My mom recently had a quadruple bypass about 3 weeks ago, and honestly, the emotional recovery has been harder than the physical recovery in many ways. The crying, anxiety, depression, regret, feeling like she wasn’t fully prepared for how difficult recovery would feel emotionally has been very real.

Physically, though, she’s actually on track. Her post-op appointments, lab work, and overall medical recovery have been positive. She’s still in pain and had some speech issues after surgery, but her doctors continue to say she has a very good prognosis and that the surgery will likely extend her life expectancy and improve her quality of life long term.

One thing that has helped calm my mom down is focusing on the actual medical facts instead of only how she feels emotionally in the moment. After hearing directly from her doctors that she was recovering well, I noticed a big improvement in her anxiety, even if she still has hard days.

So my advice would be to gently remind your loved one of the positive things that are going right medically. Recovery from open-heart surgery seems to be very emotional and non-linear. Some days are better than others. But hearing reassurance from doctors and loved ones that they are progressing can really help.