I looked like coming out of surgery, etc. Don't worry, nothing is too gross or disturbing. But I think it's important for me to try and help other people - especially women out there who might be facing this who have nowhere else to turn. It is NOT easy to navigate getting a good post-surgical bra, for example. I want to share everything I learned, and share my progress along the way.
Feel free to add comments or suggestions of your own as well. I want this to be the kind of blog I wish existed before I went through this!
*I am backdating some of these posts to help them flow better in chronological order. I didn't write them all at the same time but I think it will be more helpful for people if I order them better. Just FYI.