Open-Heart Surgery presents unique challenges. The heart, which some would say is the cradle for the soul as well as a muscular organ which is exposed. Does the essence of the heart’s experience during surgery permanently change us? We may never know. Yet we surely can acknowledge that the very existence of open-heart surgery in all its aspects, is a miracle. This is my own personal experience that I had to face at a very young and weak age.
My Heart Story…
I was diagnosed with a condition so minor it was never suppose to interfere with my life. I believe for years that my heart defect, a slight structural valve displacement, would never become symptomatic, never stop me from doing all that lay ahead in my future. All indeed, I went on to live a personally productive life in my low gear well into my toddler years.
During that time I wasn’t what one would call spiritually conscious. My parents didn’t examine much in depth. They didn’t ask the big questions. I had no religious leanings. My parents were busy, busy raising a family, overcoming my grandfather’s death, and selling one out of our four businesses.
Then at the age of four, two years after my parents sold our business and bought another one, I had my first irregular heartbeats. The problem, called who knows what, wasn’t serious. My parents were assuring, and it responded quickly to a standard medication. All in all, I still viewed myself as a very healthy person.
My parents and brothers helped me meditate, but I was a child I didn’t really know what to do. All I did was cross my legs and breathe deeply and hear my heart beat, my heart beat was the sound of something unfortunate. That had proudly changed my life...
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...e afterwards…
I had my surgery. Luckily everything turned out great. I had bad points in the beginning. I wasn’t able to walk talk especially laugh. My chest would hurt when I would even breathe. It took a while for this whole situation to heal. My life after this was normal. I didn’t live a bad child hood or anything like that. My whole child hood got into a different perspective. I actually got out and played with all the other children. I enjoyed my child hood years.
My Recovery…
I now am 16 years old and I feel no pain. I only have a scare under my left breast. It doesn’t show at all. I am happy for my recovery. Many people like myself have a bad child hood with minor or severe problems, but grow into a normal human being with no problems. Life is hard at first, but we all have to make a great living somehow.
Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Buddha Guatama practiced meditation and came to what is known as “The Four Noble Truth,” an important principle in Buddhism (Elder, 2010). This principle informs the reader of what suffering is and how affect is. This is a great example of how valuable meditation is- on the very first session ever recorded, the awareness that came from it would later be the foundation of a new religion. This proves how powerful meditation can be. Furthermore, some form of meditation can be found in various religions. Although the styles, techniques, and ideology behind the meditation can vary per religion, personal transformation is the key goal (Modi, Singh, 2012). Today, in Western society, mindful meditation (a form of meditation) has grown in popularity, used for relaxation and to help treat those who suffer from mental illness’ and mood disorders. Viewed as alternative medicine for the mind and soul, it is beneficial for our emotional and mental
Depression happened, the second time I needed ACL surgery because I had no reason to recover fast and I needed to rethink my life choices. But the second process was also worse than the first because waking up with the grogginess and having a different pain set in, made me feel defeated once again, even though I already knew the procedures. Yet again I would be bed ridden for more than three weeks. Being bedridden and in a lot of pain affected my sleep, appetite and energy. The depression had many stages, it went from not this process again to making me question my identity while I had the whole time in the world with nothing to do other than think and sleep. And even after recovery the second time around I only had to go back to school. I couldn’t go back to soccer, I didn’t have any additional happiness other than being able to walk again and do every day routines over and over again. Although I went through the painful weeks being bedridden, the year of physical therapy and the identity change, I wouldn’t have found out who I am today without also going through the physical journey.
These children however, could not always say the same. I knew that it was a turning point in my life. It brought me to a level of maturity that enabled me to see past my limitations and resentment for my diagnosis. It has now been two years since my surgery and while it is not always pain free, it is manageable. Scoliosis, as it turned out, was not the end of my world but actually the beginning of a new direction in my life. It has renewed my strength of character and made me realize how much I take for granted. It is amazing how in only three short years my perspective on what is really important has changed. After all, after the year of my operation I was able to qualify to swim in the Junior Olympics and place in my age category. I can now understand that anyone can overcome any obstacle in life, due to their health or
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I felt nonexistent for the weeks it took to recover. Aside from being anchored to my bed from the physical pain, I was also emotionally unstable. I wanted to want to be around people, but I never felt healthy enough to be social.
...rrifying when I found out that he had MD. He was unable to walk properly and his muscles deteriorated to a large extent. His whole life was changed and I remember me and him crying for long periods.
Battling a miscarriage a couple years prior, my mother was feeling mixed emotions. Around this time, I was a senior in high school so the news was neutral for me being that I was the only child for eighteen years. I did not know if I should rejoice or complain because I was leaving for college soon. My brother was born about two weeks before my high school graduation, and I must say that it was a very intense and complicated birth being that my mother was nearly forty giving birth to her second child.
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...earn how to be completely aware of my surroundings in order to experience the serenity that comes with meditation. Overall, my experience of the Buddhist religion was very eye-opening. Not only did I get to acquire more knowledge on the Buddhist way of life, but I also got to practice the traditions and rituals of a different culture outside of my own.
Everyday, I thank God for her health and I'm grateful to myself for all that I was able to do for her. I would absolutely consider the time of my mother's illness as my transition to adulthood because I learned what adulthood meant. To me, adulthood isn't about independence, but it is about responsibility and putting others before myself. In the summer of 2014, I unfortunately learned this lesson the hard way, but as a result my mother is now healthy and I have learned the inconsistency of life. In my transition to adulthood, I was able to step up and take care of the mother who had always been there for me. As a strong and independent single mother, she has always been my hero and the epitome of the adult I always strived to be. Seeing her in her vulnerable state during her illness didn't change my opinion of her, it strengthened it as I learned about the responsibilities, expectations, and sacrifices that adulthood and maturity
I. Imagine your father has just suffered a heart attack and must undergo open-heart surgery in order to repair the damage.
I had to mature quickly and learn how to take care of someone else besides myself. I am now a mother to four children. They have taught me how to have patience. This has become something I value very much. I have learned that in life you must wait for things. I now know that there was a reason why I had my son so early and wasn’t able to go to college upon graduating high school. I am so thankful that I had patience and waited for the right time to enter. It has been 14 years since I graduated high school, and I’m attending college and know exactly what I want to become. I had patience and took care of my babies at home before I decided to go to school. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’m so glad I
Right there and then I felt what it was like to have state anxiety. The fear of not performing again was petrifying. So needing more answers I took my news and went to doctor who had more knowledge about my situation. Reaching out to DuPont hoping to get clarity, they just agreed with my last doctor and on top of it they wanted to mediate me. With this medication it would thin my blood and I would have greater chances of passing out. I couldn’t agree with them, I begged my mom to take me somewhere else. I couldn’t handle the stress of the medication on my body. Then later that month we took the news from DuPont and ended up at Johns Hopkins. They specialized with kids who had heart problems and analyzed the diagnosis with a different approach. They thought it was rare that at such a young age I would be experiencing this dramatic of a heart defect. From there they started doing genetic testing to see if they could pin point anything that could cause this defect. After 6 months of research and genetic testing I got a call back from my doctor to come in and discuss their findings. I was diagnosed with Marfans Syndrome
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