PTSD

 I remember the nurses at the hospital telling us that hubby might have some form of PTSD from almost dying. And the shock of everything, plus the effects of not being able to do as he used to right away. His primary care doctor said the same thing when we saw her last week. 

Of course they are right. He does have things that make him pause and fears now that were not there before. He made bread the other day and the smell of the dough caught him off guard. Since that was what he was doing when his aneurism burst. 

I guess I did not connect though, that I have PTSD as well. When he talks about how frustrating it is for him that he is not back to normal or how ticked off at how often he has to go to the doctors now, I get pissed off. I snapped the other day when he was complaining about how he is sick of doctors. Sometimes I get sick of his complaining. He is alive! I don't care how many doctors he has to see. He is alive. It's worth it. 

We were working together last weekend and a friend who had not seen or talked to hubby since the hospital was there and was thrilled to get to see and talk to hubby. Hubby relayed to me something the friend had said that struck me. 

P said that the first thing he thought of when he heard about hubby was me. He knows the kind of relationship hubby and I have and while he was worried for hubby he also worried about how I was. 

Honestly it was the first time in 10 weeks that anyone had said that they thought about me and what I was going through. Our two best friends were there at the hospital for me, so yes I had support, but this was different. All thoughts and prayers, as they should be, have been for hubby and him living and healing. I guess I just felt like it was the first time someone saw me. 

Selfish I know. 

I am not sure he will ever know what I went through that day. Just like I will never really know how he was feeling spending a week in the hospital. 

I think we are both going through PTSD. 

Navigating the New Normal

 Again!

LOL! When it rains it pours. 

We are blessed. Truly blessed. He is alive and according to the doctors a miracle. Which it totally think he is as well. 

When hubby went to the first hospital the first CT scan found a mass on his Thyroid. They decided to do a second more extensive CT scan based on that. They did not see the heart issue until the second scan. So if they had not found the mass they would not have looked further and probably sent him home with a pill where he would have died. 

He has an mechanical valve now, which means blood thinners for the rest of his life. Navigating the foods he can't have because of the Warfarin and the foods he can't have because of the salt content is a daily process. 

The Warfarin requires he get blood work done, currently daily, to determine how much blood thinner he needs. Hopefully after a few weeks his visits will be less and less. They compared it to insulin. Each person needs a different amount and also depending on the food he eats it will change as well. Crazy complicated stuff. 

On top of navigating that, he has appointments for scans for the thyroid mass. Which if they decide it should be removed there will be complications with the Warfarin. They did say that even if it is cancer that thyroid cancer is very treatable and very slow moving. But we still hope that is not the case. 

The rest of his recovery is going ok. Although slower than he would like. He is frustrated by the lack of energy that he has. That he is exhausted after walking down the steps. It's a long slow process and we will get through it. 

I am just grateful that he is here to go through it.