Recovering From Heart Surgery

By Ira Levofsky

IMPORTANT! Whoever is in charge of you going home must read Chapter One, cleverly titled Going Home, now before you go home.

What no one will tell you about surviving a heart attack and surgery.

The effects on your body, senses and mind. How you turn into a person not even you recognize and what it takes to return to normal by someone who has been there and done that.

You are scared to death. That’s ok, so were we, so was I. Hundreds of thousands of heart surgeries are successfully done every year and Congratulations, you are now but a number in that statistic.

My quadruple bypass was a miracle surgery 10+ years ago but today it’s treated like an ear wax removal procedure with a cookie cutter approach and a one size fits all recovery protocol.
Whether you were just told that you are going in for heart surgery or as recently had the surgery, I myself and all of the people who contributed their thoughts and experiences for this book, plus hundreds of thousands more who have been through what you are about to experience are living proof, ten and even twenty plus years later that everything will be OK.

By the way, if you don’t finish this book before your surgery since you will need something to do for a few days after the procedure so you can just start over from the beginning, so remember your reading glasses.

When I was a young man, a very smart guy loaned me some advice which I feel is perfect for the situation you now find yourself in. I will now pass this advice on to you under the condition that once used successfully, you keep it going by passing it along in the future where and when you see fit as I have.

Back when the pay phones were in the downstairs lobby, heart surgery, color TV and space travel were the current examples of the arriving future, waiting to be rolled in for his heart surgery, he said to me, “Don’t worry about things you have no control over. Use your energy, emotion, time and brainpower preparing for the upcoming things that you do have control over.”

You can’t do anything right now to assist in the surgery, but there are many, many things that you can do that effect in a very positive way your immediate future comfort and ease of recovery so let’s get started.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ira Levofsky
• Release date: Jul 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301925865

Ira Levofsky

Who is Ira D. Levofsky? He is one that believes that even though his message often third person, delivered with a heavy measure of whit, often politically incorrect and occasionally carrying a sense of artistic vulgarity carries an important message. The message that there are leaders in all walks of life who are not out enduring the heat of day, dodging the torrents of rain nor shivering from the cold while the sun sets on their assigned task. They cannot and often have never had the experience, the adrenaline driven thirst for success with each and every labor that envelopes your being, yet they lead. Though the modern day term may be Arm Chair Quarterback, the definition holds true throughout time and testament. By right of birth, serendipitous luck or earning the grade then forgetting the roots of the journey which brought them there, many sit upon their high perch directing those who will toil in their names. Their purpose, stature and often their very existence is based on your effort, your courage and your individual success at everything you do. This, my new friend, is a fact of life. The formidable challenge which I put before you in my written works as I have placed before myself daily in life is to succeed and lead in life itself, by example, deed and word. Sleep well in the fact that you have done the right thing, set the right example and completed the task at hand to the best of your ability satisfying your own expectations every day. If others shine due to your success or avoid one of life’s many pitfalls due to the lessons learned from your experience, then you are truly blessed. This is how I live and the true description of one Ira D. Levofsky which I put in place as my profile for purposes of this quick introduction. “It is easier to whisper advice from behind cover than to test its merit at the point of attack” (Unknown)

Book preview

Recovering From

Heart Surgery

Going Home

2nd Edition

by

Ira Levofsky

Recovering From Heart Surgery

Copyright © 2013, 2016 by Ira Levofsky

Published by Smashwords

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the Author, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at [e-mail]

Ordering Information:

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address above.

Orders by U.S. trade bookstores and wholesalers. Please contact Ira Levofsky:

www.Roksci.com

Illustrated by: Margarita Ramirez

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Forward

The Saga of

Having Open Heart Surgery

Going Home

Who is that monster in the mirror?

I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up

Getting Back to the Old You

To Rehab and Beyond

Wired

FORWARD

It is as if someone flipped a switch and my friend of many years ceased to exist. He was not dead, but a different person.

Long gone were the daily phone calls with his corny jokes, keen political insight, hair brained and sometimes-brilliant business plans. No more emotional support and sounding board for my personal trials and tribulations in my business and personal life. No more, as they say, a brother from another mother. He was replaced by a nasty, angry stranger who cut off all communications with a flippant email, Every ten years I dump all of my friends and replace them with new ones. Goodbye.

I reached out to him for almost six months with no reply. My wife even tried by leaving him a voicemail asking if he was OK. There was no response. I went as far as to check the obit pages of his hometown newspaper to see if he had died. At a point, I resigned myself to the fact I would never hear from him again and moved on.

About a year later, I received a card in the mail from Ira. He acknowledged that he had gone off the deep end, understood it was his fault and if I didn’t want to talk he would understand. I reached out to him and we talked for more than an hour. He explained it was the traumatic impact the surgery and medication had on his mind and body that transformed him into to someone he didn’t even recognize. Everything is back to normal now as if nothing had ever happened.

If this story sounds familiar to you, if you or someone you know has undergone a personality change after surviving a heart attack you both need to read Ira’s book.

Mike Swedenberg

The Saga of

Having Open Heart Surgery

Open heart surgery has been around now for over 40 years. The procedures have become more mainstream and safe although at the same time the complexity of what can be done has increased.

In addition newer techniques have allowed older patients (as well as, much younger, including infants) to be afforded these life preserving and potentially improving operations.

The surgical approach, size and location of the incision as well the hardware (valves, grafts, etc.) used have evolved as well.

There are so called minimally invasive procedures and off pump (i.e. not on heart lung machine) options and even procedures not requiring any incisions (i.e. percutaneous valve replacement) available.

Regardless of which procedure or technique this is still a life altering experience for you or someone you know and cannot be taken lightly.

The importance of the best attitude you can have both preop and postop as well as a strong support system cannot be over emphasized.

What Mr. Levofsky has done with this book based on his own life and experience with cardiac surgery is very special and will be of help to patients and those in their support network.

He has used his wit, humor, education, honesty, and writing style to present and entertaining and enlightening look at this major life event.

I hope (and think) the book will be as educational, and enjoyable and sobering, at times, as it was to me.

I congratulate him on this accomplishment, and wish you and your love ones the best as you enter this journey. Chin up and when you get down...get back up.

Daniel S. Goldman MD, FACC, FHRS

Cardiac Electrophysiology of the Palm Beaches

Delray Beach Florida

Whoever is picking you up at the hospital needs to read this chapter, before you make the trip home!

Going Home

With regard to heart surgery we have found that the best way to approach the whole experience is to start at the end.