I'm in the process of preparing for open heart surgery. It's an elaborate procedure where I'll get a new mechanical heart valve and also replace about 6-7 centimeters of the aorta.
This is followed by sick leave and rehabilitation with, among other things, breathing techniques to make sure my lung capacity is restored. It takes about three months for my rib cage to just heal up.
Although I've been aware of my congenital heart defect for a long time, the news of needing an imminent operation came quite suddenly and surprisingly. So how did I end up here?
In this blog post I share my experience up 'til now and the road ahead. The date of the operation is still not set, but expected to be in about a month.
ℹ️ This blog post was first written in Swedish. I've done my best to rewrite it in English in my own voice, not the mediocre voice of any AI tool: