The first few weeks after I got home from the hospital after having open heart surgery were actually pleasant.  The post-surgery euphoria, which so many of us enjoy after a stressful stay in the hospital, was helping me along. I was relieved to have the surgery behind me.

I was busy, too, busy with just getting well. There was, to start with, the business with the medications. There were plenty of them! They required careful attention and had to be taken on time.  Three times a day we sat...