Posted by Carl Plaskett on May 10, 2001 at 19:49:01:
In Reply to: 4 Months posted by Ed Wehan on May 10, 2001 at 16:23:16:
While I doubt I will ever attain the conditioning of Ed, I believe that is likely for Rob Hamill and hopefully many others.
I heartily agree that getting to know via email, phone, or in person, someone else who is going to, or has had the maze (or
any other treatment) is REALLY helpful. I believe I had made up my mind to go thru with the maze when I arrived in Cleveland,
but I still wanted to see some of the recent "recipients", so I immediately went to the CC Heart Center reception desk on a
Sunday evening and asked for the room #s of both Ed and Mike. Before I had a chance to ask, the person standing next to me was
told by a girl behind the desk to "Go into that room over there and a counselor will help you with funeral arrangements." I just
about bolted from the hospital right then, but was able to learn that the deceased wasn't a maze patient, and that Ed was back in the hotel
and Mike was upstairs. When I got to see both of their smiling faces, I KNEW I must be making the right decision. Without THEIR
presence and the previous support I had received from other maze alumni, I might have changed my mind. It also helped to have communicated
with them before my arrival.
Ed, you continue to help me, as I imagine myself doing things I never did, but now really feel might be possible. Now, I am worrying about
how much wine you can drink, since I will have to fly with it as "carry-on" luggage. I guess I need to start doing some weight work so I
can hoist it into the overhead bin on the plane!
Thanks, John Behle, for the new board lay-out.
I cannot emphasize enough how important support is, whether from fellow sufferers of AF, maze alumni, family,
friends, etc. It really helps. : I wanted to test this new board so I thought I'd send this out. It's four months yesterday since my maze and outside of that lingering fear that this can't be real, I am totally back to normal.
: I am physically stronger now than before surgery. My life is like it was 14 years ago. I have no post surgical after effects.
: I ran a tough 10 miler at 6,500 feet on Sunday and beat well over half the field. Give me another six months and who knows where I'll be.
: As many of you know, my surgery was at Cleveland and I had the minimal chest opening procedure that Dr. McCarthy does. I was driving after a couple of weeks and all pain or ill feeling was gone by six weeks. I was also jogging some at six weeks and I believe that helped me keep my heart steady.
: As many people have faced, I did have some flutter after surgery but this disappeared during the seventh week. Anyone facing this surgery should be prepared for a battered heart that flops around a lot as it tries to get use to its new smoother rhythm.
: I don't think that my results are unique but I do recognize that not everyone returns to their previous level of fitness or health as quickly as I did. I had some luck and did quite a bit of work.
: Finally, you can't beat the members of this board for the support that they provide. It helped me so much prior to and after my surgery. Also, I recommend getting to know whoever else may be having a maze at your hospital at the time that you are. I found two great people in Mike Johnson (and Debbie) and Carl Plaskett while I was in Cleveland. I am now looking forward to flying out to the East Coast from California in October to join Mike and Carl at Mike's Cape Hatteras beach house to drink a lot of Carl's fine wine.