New here-1 month post mitral valve replacement

I’ve looked around this forum and decided to join. I have a lot more questions as time pases, because I thought “minimally invasive” meant quick recovery, minimally painful, and minimal problems, lol.

Right now my immediate questions are about travel and cardiac rehab. I live in Central America on a fairly remote farm and was planning on returning for the holidays. My cardiologist wants me to start cardio rehab, which I just learned is a 12 week program. Can this be safely postponed until after the holidays? I would need to make living arrangements to be in the US for a solid three-month period.

Hi Joya and welcome

Joya said:

because I thought “minimally invasive” meant quick recovery, minimally painful, and minimal problems, lol.

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yeah, I think there is far too much "sales pitch" on stuff over there (that whole continent right down to the lowest tip of Chile

My cardiologist wants me to start cardio rehab, which I just learned is a 12 week program. Can this be safely postponed until after the holidays?

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there was no such thing as Cardiac rehab on the 3 OHS's I've had ('74, '92, '11) and I just followed through with exersize myself and used basic tools like checking my HR, not going harder than I felt and so on. Heck there was nothing like metoprolol or other beta blockers either. For reference I'm 60 now.

These things (rehab) take time and really in the first few weeks I think the best rehab is walking and keeping active and deep slow (think yoga) breathing.

As I'm walking I breath in as deep as I can (per step: in -2, 3, 4, 5, 6 then out 2, 3, 4 ...)

So yes, I believe you'll be fine without it.
Slow and steady wins the "race"

Best wishes

Joya said:

cardio rehab, which I just learned is a 12 week program. Can this be safely postponed until after the holidays?

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It is good to hear from you. Welcome!

In Sep, 2023, I had mitral valve repair and installation of a mechanical On-X aortic valve, using a full sternotomy. I found cardiac rehab to be very useful, but I could have recovered without it if I had needed to.

My cardiac rehab put me on a 6 lead heart monitor for each session so they could watch for any issues. It also included useful classes and positive reinforcement from other motivated patients and nurses.

I suggest using a good heart monitor device while exercising, training where you can quickly get help if you have a problem, and learning about a heart healthy lifestyle.

I had minimally invasive surgery, though mine was a repair rather than a replacement, and I was surprised by how weak I was after the surgery and how long it took me to get back to normal energy levels (around six months). Having your heart cut open and rearranged and being on the bypass machine for hours are pretty dramatic "insults" to the body and it can take a while to recover.

Cardiac rehab wasn't offered to me, though I wish it had been. I just went back to exercising carefully and gradually.

Enjoy your holidays!

This forum is great but it’s still probably best to work with your cardiologist to determine what’s right for you IMHO.

However I will share my thoughts and experiences. I’m 11 weeks post op for a mitral valve repair, a maze, and left atrium appendage closure. It was done open heart so odds are your recovery will be quicker than mine. But my recovery is going faster than I expected.

I was out of the hospital after 5 days and doing short walks in the neighborhood a couple of days later. I was able to get into a rehab program just 2 weeks after my surgery. It’s 3 times a week and I’ve been to 20 sessions.

I believe the 36 sessions is considered the maximum because that’s what most insurance companies will cover, or at least in my case Medicare. In my group it appears few go for the full 36 but it’s rare for anyone to do less than 12. I believe that’s because most doctors want people to do at least 12.

Case in point…my neighbor. He had open heart surgery a month before me, but wasn’t able to get into rehab for 2 months. His surgery was bypass x3. Other than the heart problem he was in good shape so after 2 months he had already done quite a bit of recovery on his own. In class he was much further along than others who were just entering the program. Enough so he felt he could do more on his own. After 10 sessions he wanted to stop but did go on to finish 12, the minimum his doctor recommended. I’ve talked to him since and he said that as much as he thought he’d do the exercises at home, the class was better. He regretted stopping early. He also missed out on having a session with a nutritionist and other educational talks.

Which brings me to the parts other than exercise as part of rehab. Education. I’ve received considerable information about nutrition, the heart, its reapair, appropriate exercises, and what the meds I’m taking are doing. Plus there is a social side to it. It's great to meet people who are going though something similar.

During our sessions we wear 3 wire monitors. The therapists keep a close eye on the readouts during our exercise and recovery periods. They also check our O2 levels before and during exercise.

In my opinion it’s best to get rehab as soon as possible so you can be monitored while starting your recovery. My therapists take an active role when they see any problems whether it’s with the ecg, how you’re feeling or with the meds. I’ve seen them call people’s GPs, cardiologists, and pharmacists to help straighten things out.

For home I’d suggest having a pulse oximeter, a good blood pressure monitor and also some light barbells or resistance bands. For me my Apple watch is great for tracking my pulse rate. Actually it’s how things started for me. It reported Afib even though I had zero symptoms. It’s such a relief to have the watch no longer detecting Afib .

Bottom line…rehab might interfere with this holiday season but it might just help insure there are more holiday seasons in the future.

Take care.

Like others here, I’ve had 3 valve replacement surgeries and no cardiac rehab. My last surgery was long, but when I went home I was told to walk. So I walked my neighborhood, starting with short walks and adding time every couple of days. That was 2009, so now it seems cardiac rehab is what many people have.
I would ask your doctor and find out if walking is okay!

Joya said:

My cardiologist wants me to start cardio rehab, which I just learned is a 12 week program. Can this be safely postponed until after the holidays? I would need to make living arrangements to be in the US for a solid three-month period.

Click to expand...

It sounds like you had a recent surgery? (I'm not seeing this information in your post or bio.) My impression is that the rehab recommendation depends on the level of fitness and age. I didn't have it, but I was relatively young (early 50s). It's hard for me to be helpful here, since the decision to delay or not is going to be a guesstimate.

You mentioned are remote area... If indeed you had a recent surgery, being around big cities may help in case of late complications.

Hi Colo and welcome to the forum

Just to be clear: what I said above was to answer this specific question:

Can this be safely postponed until after the holidays?

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so when I said

pellicle said:

So yes, I believe you'll be fine without it.
Slow and steady wins the "race"

Click to expand...

I was answering her specific question of postponement, not "never going". To my mind yes it can be, especially if doing the walking and paying attention to your situation. Cardiac Rehab is no excuse for not doing exersize and for not contacting your Dr if you notice things (which maybe they don't).

Colo Artist said:

After 10 sessions he wanted to stop but did go on to finish 12, the minimum his doctor recommended. I’ve talked to him since and he said that as much as he thought he’d do the exercises at home,

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this is a key point, following through ... this also especially applies to medication. We know from research that in the main people just don't keep taking their medication. I find its far worse with following through with physiotherapy (just talking with physiotherapists over the years). People should, but people don't.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3063305/


I have a friend who's a pharmacist (owns and runs his own pharmacy) and he's very vocal about this.

Best Wishes

I had regular open heart surgery on 10/16 (MVR, tricuspid repair, Maze procedure and LAAL) so similar timeline. I am in cardiac rehab now and it's reassuring to have the monitoring as I do different exercises, plus just the structure and accountability. The nutrition and workshops are helpful too. Mine even has live cooking demos where we get to eat (fancy right?).

That said I think you could make progress on your own, I would see if maybe they'd put a structured at-home rehab program together for you to bridge the gap. I would also see if delaying would impact insurance coverage and what the doc says about the delay. And how serious they are about 12 weeks straight and policy on absences. Are we talking gone for 2 weeks? 6 weeks? big difference

pellicle said:

Hi Joya and welcome


yeah, I think there is far too much "sales pitch" on stuff over there (that whole continent right down to the lowest tip of Chile



there was no such thing as Cardiac rehab on the 3 OHS's I've had ('74, '92, '11) and I just followed through with exersize myself and used basic tools like checking my HR, not going harder than I felt and so on. Heck there was nothing like metoprolol or other beta blockers either. For reference I'm 60 now.

These things (rehab) take time and really in the first few weeks I think the best rehab is walking and keeping active and deep slow (think yoga) breathing.

As I'm walking I breath in as deep as I can (per step: in -2, 3, 4, 5, 6 then out 2, 3, 4 ...)

So yes, I believe you'll be fine without it.
Slow and steady wins the "race"

Best wishes

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Thanks! I appreciate the encouragement!

Joya said:

Thanks

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welcome

have a good holiday, and practice walking and good deep cyclic breathing. Don't over do it and look for anything "weird" or "out of the ordinary"

Wishing you an uneventful recovery