In some areas long waiting lists mean that it may well be some time before you can have your operation. During this time try to live as normally as possible. Nevertheless, the time spent waiting can be somewhat stressful and you may experience mood swings and feel angry, irritated and frightened.

Jim believes that it pays to be persistent: ‘Waiting was very frustrating. I’m someone who likes to be in charge of my life, it probably comes from being in industry. I rang the consultant’s secretary a couple of times and found her very sympathetic. Some people tend to shrink from doing that, but I found it helped me to feel in control. If you sit back and wait, you’ll wait forever.’

Sometimes, though, no matter how persistent you are, you simply have to wait until your name reaches the top of the waiting list. It can help you feel more in control if you use this time to look at your lifestyle and start tackling risk factors like stopping smoking, cutting down on fatty foods and losing weight if you need to. Getting as fit as you can before your operation will help your body to deal with it better and will also help ensure your recovery is as speedy as possible.

Related posts:

1. Urinary Incontinence – Tips on Waiting for Treatment Results

2. Smoking and Heart Disease

3. The Basics of Heart Disease – Losing Weight

4. Heart disease Thrombolytic Drugs – Clotbusters

5. Causes of Depression – Heart Disease

6. The basics of heart disease – friends you could do without

7. The basics of heart disease – denial

8. The Basics of Heart Disease – Fibre

9. The basics of ‘the Pill’ of heart disease

10. The basics of heart disease – what angina feels like