When my shocked and stunned Victoria Hospice co-workers came to visit me in the hospital’s Coronary Care Unit after my heart attack last year, I promised them that, although I couldn’t come to work the next day, I would certainly be back at my desk by the day after that.  Little did I know at that unusually optimistic moment that there was absolutely zero chance of me actually being able to keep my promise.

In fact, recovery from a cardiac event can take a surprisingly long time, both physically and emotionally – much more than I could have ever predicted. The period of adjustment can last for a year - or even longer. The University of Ottawa Heart Institute advises that how well you manage living with your heart disease can be affected by:

• how you’ve coped with other health problems
• your past experiences of other people with heart disease
• 0ther life circumstances like financial or family problems
• the course of the illness – whether recovery goes smoothly or if there are complications

Just knowing more about what to expect along the way, however, can often help you deal with the challenges that lie ahead. 

But first of all, welcome to what we call the new normal.  Your life as it has been up until now is over – your new life (for better or for worse) begins right away.  You have just survived what many do not: a traumatic physical crisis that can also strike a huge emotional, psychological and spiritual blow to your life and your own sense of mortality.  (more…)