Its five months since my CABG surgery. When I was discharged from the hospital around a week after the surgery, I had a picture that after three months, I would be back to normal and life would be as it was before the surgery. That isn't quite what it is even after five months.
A little bit about myself: I'm nudging 62 years of age today. I've had quite an active life before my surgery - I'm still working at an office job, I used to go for treks that required a full day of climbing up and down mountains and I used to play tennis three times a week (at a recreational level). I wasn't obese and I did not have much by way of mental stress. However, I did have hypertension for years that I had neglected which may be the culprit that led to the arterial blockages.
Around six months ago I had an episode of angina which led to hospitalization and investigations which in turn led to the CABG surgery.
When I got out of hospital (a week after the surgery), I was extremely ill: one illness followed another for the next two months. First it was constipation, then I had a bad shoulder ache that kept me awake round the clock for a couple of weeks. There was sleeplessness and anxiety. I couldn't sleep on my side which led to a tingling in my legs. I even caught a viral infection that laid me low for two weeks. The two months were quite miserable. At the end of one and a half months, I was a lot better. I started building up my strength to be able to do office work for at least 4-6 hours a day.
After two months post surgery, I started working from home. I had developed sufficient mental strength to handle office confrontations and time pressures (although my boss has been considerate and supportive throughout my illness). I was able to work for 5-6 hours daily but I needed an afternoon nap for 1-2 hours everyday. At this time, as per my doctor's recommendations, I had started going for a 4 km walk every evening. At that time, it used to take me 25 minutes to cover a mile. Now, that is down to 19 minutes a mile. I have been extremely regular in taking this exercise.
Time has passed very quickly since work started and the last three months have seen a lot of improvement in my health without any dramatic changes. The walking speed has increased, the need for afternoon naps has decreased so that only occasionally do I take naps nowadays. My appetite has returned to normal.
Around three months after surgery, I started doing a short jog during my walk: around 250 meters. It feels the same as I used to before the surgery although my legs ache later, especially at night. I've been doing this quite regularly too.
There has been one scary thing that has happened during the last couple of weeks - i.e. after four and a half months after the surgery. On two occasions I stressed my upper body and had chest pain for a week. On the first occasion, I lifted a double mattress to get at an object under it. On the second occasion I pulled a bike onto its stand and it required quite an effort. On both occasions, I was afraid that I had damaged the breastbone or its healing process. I didn't know what symptoms to expect. There was pain in the center of the chest, slightly to the right of the incision but it wasn't severe. Over a few days, the pain subsided.
All along, there has been shooting pain in the chest around the incision which I have been ignoring. There has also been pain in the area just below the rib cage (in the diaphragm?) which comes when I get up from a sitting position which I have been in for a long time. The doctor said that this is because the wounds inside are still healing.
So, the lesson I've learnt is that the chest is still tender and that I shouldn't be doing anything to stress it for a few more months at least. Otherwise, life has returned to normal in a big way. In all of this, my wife's support and care have been invaluable.
