Post 5:
Taking care of your mental health should always be a priority but pre operation is a different story. Taking care of your mental health when having the unimaginable up ahead is extremely difficult. Between appointments, instructions, and the general uncertainty of what comes next, it’s easy to focus solely on the physical aspects of your health. But your mental and emotional well-being play just as crucial a role in how smoothly you move through the surgical process and how effectively you recover afterward.
Stress management is one of the most crucial parts of taking care of your mental health, it is also extremely important because when our bodies have elevated stress levels it affects our blood pressure and can even slow down our body’s healing process. I found that taking time to manage your stress through meditation, journaling, or talking with a therapist can help prepare our body to handle operations more effectively .
Post 4:
I made it my goal last week to ensure I was spending 45 minutes outside each day. Below is my documented week
Monday: Walk to the store to get groceries 5km total walk
Tuesday: 6km evening walk to watch the sunset
Wednesday: Though it was not outside I attended a spin class this day
Thursday: Evening walk
Friday: Sunset walk with friends
Saturday: Walk to the gym
Post 3:
Something that I noticed that was making a great improvement in my health post operation and overall allowing me to feel my best, was ensuring that I was giving my body proper nutrition. For the last few weeks I have started implementing the 80-20 rule of nutrition into my life allowing myself to eat whole healthy food 80% of the time but not fully restricting my diet 20% of this time.
I have made sure to include in my diet foods that are heart healthy such as plenty of fruits and vegetables such as beets, yams, kale and broccoli. Whole grains like oats, quinoa, brown rice, and whole-grain bread provide fiber that helps lower cholesterol aiding greatly in heart health. As well as limiting red meat intake and prioritizing lean proteins, Fatty fish like salmon, sardines, and mackerel provide omega-3 fatty acids, which support healthy cholesterol levels and reduce inflammation.
Direct post operation diet:
Personally i found after my operation the hardest thing to regain was a proper diet. I was in such a rut after my operation that eating felt like a full time job. From the fact that I had to be spoon fed which at the end felt like it was the most embarrassing thing in the world, to not even being able to hold food down. Food was a hard time. One of the most important parts of recovery was staying hydrated. As basic as it might sound hydration truly is one of the most important things to keep your body running smoothly. Staying hydrated is a simple but essential part of recovery after a heart operation. Your body is working hard to heal, and fluids help keep everything running smoothly circulation, digestion, temperature control, and even energy levels. When you’re well-hydrated, your heart doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood, which can support a smoother recovery.
Post 2:
One of my biggest challenges post op has been finding daily motivation.
I have found that this has been an issue in many aspects of my life. I have been trying to get to the bottom of what has really taken a toll on my motivation but haven’t found the answer. Something that I have discovered really helps to push me to stay motivated in my physical and mental health is holding myself accountable but also having other people there to help motivate me. Simply telling my roommate we should go on a walk later helps me feel the need to stay motivated and stay accountable for taking that walk later.
One of the biggest motivators has been getting outside. Whether that be just on a small walk around our neighbourhood or taking a big weekend hiking trip I can feel a drastic positive change in my mood when staying consistent with this. One part of this blog I want to focus on is the importance of getting outside. I’ve made it a goal for myself to spend at least 45 minutes outside everyday doing some type of activity. This could be going for a short jog, a walk to watch the sunset or a hike nearby. Thus far I have been very successful with this goal.
One source that I have found that has been extremely helpful during this 45 minutes of outside time is listening to impactful podcasts.One of my favourites this week has been “Outdoors is my Therapy” by Kathryn Walton.
This weeks goals:
For this week I am challenging myself to spend longer than 45 minutes outside. That could be doing something active or just spending time outside doing homework, in my following post I will discuss the time spent outside and its weekly benefits!
Post 1:
Starting off this blog I wanted to focus on something I was passionate about but as well use this blog to hold me accountable to something. Something that I have been passionate about for a while now is taking care of my mental and physical health post op of open heart surgery. This was something that I most definitely have not always taken seriously since being post op. I would go through phases of realizing how important it was to rebuild my mental and physical health since going through such a traumatic surgery never held myself accountable to sustaining this lifestyle. Through this blog I plan to set aside weekly goals for myself to achieve to ensure that I stay accountable for my wellbeing.
A bit of backstory…
When I was in my 12th grade 12 year of highschool, along with the pressure of applying to post secondary, planning out your future and looking forward to grad i was doing all of this planification from the comforter of my hospital bed. I sat a lot of my grade 12 year out, whether I was flying out of my tiny town to go see a specialist in Vancouver or just going for different testing. There was a lot of watching from a distance that was happening for me. This greatly took a toll on my mental health because I couldn’t quite grasp why I had to go through something like this.
I was diagnosed with having an arterial septal defect, essentially meaning I had a gapping hole the size of two toonies put together in the upper chambers of my heart. This resulted in my blood mixing when it was returned to my heart not allowing my body to receive the proper amount of oxygenated blood.
What are my goals and how do I hold myself accountable?
Alongside prioritizing my mental health by practising self care I’ve found that spending a good majority of time outside allows for a significant change in my mood and overall wellbeing. Focusing on the physical side of things I want to ensure that I am consuming heart healthy products including keeping a heart healthy diet, ensuring I am taking the proper medication and supplements and especially keeping up with them. And setting myself a fitness goal whether it be taking a walk, a hike, going on a run or just doing weight lifting at the gym. I plan to document all of the following to attach onto this blog! I can’t wait to share the next few weeks with you 🙂