Post Op Complications And Unforeseen Setbacks

 

Hobbies and dreams are fun but they sure get put on the back burner when things get tough!

Life has a way of making you simplify and prioritize. I’ve been caregiver during a very difficult recovery process from Triple Bypass Surgery. I could tell that my husband wasn’t feeling at all well during his recent recovery process from Heart Bypass Surgery. I thought it might be normal for him to be breathless and so uncomfortable two weeks into his recovery? I did however decide to take him into the local hospital ER. He was having trouble breathing especially while trying to lie down in bed.

After a few days of testing we were told that he had pleural and pericardial effusions. Scary and very serious! He ended up having  a procedure to drain the fluid around his heart and his left lung. A drain was inserted in his pericardial (heart) sac. He spent an additional 8 days in the hospital!  13 total days within three weeks were spent in hospitals.

 I was spread thin juggling kids, chores and my choice to spend a good deal of time at the hospital. He was released from hospital a few days ago. He is better but we still have a lot of Dr. appointments to go to. He is still unable to drive so I am his driver.  I have no idea how we would have been able to manage had I been working... we are just about halfway through the recovery. He had this miserable set back as well. All of this translates to stress.

Having been through all of this and the uncertainty of life, I feel the experience has changed me aswell. I’m fighting sadness and depression. It has all been an exhausting ordeal. I really feel the need to reinvent myself into something marketable! I need a career...
Somehow, I need to feel that I can make it financially on my own with the kids! How this translates to my skill set remains to be seen.