I was so family centered and focused on becoming well that the rest of the world barely registered to me.
It was a struggle, to be honest, just getting back on my feet. A lasting effect seems to be a change in my attitude. I am much more empathetic than I ever was to other people's feelings and struggles. My ambition has changed from struggling to excel in the business world to just trying to find serenity and peace in my daily life. This change brings with it its own problems and struggles but the rewards are much more fundamentally satisfying.
I feel physically fit and very able, just not quite as strong as I remember myself being. That could be because I was never as mighty as I thought or that I'm a little older or most likely, I simply have not been keeping fit for so many years while the disease crept up on me that it will take another few years to get back the muscle mass that slowly degenerated. Who knows? I'll just keep plugging away and expect to feel better each day until something makes me change my mind.
So my New Years' wish for all of you, whether just beginning the journey, enduring heart surgery or recovering, is that this year is better than the one before. Sometimes it doesn't take much to effect positive changes, sometimes it takes more than we think we can endure. In my experience more often than not, it just takes the positivism to make the effort and the currents of life will start to take you in the direction you need to go.