Volume
II, Issue 3 - Organize a Home Team: Part 2 March
15, 2006
This free
online monthly newsletter is published on the 15th of every
month by
Maggie Lichtenberg, PCC
Recent open heart surgery patient and thriver
Organize
a Home Team: Part 2
Please Share Your Experiences
Free Heart Surgery Phone Support Group
Upcoming Speaking Events
More Advance Praise for the E-Book
|
If you do not wish to be subscribed to Heart to Heart, please go to the Subscribe/Unsubscribe information at the end of the newsletter.
If format and/or images are not showing up on your email copy of this newsletter, perhaps there is a “Show images and enable links” button you can activate. |
Heart patients and loved ones find
my website both before open-heart surgery, or once they
are home recovering. Lately, I've had more sign-ups
to Heart
to Heart from those facing open-heart
surgery. So
my selection of a topic for this month is taken
from another section of Chapter 4, "Organize a Home
Team,"
from The
Open Heart Companion: Preparation and Guidance for Open-Heart
Surgery Recovery. The
book's Table
of Contents is on the website.
Organize a Home Team: Part 2
Arrange for Spiritual and Psychological
Support
It's important for both you the patient — and
your caregiver-advocate — to arrange
for spiritual and psychological support before, during,
and after the operation from people who will be willing
to check in on you regularly about your state of mind and
soul. Examples
might include a close friend or sibling; a psychotherapist,
counselor, or coach; your pastor, your rabbi, or another
spiritual practitioner.
Ask the designated person (or two) to phone
on a regular basis, to ask questions, to see how you both
are faring emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually.
If you are struggling, if you seem in a fog, if something
is just plain "off", that person will catch it and pitch
in to help with next steps, which might include longer
conversations together, counseling with a qualified coach
or a mental health professional, or prayer or healing circle
sessions.
Designate a Follow-up Communicator
The day of, or the day after, surgery, everyone connected
to your inner circle will want to hear something. Everyone
will want to be assured you’ve made it through and
are doing well. Anticipate the different levels of communication
appropriate for family and friends. Compile a list of phone
numbers and/or prepare email groupings, then designate
one individual to be the first-line communicator. This
person might be your primary caregiver, or he or she could
delegate some of this task to someone else; perhaps your
caregiver will want to make some phone calls directly while
another family member or friend can send daily group emails.
Spread the “being in touch” around. Involving
those closest to you in this process will help them feel
they are contributing proactively even before you’re
out of the hospital.
Prepare Your Home Environment
If there’s time beforehand, walk around your home
slowly and try to imagine how you can adapt that environment
to make it more functional during your recovery. While
climbing stairs usually isn’t discouraged after open-heart
surgery, if your bedroom is on the second floor it could
be more desirable during the first few weeks for you to
take your rest in a downstairs room. Are there items in
the kitchen or dining area that require reaching up high?
You’ll want to avoid reaching arms up for anything
heavy. You can rearrange some favorite foods, cans, bottles
temporarily. And what’s in the freezer? If there’s
time, cook some meals ahead and freeze them for later,
and stock up on preferred grocery and toiletry items.
Your environment can be an affirming
space for you during your recovery if it is practical
and cozy. After all, you will be spending many hours
and days there. A little forethought and some temporary
changes can make a big difference. In which rooms will
you be most comfortable? What time of year is it? What
window will you want to gaze out of? Where will your
meds and your med chart be? Where will you perform your
first month’s chest-strengthening exercises?
Where will you take your regular daily walks?
Please
Share Your Experiences
". . . I underwent
surgery in January to repair an ASD and have felt very
lonely in my recovery. I
was not prepared for how difficult the recovery would be
and wish I had found this book sooner, but better late
than never.
"I've found
that online heart forums don't really accept me since
I am technically "fixed" now (even though I
had 6 holes in my atrial septum), in addition to my having
had the surgery robotically. While robotically
does mean a shorter and easier recovery, it doesn't mean
NO recovery. This is why I've been feeling so isolated,
because my experience wasn't "serious" enough
for other heart surgery patients.
"While reading
the chapter excerpts from your book, I finally felt like
I wasn't crazy for feeling how I did. I
know my surgery wasn't as hard as traditional open heart
open chest, but it was still open heart. Thank you
for this wonderful book, and I cannot wait to read it."
--
Eileen Hagerman, Old Westbury, NY
If
you have purchased and used the E-Book or the paperback
book, The
Open Heart Companion,
please let me hear from you. What
sections of the book were most useful to you? Where
did you wish I would have included more information? What
helped you the most, and why? With your permission,
I would love to share your story or your review of the book.
Please
email me at Maggie@openheartcoach.com
observations and experiences that will be informative to
others, like the commentary from Eileen, for future issues
of Heart
to Heart or
for a future edition of The
Open Heart Companion. Please
include your first and last names, city and state. Thank
you!
Free Heart Surgery Phone Support
Group
I am currently leading a free monthly
heart surgery support group for both caregivers and patients.
It is by telephone for
one hour on a teleconference line that we all call into.
The next call will be Monday
evening,April 10, 2006, 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.
Women's
Heart Connection March Event
Wednesday, March 22, 2006, 6:00-7:00
PM
New Heart Wellness Center
Albuquerque , NM
For those of you in the Albuquerque,
New Mexico area, I will be the featured speaker for
the Heart Hospital ’s March “Women’s
Heart Connection” event. These events are free
and open to the public.
The topic is: Move from Denial
into Action
Description: Whether you are the caregiver
supporting someone you love, or the patient facing
a huge medical challenge, the sooner you choose
to take a positive, proactive approach to the situation,
the better the outcome will be. Hear Maggie Lichtenberg’s
inspiring story of turning fear before open-heart surgery
into several positive outcomes – by taking active,
loving care of herself, by regarding herself as “too
blessed to be stressed,” and by continually reaffirming
that it would all work out.
Reservations
505-724-2200 |
Adult Congenital Heart Association
2006 National Conference
September 15-17, 2006
San Francisco, CA
I will offer
a Breakout Session
"What to Do Before Your Date with Open-Heart Surgery " |
Please
see Calendar on
my web site for additional speaking events.
The paperback
book as well as the E-Book version
of The
Open Heart Companion: Preparation and Guidance for
Open-Heart Surgery Recovery are
now available. Click
here for the book's description. Click
here for ordering the E-Book, the paperback book,
or both together at a discounted price.
Advance praise for The
Open Heart Companion
"This passionate and personal
guide will help you both survive and thrive after open-heart
surgery.”
Mehmet
C. Oz, MD, pioneering
heart surgeon and author of
Healing
from the Heart
“The Open Heart Companion
is must reading
for anyone who requires open-heart surgery. Written by a
life coach who has been there herself, The Open Heart Companion
will help you get the most out of this dramatic and life-changing
experience.”
Christiane
Northrup, MD, author of Women's
Bodies, Women's Wisdom
"The
Open Heart Companion is just that -- a book that acts as
a loving, wise,
and comforting partner who gently guides you through the
stages of
preparing for and successfully completing open-heart surgery. A
life-saving gift filled with invaluable resources, real-life
stories and
must-know information, this book is required reading for
all patients and
loved ones."
Cheryl
Richardson, author
of Take
Time for Your Life
"This beautifully
written, comprehensive and absolutely accurate account
of how to go into, come out of, and recover from open
heart surgery is a must for patients and physicians alike.
I plan to keep a supply on hand for my own patients,
confident that they will find it, as I did, immensely
instructive and helpful.
Marianne
J. Legato, MD, author of The Female Heart:
The
Truth about Women and Heart Disease
"Maggie Lichtenberg has
created a terrific resource for those undergoing open-heart
surgery, both for the preparation and the recovery period. Drawn
from dozens of patient and caregiver interviews, the
book is filled with specific exercises and insights to
make the open-heart experience easier on the patient
and loved ones."
Amy
Verstappen, President, Adult Congenital Heart
Association (ACHA)
“The lessons herein are applicable
to anyone with a challenging medical or surgical condition,
not just those with heart disease. Because it outlines a
series of plans for thoughtful and collaborative action,
this book will be equally useful for patients and for those
assisting in the care of a family member or friend…I
am grateful to at last have a guide I can recommend not just
to my patients and their families, but also to my medical
and nursing colleagues as we strive to improve the care our
patients receive.”
Kathleen
Blake, MD, cardiologist at The New Mexico Heart
Institute
From
her Foreword to The
Open Heart Companion:
Preparation
and Guidance for Open-Heart Surgery Recovery
I look forward to receiving your feedback –
Warmly, Heart to Heart,
Maggie |
 |
If you have received this from a friend and wish to subscribe, please send a blank e-mail message to: HeartToHeart-On@zines.webvalence.com
If you received this in error, and wish to unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail message to: HeartToHeart-Off@zines.webvalence.com
Heart to Heart,
Copyright (C) 2006 Maggie Lichtenberg. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced without express
written permission from the publisher.
Privacy Policy: We do not share any subscription information you provide with any other individual or organization.
Maggie Lichtenberg, Publisher
Open Heart Publishing
4 Cosmos Court
Santa Fe, NM 87508-2285
Phone: 505.986.8807
Email: Maggie@OpenHeartCoach.com
Website:OpenHeartCoach.com
|
