The Heart: It's All or Nothing

Thomas joked, “Do you even remember me being there?”
“Of course, I do. You and Lois were there.  I just don’t remember the “hurt all over” part.
"I told you it would be like this."
“It’s true, though. It’s a beat-up feeling, and I try to keep pain meds to 1 AM and 1PM, to ease the all-shook-up feeling and the generally uncomfortable status.”
                       Today, I walked ¾ around the house and took photos of beautiful iris.  After a bit of a respite on the front porch, I walked on to the post office.  Ha!  Not really – the Mail Box.  From there I retrieved several pretty cards wishing me a speedy recovery.

                           Heart surgery has become rather common-place, it seems, except when you’re the one having it.  The roller-coaster of emotions is probably due to all the manipulations and the trauma the heart goes through. I am so grateful to have had such a marvelous surgeon, able to fix me and set me on the path to years of excellent health. This miracle-man surgeon had never seen a myxoma this large, but he and his team removed it and fixed me right up. 

    A Myxoma in and of itself is rare, but sometimes babies present these tumors which are snipped away while baby is still in the womb.

  For an older person, the rush to surgery is because these large things flip and flop within the heart and can get positioned in such a way as to cut off heart function and air and can cause sudden death. Large ones have been there quite a while, having grown for many years and they can have pieces break off and fly to the brain, the eyes, and other places, causing a stroke.
      From cases I have read, like mine, the myxoma did not produce a great number of symptoms prior to the Big Event. Most patients were in good shape, having no blockages, and not being in poor health at all.  Most diagnoses it seems are surprises and the symptoms recognized as mild until they are extreme, and attributable to other causes, and thus left alone.
 The heart is fickle and desires your constant and close attention.  It is the "all or nothing" muscle.