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Yeah, normal is not a word we use much around here. Few of us knew what that was even before surgery. I was a runner for a couple decades, so I was anxious to get back into running condition. I could go out and walk a mile the day I got out of hospital, then 3, then 4, but waited the prescribed...

In the late 80s, I asked my cardiologist when and how he would know it was time. He said I would know before he did. I was a runner for a long time and he was aware that I was rather competitive about it. He knew it would come to a matter of athletic performance. Some years later there was a...

I never monitored my exercise HR. I was a runner decades before wearable devices were invented. I used a sun dial for short distances and a calendar for longer ones in the beginning. I ran by feel. I was enamored of the mile on a track. Ran many, many races from 200 meters up to 2 miles...

I've been online since the beginning of network time and have been a member of many forums on several different subjects. I don't recall when I connected here, perhaps 2006-7, but one thing I have noticed over and over is that the purely textual bulletin board format has fallen out of favor as...

My cardiologist told me after a few months healing that I could go back to doing whatever I had been. I had been running a 6 minute mile or about 20 flat for 5K (1991, age 43). Still, I was very tentative in the beginning. It took many years to assure myself that I was not over extending. There...

I have nothing to add to what these guys said. Was wondering if you are in the 100th ARW? My wife and I are going to the 100th bomb group reunion next month. Her father was a pilot in a B17 in WW2 and we've done a lot of research into their goings on. Our nephew, Mike Hirata, his grandson, was...

There could be something about your surgery they didn't tell you. I had a very rough time getting back in shape. It took 12 weeks to work up to running one mile non-stop and I continued to struggle. At my next appointment with the cardiologist I drove it home that I had expected to do better. He...

Too late to second what Pellicle said, so I'll third it. Wait the requisite 6 weeks. I was itching to get back to it after 4-5 weeks but my wife threatened to club me if I didn't get the Drs clearance. He said it was good that I felt so well but wait the friggin' 6 weeks. I was amazed at how...

In Guinness or not, you're our record holder and our anchor. Congrats ****.

Doing very well. What I'll do today is babysit one of the grandsons, maybe go to the park, maybe the pool, take a nap, you know, important stuff. But first some pushups, some squats, and walk a few miles. I'm unable to run any longer due to arthritis in the spine, and even biking beyond 10 miles...

I'm another 26 year guy. I got a mechanical valve the first time, so it has never been replaced. My life has been the same after as before. I made no alteration to my lifestyle at all. I was a runner before and kept running, including hundreds of road, trail, and track races, until arthritis...

I have a 16oz whey protein shake every morning and eggs at least 3x a week, so my diet is high in albumin, but my INR is quite stable. This past winter, I joined a masters swim team for workouts twice a week. For the first several weeks I found I was getting severe foot and leg muscle cramps...

Yeah, think about what if sites like this didn't exist. I don't know when this forum began. I first found it in 2006 and my valve was already 15 years old by then. Like Protimenow, I had it replaced in 91 and there was nowhere to turn for advice, before or after. Use the experiences of people...

Doesn't matter when you get the news, or how long you've known, it's still scary. I was 10 when I first learned I had a valve problem, 15 when I first heard surgery would eventually be needed. Knew it pretty much my whole life, but at 42 when the cardio said it was time for a replacement, I was...

Gradually return to your normal training regimen. You'll be slower of course, much slower at first, but you'll come around. I never ran marathons, more of a trackie, and didn't run another road race until 5 mo. post-AVR, then I stayed in the 3-3.5 mile range until a year out. I bumped it up to...

Here's something I wrote for my road runners club in 1991. I bet little has changed in 26 years. Old Jack's Back Again. I RAN A MILE TODAY! And boy it felt good. Not running it though, that felt horrible. You know, the burning lungs, the aching legs. I mean after I did it, then it felt good...

Neither this forum, nor any others existed when I had my AVR. I went years without other valvers to commiserate with. I found this site at around the same time as you, and boy was I happy. Finally someone, some group, who could understand what I experienced. I still check in daily.

You're young. I don't know how long tissue valves are supposed to last these days, but when I was deciding which one, at age 42, it was said that pig valves lasted 10-15 years. Had I not chosen the mechanical valve I would have been on my third replacement by now. I did not want to go through...

I don't think I ever had wires holding me together. I can recall having staples which were taken out after just a few weeks with a pair of pliers. It was a couple years before I did pushups again, but it's so long ago now I don't know when. I used to do maybe two sets of 25 each morning prior to...

Did the second swim meet today. A little faster on one event, a little slower on the other. There are very few swim meets to get to without driving 2 or 3 hours, as opposed to road races where you can find 2 or 3 nearby every weekend. So it will be June before I get to do the next one, an open...