To the fourth issue of Heart to Heart,
The free bimonthly online newsletter from
Maggie Lichtenberg, PCC
Recent open heart surgery patient and thriver

Author of the forthcoming book
The Open Heart Companion:
Preparation and Guidance for Open-Heart Surgery Recovery

Each issue features a motivating topic from my upcoming book, The Open Heart Companion: Preparation and Guidance for Open-Heart Surgery Recovery, to be published shortly. The book’s Table of Contents is on the website. Excerpted from Chapter 10, today’s topic is:

Tips for Mood Swings During Heart Surgery Recovery

Mood swings enter into the recovery picture and they can be very disconcerting. By undergoing open heart surgery, every cell in our body receives a call to arms. Head and heart will need time to realign, because a powerful body shake-up has just occurred.

Here’s a composite snapshot on the blues drawn from several patients I’ve interviewed: The first four to six weeks you can expect tears to come for no specific reason. You can expect to wake up in the morning feeling down, even temporarily hopeless. During any day after a positive couple of hours you can expect a reversal. But remember too, the operative word here is temporary. Things will change. You will go back to feeling your true self again.

In the meantime, what can you do to shift your mood?

I have often found that reviewing what I am grateful for in my life can dissolve tension and negativity. I turn to that activity often and can feel so much better after reminding myself of all my blessings – my partner in life, my children and their partners in life, our grandson, our entire family’s level of good health, the blessed environment in which I live. By simply saying thank you, even out loud as I consciously visualize the abundance in my life, I am restored and renewed.

What else can be done to avert intermittent depression? If depressive episodes are running you more than you are on top of them, discuss your symptoms with your health care professional. Here are some other diversions and coping strategies:

• Take a walk in the fresh air. Force yourself to get some exercise despite lethargy
  
• Set your mind to finding a good book that really involves you; don’t try too hard to cover “important” material.
  
• Explore meditation. Try sitting in peaceful solitude, following your breath, even just five minutes a day.
  
• Go into prayer. Explore the “faith effect.” A University of Michigan study in the fall 2004 issue of Journal of Health Psychology reports on the ongoing research to identify a mechanism that triggers the “faith effect” in patients undergoing open-heart surgery. U-M researcher of integrative medicine Amy Ai and her colleagues, “pioneers in the new field of positive psychology, link optimal expectation with faith.”
  
• Watch some comedy that tickles your funny bone – Comedy Central? Saturday Night Live?
  
• Listen to favorite upbeat music.
  
• Bake a cake with a friend (rest when you get tired),
  
• Exchange supportive phone calls with another heart patient. Swapping experiences is especially valuable to put smaller questions to rest.
  
• Sit in the sunshine; take in a view.
  
• Don’t play The Lone Ranger. Ask for help! Call on old friends as well as new ones.
  
• Review your prescription mix with your doctor.
  
• Discuss taking a sleeping remedy or an antidepressant for the short term.

Take heart! Here is one of the most positive open heart surgery and recovery experiences I have ever heard:

"My husband Terry had triple bypass surgery on September 19th, 2005 . He takes medication for high blood pressure, cholesterol and is an insulin dependent diabetic. He is 45 years old. We went to the emergency room for what we thought might be low blood sugar. While there he had tests and we were told that three arteries were blocked. Surgery was set for the following morning. This hospital, Largo Medical Center in Seminole, FL, has a very large separate heart unit.

"The Monday morning surgery was successful -- Friday morning Terry went home. He shocked all our neighbors by walking to get the mail and walking around the yard. He walked to a park close by the next week. He was sent home with pain medication, took two tablets the first weekend, then none after that. Terry went back to work on October 17, 2005, for thirty hours a week -- two days before the one month anniversary of his surgery. I think what made Terry’s experience so successful was his positive mindset. He said he never felt threatened or worried. He put faith in the doctors. I hope this gives hope to others facing open heart surgery."

            --- Jennifer Stinger, October 19, 2005, Seminole, Florida

 Feedback Request

We welcome your feedback on our topics, and we welcome your requests to address specific issues in future newsletters. Please let us hear from you! What is going on at home now, for you, during your lengthy recovery from open heart surgery, that needs addressing? Simply email Maggie@openheartcoach.com. We look forward to your comments and suggestions for future issues of
Heart to Heart.

Free Support Groups

I am currently leading two free heart surgery support groups for both caregivers and patients. The first is by telephone, and it is monthly, for one hour. The next call will be on Tuesday evening, November 15, 2005, 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM Eastern time (or, depending on your time zone, beginning 8:00 PM Central, 7:00 PM Mountain, or 6:00 PM Pacific). For a complete description and to register to receive the call-in number, go to http://openheartcoach.com/PhoneSupportGroup.html.

The second group is an in-person open heart surgery support group in my local area, Santa Fe , NM . The group meets at Women’s Health Services, 901 West Alameda , from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM. The remaining dates for 2005 are Mondays, November 28 and December 19. Light refreshments are served. For more information or to register, call 505-955-9436, or go to www.womenshealthsantafe.org.

My book, The Open Heart Companion: Preparation and Guidance for Open-Heart Surgery Recovery, is nearing completion. I’m hoping to have it available, first as an e-book, by mid-November 2005. Click here for previous issues of Heart to Heart for other topics covered in the book.

I look forward to hearing from you –

Warmly, Heart to Heart,

     Maggie

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Maggie Lichtenberg, Publisher
Open Heart Publishing
4 Cosmos Court
Santa Fe, NM 87508-2285

Website:OpenHeartCoach.com