So my surgery will be April 22nd. From what Dr. Beckman and his staff told me, it won't be nearly as difficult a recovery as I've been expecting from the reading I've been doing. I'll only be in the hospital about 5 days. After that I will be home, but I won't be bedridden. I'll be able to be up and walking around, going up and down stairs, etc. in the first week after being in the hospital. Every day after that will be an improvement. They are still recommending that I take 6 weeks off work. There are restrictions on lots of upper body exercise for quite a while while my sternum heals. And it will take me 3 months before I'm completely healed. But I won't be bedridden, which is the impression I had.
He said that it's a 90% chance that this will only be a valve repair, not a replacement. They will know for sure once they're in, but he says my chance is good for the repair. If that's the case, I won't need to be on anti-coagulant drugs, which means that I would be able to be on the Amazing Race. No, we didn't specifically ask about that. :-)
He and his staff were very upbeat and positive about the surgery, and made me feel much better about it.
This is great news!
Do you know that we are out here? If so, just keeping an eye on you to see that all goes well for your op. If not, just know we are out there, just quietly concerned.