Do You Feel Better?

I was discussing my open-heart surgery with someone yesterday. She asked me if I felt better now than I did before surgery. I had to stop and think. This was the first time someone asked that. (A lot of people asked if I felt better while recovering from surgery, but not if I felt better than before.)

Interestingly, I had to say I did not feel “better” than before; I feel pretty much the same. The only real difference is that I seem to be free of the annoying symptoms that used to plague me -- especially after eating. Gone is the lightheadedness, the pounding heart, the difficulty breathing. That’s great; but I guess my heart defect had not progressed far enough to have had more than an occasional impact on my quality of life.

Certainly, it was getting worse, and would have been a problem had I not had the surgery. So, clearly, I made the right choice having the surgery before it was too late.