Perhaps the depression comes from feeling that your body is letting you down? Its not performing as it should. Its a horrible feeling to have, but as you say…its another chance, not the end.
It could be from realising as humans beings we are fallible and that this can happen any time. As far as it went with me, I believe it’s all in the mind. After all our minds control our bodies and a heart attack is very worrying and worry is in the mind. A person can either be negative about it or treat is as a positive, it’s up to the person I reckon. Plus of course it does very much depend on what type of person you are! 
So very pleased you are posting and on the mend slowly slowly
Today, the Dr has ordered that I begin slowly walking around the hospital ward, pushing /pulling the IV cart. I, of course, will do precisely as he asked but to be truthful i’d much rather sleep. I had not anticipated this emotional response.
I think use it as a positive you have to be alive to be depressed…:shock:…not making light of it at all. You have had a major shock you need time to let your brain catch up and sleep is a good way of processing.
Dr, said I could go home today. He said I must take a blood thinner everyday for the next year.
I’ll be glad to sleep in my own bed and eat my own food.
Than you, one and all for the kind posts and well wishes. 
Great news that you are going home Bakerman! You will feel more relaxed in your own environment 
Blimey, that seems quick if you only walked for the first time yesterday, Bakerman?
I hope you will have help with chores and getting your meals etc?
I wish you well soon, but dont try and rush, will you.
Good news Bakerman .
Take care now keep walking it’s for the best .
Best wishes
Muddy x
Having stents is not a major trauma Mups, the blocked arteries can be accessed by catheter either inserted through the groin or the wrist.
After my first heart attack I had three inserted and was out of hospital the next day. I was walking ten miles within a fortnight, and I never doubted for one minute that I would never be able to run again. Three months later I was running three miles, and exactly four years later I ran my first half marathon since the heart attack.
Your arteries that received the stents will have been blocked long before you had the heart attack bakerman, so if anything, after recovery, you should feel a good sight better than you had for a long time. I’m not saying go out and run marathons, but there is no reason why life shouldn’t be a lot better you expect it to be, you have been given a second chance so go for it mate…
Good news Bakerman, take things easy until you are stronger….
Dr. says my arteries are not in good shape. Legs especially so. Most likely because of a life-long high fat diet. Even when walking, I get pain in my legs unless I walk incredibly slowly.
Eat a good healthy diet, take your meds, and do some gentle regular exercise and you can reverse some of the damage bakerman. This is not the end…Trust me…
I’m so happy for you Bakerman. Like OGF says, listen to your doctors orders and do as he says. Walk everyday. Yes your legs will hurt at first since they aren’t used to it but they will adapt as you do. Yes you eat rich food and are paying the consequences of it. Maybe consider a change in diet some. Either way I wish you the best. Please keep us informed.
Take it easy baker man, it took me over 3 months to get over my open heart surgery, it is a very anxious time, but that will pass.
So pleased the ordeal is over for you.
Now it’s the recovery period, it can be depressing because we have to go at a very slow pace…it will soon pass, it may not feel like it…but you will be feeling better soon…God Bless.
After my back operation I was escatic for a couple of days…then went into a deep depression. My surgeon at the defunct Atkinson Morley Hospital said I do lots but not peoples moods…see a physiotherapist… I had been through a year of nerve pain hell and was never offered any real treatments along the way…lots and lots of pain pills…by the time I was up for surgery I had liver damage…reversible stage…so had a discectomy and had the spinal column scraped as it was encroaching on the nerves…that was over 30 years ago…I remember my late Dad, later saying Di I was so worried the place was so antiquated and just thought that how could I leave you in this place…yes it was like that, but the care is what you wished for and got 10 fold…truly it was a perfect Hospital.
Take things slowly and build them up over time, I was advised to ensure I didn’t do too much to tire myself out but not to do nothing at all. A simple example of this, for me anyway, was to walk uphill when fresh and to take a downhill route when not feeling quite as fresh. If I turn right out of my driveway it’s uphill, left it’s downhill so take the uphill route first and then walk back downhill.
I’ve been on blood thinners since having a heart attack back in 2008, twelve years plus and no real problems since, touch wood! One minor problem of taking blood thinners is that bruises happen very easily, also if you cut yourself, perhaps when gardening a thorn catches you, that does take longer to stop but it does stop.
Have enough sleep, that’s important as it’s the body’s way of healing. Change the food you eat if that’s necessary to halt or even improve the condition of your arteries. I didn’t know very much about food back in 2008 but later, after being diagnosed as almost Type 2 diabetic in 2018, my diet changed considerably and I beat that diagnosis. That was accomplished by going on a NHS pre-diabetic course, learning about food and how it affects our bodies, in particular with regard to diabetes but it was a real learning curve for me.
Good luck with your recovery, it’s not the end of the world just a second chance and also a chance to change whatever needs changing.
Hi
Do not blame yourself, it is sometimes genetic.
Not that many years ago I used to be able to do 20 miles with 130lbs on my back.
Not now.
Just had my 4th heart attack in lest than a year.
I am still here.
My heart issues are not operable, no easy fix, just medication.
I also have vascular disease, my legs do not work sometimes, not always.
Blood flow is badly compromised.
So what, once you accept it you can still have a great life, it is just that if you have a bad day you must change your plans.
Yoy can still have a great life.
A week or so prior to my heart attack, my PCP told me to go on a FODMAP diet because of IBS-D. Unfortunately, most of the foods on a FODMAP diet are the very ones which are not good for my heart… meat, poultry, fish, eggs, SOME cheeses, a bit of butter, and almost nothing else. Can eat a tiny amount of fruit and boiled vegetables. BUT no pastas or breads or even food that is breaded. No sodas or anything with sugars. No onions, garlic or any kind of beans.
As I look at the list of FODMAP approved foods, it looks like a diet from hell. Sure not going to improve my morale.
I would take the advice of any professional such as your Primary Care Provider (PCP), however, they are not always as good or thorough as a nutritionist or dietician, that would be where I would check out exactly which foods to eat and which to avoid.
A close family member had what was thought to be IBS, she was thought to be too young for that and really suffered but finally was given advice by a nutritionist and was much better, also losing three-and-a-half stones (22 kilos), this by just being given the correct nutritional advice on food.
Meat by way of poultry I understood to be good as it does have a lot of protein and also fish is supposed to be good, not that I like fish all that much. I don’t see any mention of salads (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber etc.) and that formed much of my food and changing my lifestyle when getting to grips with preventing Type 2 diabetes. Advice I was also given was to treat any change in my food intake as a ‘lifestyle’ change rather than a ‘diet’ which implies something temporary, where changing one’s lifestyle is permanent.
The list of FODMAP approved foods may not do much for your morale but it could well do your health a lot of good. It is possible to get used to changing what you eat, that was one thing I found when trying to combat the threat of Type 2 diabetes. Now forgetting about sweet foods and those that are not good for me I find is very easy.
I had to check out what a FODMAP diet actually is as I had never heard of it. This website appeared to be quite comprehensive and also gave recipes which might be useful: