{"id":2488,"date":"2026-03-15T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/?p=2488"},"modified":"2026-07-04T09:30:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:30:22","slug":"dont-wait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/?p=2488","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t wait."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Note:<\/strong> this post may evolve over time as I add more details. I also don&#8217;t know what the point of this post is. =\\<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-default wp-block-paragraph\">The day is Monday, August 11, 2025. One month since my last day at Benevity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I booked an appointment to see my family doctor, someone that I haven&#8217;t seen in many years. I knew that I was burnt out from work but I wasn&#8217;t sure if there were any negative impacts on my health so I figured a random checkup was in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Little did I know that this simple checkup would change the course of my life so drastically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My doctor did the usual things, placed her stethoscope on my chest, listened to my heart and lungs, and then told me that she heard a loud heart murmur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In mid-September, I was scheduled for an echocardiogram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the end of October, I went through two transthoracic echocardiograms (TTE) and a transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the end of November, I had my consult appointment with Dr. Burns at St. Michael&#8217;s hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The diagnosis: <em><strong>severe myxomatous mitral valve prolapse with severe regurgitation<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In simpler terms: one of the valves in my heart didn&#8217;t close properly and it resulted in blood flowing backwards into the left atrium (blood is only supposed to flow one way).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In early January, I got a call from the hospital and they&#8217;ve now booked my minimally invasive robotic surgery at St. Michael&#8217;s for Thursday, January 22, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">January 22, 2026<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be continued in part 2&#8230; eventually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Struggles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c&#8230;<strong>while pain is universal, it is also utterly private. We cannot know whether our pain is like anybody else\u2019s pain until we talk about it.<\/strong>\u201d \u2015 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/quotes\/10465196-one-must-listen-to-them-carefully-to-understand-that-while\">Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(A quote that I saw on Instagram? at some point and really liked.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In no particular order and not exhaustive by any means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Breathing with and without tubes in you<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Getting up from bed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Turning to the side<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Peeing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Walking with a catheter<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Moving in any way with tubes in you<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pain<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The first bowel movement<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sleeping<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Coughing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sneezing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sitting up<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Standing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Not being able to sleep while being in so much pain and discomfort<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Being tired and lacking energy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Negative\/Intrusive Thoughts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I am a shell of my former self<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I am so useless<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I am in so much pain and discomfort<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Is this all that life is?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What is my purpose in life?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are moments in life where there is a before and an after. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The loss of loved ones. The house fire. Quitting my toxic job. And now this surgery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There will undoubtedly be more before and after moments that follow after this but, for now, this is the pivotal moment of what my life was and what my life could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It has taught me and also forced me to realize so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Appreciation for the most basic, simple things in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Being able to breathe<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Being able to get up out of bed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Being able to pee and poop<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Just the act of being and living is a lot of work<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gratitude for all the people in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Gratitude for the amazing people that work at St. Michael\u2019s hospital<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gratitude for my parents for dropping me off, picking me up, and providing all the support and help that I need even though I try my darnedest to not need their help<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gratitude for my friends. The ones that messaged before, during, or after surgery, the ones that offered to visit, the ones that I had an opportunity to spend time with before surgery, the ones that make this journey of life worth living<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gratitude for my 4ish month old job (at the time) and my coworkers and their support throughout this entire process<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The rest of my story is yet to be written but I think I can definitively say that the after looks bright for once. \u2665\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One last thing to share is an excerpt from my speech at our volleyball club\u2019s year-end event:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don\u2019t wait.<br>Don\u2019t wait to go get that checkup.<br>Don\u2019t wait to quit that toxic job.<br>Don\u2019t wait to do that thing that you\u2019ve been wanting to do because you\u2019ve been waiting for the right time.<br>And most importantly, don\u2019t wait to tell the people that you care about that you care about them.<br>Because, in the end, what really matters is the now. And the people you choose to spend it with.<br>The people who show up to a Boston Pizza on a cold Saturday evening in December.<br>The people that help you out &#8211; whether you ask for it or not.<br>The people that make you laugh uncontrollably.<br>The people that you get food with after volleyball.<br>The people that you trust.<br>The people who listen.<br>The people that are just there.<br>These are the people that matter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Note: this post may evolve over time as I add more details. I also don&#8217;t know what the point of this post is. =\\ The day is Monday, August 11, 2025. One month since my last day at Benevity. I booked an appointment to see my family doctor, someone that I haven&#8217;t seen in many [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2488"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2538,"href":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488\/revisions\/2538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jyong.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}