Selective Amnesia

 Heart surgery is an interesting thing.  Even though I’ve had four, three that I remember, I don’t remember the pain during healing.  I have heard child birth is the same.  When it’s done, the mother usually says something like “I am NEVER doing that again!”, all the while glaring at her partner.

After every OHS, I know I said, “I am NEVER going through that again.  I’d rather just die!”, all the while glaring at my Cardiologist and whoever else is in the room.  Sorry mom and dad!

Yet, give it a year or two and the pain is forgotten.  Granted, unlike childbirth where more babies do come and it’s all happy, no one truly wants to ever go through having their sternum sawed open and stretched again.  But perhaps that is why there is a sort of selective amnesia going on.  If the remembrance of the intense pain did stay with us, I’m pretty sure most would rather just lay down and die.

Being almost 45 and it being my 5th OHS, I can confidently say that this will indeed probably be my last.  Regardless, I still am thankful I don’t remember the pain.  Although itching is another story.  I remember how bad it itched and you couldn’t.  That was and will be brutal.