O/T ok ill admit it.

[Dave]

This has really been bugging me. Although im sure im really not stupid after the heart atack and stuff I find that I cant remember a lot of stuff and im quite a bit slower than what i was. Some stuff comes quick and other things I actually have to sit down and think a bit before I have the answer. This is a real PITA at work but thats mostly where I run into trouble. Now im no genius but ive done at work and even with a good mind its tough. I also finially faced the fact that im slower now .. I get winded easier and tired easier. Im hoping most of that will go away after cause ive had a lot of people tell me im still healing ? Well 2 more weeks and i go back to the cardiac specialist and see what he says. Hey its friday anyway too bad hunting got rained out and i need more supplys to work on the hood on the roadster. That will be another post. The hagan hood...
Dave
ps: I do know now some of what  GPster has gone through. The man is my hero.

[donsrods]

Dave, I mentioned this before.  After I had my heart attack I felt my life was over as I had known it.  I suddenly felt I had aged 20 years or more.  Every time I would go to pick up something, my Wife or Sons would say "here, let me do that for you."  They were only being kind and worried about me, but it contributed to my feelings.

But little by little your confidence and health comes back.  I bought a treadmill and ran an hour every night, watched my diet, and started to feel better all the time.  That was 18 years ago, and it rarely enters my mind now about the heart attack, or two subsequent strokes I had about 8 years ago.

I look around me and see people who never had the opportunities I have had because of some crippling illness they have, and I just can't feel sorry for myself.  If I go tomorrow I will have led a charmed life.

You are feeling exactly what you should be feeling. Hell, it has only been since what, June or July since your heart attack.  You should be feeling that way in the beginning.  Every time I got heartburn for the first year I thought I was having another heart attack.  It scares you to death. (no pun intended   )

Mark my words, you will look back on this 10 or 15 years from now and it will only be a blip in your life.  In the meantime, take good care of yourself and don't rush things.

Don

[GPster]

The first thing I can say is give yourself a break. The hardest thing about it seems to be when you woke up the thing you remember may not be  the last think that happened before you passed out. Your memory will hide some of the last moments (the painful ones) but will find a better part of your life and use it as a baseline. My baseline went back to the early '70s and even though I can remember recent things my entire thought goes back to the '70s when a car would bring $10.00 at the junkyard and $15.00 if you could drive it in under it's own power. Now I'm in a differant price structure and not working. You may not be remembering yourself from before your heart problem. you may be comparing your self to a baseline that may be two or three years ago but you don't realize it because you remember things right up to that time. You just need to be the best you can be, not as good as you thought you were whenever. GPster

[Rrumbler]

Dave, you are just going through a stage of the healing process.  Hopefully, your memory will get better with time, but some memory loss or loss of acuity seems to be fairly common after a heart procedure, especially in cases of bypass operations, where the patient was on the heart/lung machine.  My wife had a triple bypass in '97, and was on the machine for three hours; she lost some of her former sharpness, but she has learned to compensate in other ways.  On the other side of the coin, I had three MI's over the space of about three months, had three angioplasties, with a fair amount of damage; even though I was in fairly good shape, otherwise, it still took me almost a year to get back to "pretty normal", in terms of endurance and mental dexterity.  So, give it time, work diligently at the rehab but don't try to overdo it, and you'll start to feel more like your old self in due time.  For the memory, try taking on some word or number puzzles; I like crosswords, but anything that makes you work the old brain cells contributes to improving your mental sharpness.  Most of all, know that you are not alone, no matter how it may seem; there are a lot of us in the club.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

a long time friend of mine had a quadruple bypass 2 years ago.
   

He is much more active now , although he does have a rare back disease that slows him down.

[phat46]

Dave, I'm sure you're thankfull that you got a second chance. Some memory problems and a slight slowing down are not much of a price to pay for a second chance at life. My Dad had a "mild" heart attack in '95 and was scheduled for bypass surgury. The morning of the surgury he passed awy from another heart attack; I always felt that he never got his "second chance".  I'll pass along your observations to a rodding buddy of mine that just got out of the hospital from quadruaple bypass surgury. he's from Canada and he stopped by here on his way home from Kalamazoo and was having problems and pain in his chest when he was here. He'll be hard to keep out of the shop 'cuz he's got another new project for this winter, but we (his friends and family) have already been warning him about doing too much too soon. He lurks here from time to time so I'll see if I can get him to read some of these posts about recovering from this type of difficulties.

[Dave]

Thanks guys for the replies.. Im hoping this healing process will get over sooner than later  I just get frustrated easy when i have a memory moment or a slow moment . I havent even hunted much this bow season cause ive been the only one on the farm and i seem to get a little paranoid of that too :?:  Its strange cause it never bothered me before and most of my deer till last year i drug out by my self.
Well off to the shower then to the garage.. Its raining again so looks like ill be on the roadster all day    I do have to make a run for fishing line though :?:
Dave

[phat rat]

A hard time with memory also seems to come as we get older  While it may get to you at times it beats the heck out of the alternative. As the rest have said don't push so hard you go backwards.  My wife had to learn that, she was in a car accident 4 years ago that messed up her neck and shoulder. After a year of therapy they told her they couldn't do any more for her it would take time. Of course they had no idea how long if ever before she'd feel fine. Well after 4 yrs she still has bad times but she's learned to compensate.

[Bruce Dorsi]

Many people are not aware, but anesthetics can have a lingering effect on the body for as long as 6-12 months, and usually affect mental clarity.


I am close to four people who have had heart surgery.  All of them say that for a while there was a fear of nightime / going to sleep.

Hopefully your problems are temporary, Dave!

[purplepickup]

Many of us here live with heart disease, cancer, etc.  and have had to adjust our lifestyles and attitudes to deal with a different life.  Sue works in a hospital and she's always telling me stories about people way worse off than we are that are bravely fighting what life has dealt them.  One thing she sees is the different ways people deal with things.  Some patients that have minor afflictions DEMAND immediate attention, handicap parking permits, and basically expect special attention because of their ailment.  Then there are people with Parkinsons, and MS that will park in normal parking spots and quietly struggle to get to the door because they are trying to do for themselves and stay as active as they can without imposing on others.  We all look at things differently.

Personally, the way I have dealt with my heart attack and other health issues is to face what comes with the most positive attitude that I can and try to make the best of each day.  Nope I can't party like I used to, always eat what I want, remember what I should, or work as hard as the old days.  It's normal to be bummed about that but I try not to dwell on the bad.

I had to call an ambulance this week to take Sue to the emergency room but she is anxious to get back to work and isn't letting things get her down.   We look at each new day as a place to "boldly go where no man has gone before".  

Keep your chin up, take care of yourself, and enjoy your new life...even if it is a little different than before.  Like somebody said....the alternative sucks. :!:

Like others have said, I hope what you're going through will soon pass.

[dragrcr50]

Many of us here live with heart disease, cancer, etc.  and have had to adjust our lifestyles and attitudes to deal with a different life.  Sue works in a hospital and she's always telling me stories about people way worse off than we are that are bravely fighting what life has dealt them.  One thing she sees is the different ways people deal with things.  Some patients that have minor afflictions DEMAND immediate attention, handicap parking permits, and basically expect special attention because of their ailment.  Then there are people with Parkinsons, and MS that will park in normal parking spots and quietly struggle to get to the door because they are trying to do for themselves and stay as active as they can without imposing on others.  We all look at things differently.

Personally, the way I have dealt with my heart attack and other health issues is to face what comes with the most positive attitude that I can and try to make the best of each day.  Nope I can't party like I used to, always eat what I want, remember what I should, or work as hard as the old days.  It's normal to be bummed about that but I try not to dwell on the bad.

I had to call an ambulance this week to take Sue to the emergency room but she is anxious to get back to work and isn't letting things get her down.   We look at each new day as a place to "boldly go where no man has gone before".  

Keep your chin up, take care of yourself, and enjoy your new life...even if it is a little different than before.  Like somebody said....the alternative sucks. :!:

Like others have said, I hope what you're going through will soon pass.

and as a bypass guy myself (99') I was proud to follow george and Sum and chops etc on the infamous forced march that sum has us do to get ready for the salt ,(I guess that is why we did it) but let me tell you it is hard to follow or stay up with george but I was proud to do so and proud of myself for going the distance with them and not let my (condition) keep me from it.  I was a bit sl;ower and stopped short of the goal but I did it and am still proud because i now know I can do that .. right after the bypass I really had my doubts, now I know my limitatins and live with them , but I live and that is the important thing,,, It gets better every day , enjoy your life man...like never before

[river1]

I was a bit sl;ower and stopped short of the goal but I did it and am still proud because i now know I can do that ..

no you didn't stop short of YOUR goal. we all had different goals and you reached yours. a few went a little farther but they had different goals then you.

later jim

[Rayvyn]

I get winded easier and tired easier. Im hoping most of that will go away after cause ive had a lot of people tell me im still healing ? Well 2 more weeks and i go back to the cardiac specialist and see what he says. quote]


You've already beaten the biggest obstacle. The rest is icing on the cake. Sit back and think that maybe doing all those things you used to do at full speed or more for however many years you did them, probably contributed greatly to what happened in the first place. It's your body's way of saying "Yo pal, take it easy."
So the ride isn't two wheels off the ground and hell bent for leather...
At least you're still cruising. Relax and enjoy the scenery. It'll get better with time, if you give it time to get better.

[bucketmouth]

That was well said Rayvyn, maybe there's some advice in there for the rest of us who have been fortunate enough not to have experienced heart problems.

[petrolhead]

Dave hang in there and I hope all goes well. I can understand where you are coming from as 4 days ago I had a 2 inch diameterBrain Tumor removed and still have a scone full of stapels. I will have to have ray treatment as well but am feeling fine
Regards
Petrolhead