… by doctors at Bay Medical Center two years ago today. Triple bypass surgery just short of age 42. Coronary Artery Bypass Graft or CABG x 3 (”cabbage times three”).

I spent the next year in this space giving periodic if irregular updates of my recovery - things I learned along the way that might be helpful to those who were facing heart surgery or whose family members or friends might be going through it. Cautionary tales. Helpful hints. Painful discoveries.

If you’re interested in backtracking all that, just click on the “Anatomy of a Cabbage” category at the bottom of this post. (Unfortunately, many of the links and photos attached to those earlier blogs were lost when we migrated our system over to a new blog server. Still, the text is there.)

For the record, I’m doing OK. I take meds for cholesterol, blood pressure and blood thinning, hit the walking track regularly, go to checkups as scheduled, follow a diet (though I must admit to straying on the diet from time to time, such as eating berry-flavored Krispy Kreme goodness recently). I still don’t get enough sleep, but I never have.

People have different responses, longterm, to such events. Some go right back to old habits. Some never give mortality or the meaning of life a second thought. Some salt their red meat. Some go strictly vegetarian and take up yoga. I’m one of those, however, who overthinks everything. In the immediate wake of surgery, I knew life would change - and while internally it has, there are few external markers. I handle stressful situations differently - less bottled up anger - and I have little patience for pettiness. I find I’m amused by things that once would have irritated me, as the things that are important and unimportant became more easily distinguishable. And I still have random moments when I’m overwhelmed by emotion.

Those are responses that I’ve had reinforced by recent family losses, as the universe reminded me this spring that perspective is a painful attribute to gain. 

Well, if you have any questions about life as cabbage, feel free to post them. I’d like to believe my hard-gained perspective could benefit someone else. I’ll look for the answers if I don’t know them. Meanwhile, take care of yourselves out there.

Peace.

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