After weeks of growing and immobilizing emotional and physical fatigue, a high fever and fading appetite I was diagnosed with endocarditis. A staph infection was discovered. It had destroyed my weakened mitral valve beyond repair. I was now a candidate for open heart surgery if the infection proved treatable. During this experience my cardiologist and heart surgeon informed me that I could ?likely expect some depression, since most heart patients faced this challenge.'
It was during this same time that I was working toward becoming a professional coach and coach trainer. Professional life coaches move people from where they are to where they want to be through creating a safe and sacred relationship, intense listening and well-timed powerful coaching questions. I felt like this medical situation I faced was a great time to test the power of coaching. I hired two different coaches to walk with me through intensive treatment for the staph infection, open-heart surgery and my cardio-rehabilitation. It worked..not only did I not experience depression but I discovered hope that sustained, motivated and encouraged me to experience a more fulfilling life and career than I have ever known! While I am deeply grateful for the surgical and medical teams that cared for my medical needs - I celebrate and applaud the partnership we had with my two professional life coaches! What a combination for a life-giving recovery of body, mind and soul! The transformation has been so deep and powerful that it has taken me three years, beyond surgery, to begin to talk about the transformational experience. I am now having the honor of serving as a coach for other heart surgery candidates/patients and loving it. The discovery is that heart surgery is not just about restoring full function of a heart but moving the patient from depression challenges to hope, health and healing that fuels a new life!
Moving Forward with Hope - The Coach Approach Works!
The coach approach is not magic, nor is it foolproof, but for me and many others the coaching relationship is just what is needed to find hope amidst despair, health amidst fatigue and healing that goes deeper than the scapel can reach. The coaching relationship is simply another partner in the healing team. The coach brings nurture to the soul craving for answers and future-focused opportunities that reframes life, expectations and births new dreams! The confidentiality of a coaching relationship provides safety for a patient to share things they often choose not to share with loved ones for fear it would create for them a heavier load to carry. A coach does not direct but provides a place for discovery that births hope. A coach is not a counselor that untangles issues, rather a coach creates space for exploration and discovery and focuses on one's future possibilities rather than the trials of the current reality.
There were many sessions with my coach that were 15 minutes or less by phone (most coaching is done by phone) because that was all the energy I could muster that day. The sessions kept me forward focused, exploring and looking toward something other than more fatigue. Some of the powerful coaching questions that birthed hope in me during those long days awaiting surgery and fighting and fearing cardiac rehab:
1. What will life be like when your energy returns?
2. What if..?
3. Who can help you now?
4. What is pulling you to live?
5. How can you say thanks now?
These are simply representative coaching questions that kept me from the paralyzing grip of emotional depression. These types of questions, within a safe and confidential relationship, with a person I would likely never meet face to face, fueled my soul with hope I have never known and opportunities I had missed due to wrestling with my growing fatigue.
I share this powerful and transforming experience in hopes that other heart patients might know there is hope. There are many care-givers and trusted partners in treatment and recovery.a coach is another possibility. Hope pulls us through fears, awakens us to new dreams and empowers us to take forward steps in life we never thought possible before. If you're afraid and too tired to walk maybe you need a coach to walk with you and light the fires of hope within again!
Edward Hammett, PCC - Professional
Certified Coach & Coach Trainer
EdwardHHammett@morrisbb.net
www.transformingsolutions.org
www.ca-ministries.com
