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Donna, you'll be fine. I was kind of in a similar place; they told me the valve needed watching and I knew some day, hopefully about a hundred years from now, I would need surgery! In May of this year, my hundred years turned into two months and they did my surgery on July 6. It is not the...

It sounds like you need to be a little careful, stay out of groups or pace lines, and try not to fall. It should only be for a few relatively short, slow rides, so I think I will risk it. Anyone who rides a bike without a helmet, coumadin user or not, is crazy. Thanks. John

I always wear a helmet! In May, I think it was, I saw a guy do a header without a helmet. I called 911; fortunately, he did not have a bad head injury, but he did bleed quite a bit. Ross, is there any information on this? The issue as I understand it is bleeding inside the skull, even with...

For any of you people with mechanical valves who are riding bikes or doing anything similar, has anyone quantified the risk of cerbral hemorrage from a head blow? I know that some guys, like Fast Eddie and others, are riding while taking coumadin. There may be a few weeks when I am otherwise...

Justin, this was a great post! I'm 6 weeks out and have some of the same concerns. The surgeon told me I could start doing more at 6 weeks, although nothing serious until 8 weeks. I wasn't running much, except on a basketball court, pre-surgery, but I was biking 400 to 500 miles a month...

Justin, I had the full stenotomy a couple of months after you. My incision hasn't ever hurt much. I experienced som of the same sensations you did when it felt like my rib cage was still expanding. Driving causes some minor tweaks. This morning, I jogged a little bit while walking, just to...

Sandy, it is controllable. Go to affibers.org for some great info on afib. I had a maze procedure as part of my AVR/Aneurism surgery. In the first week post surgery, I had 3 episodes of afib, one of which landed my in the local podunk hospital. It has been just over a month since then and I...

Dr. Beaver Rocks!

Sounds like everything went great. Thanks for sharing about the emotions--I was like that going in to my surgery! It is hard for guys to let their feelings show, so congrats on that too. Now just heal! John

David, I hope your problem has one away! Like Wayne says, if there is a problem, better to catch it there than at home! Let us know what is going on. I'll pray for you. John

After 33+ years of doing pretty the same job, I wasn't all that motivated before! It was much better this past week. I don't seem to need the naps or anything, at least not most days. I'm getting there. John

Kodi, that is great. What was your HR pre surgery? And how long did it take to come back down after surgery? I'm running about 20 BPM over my presurgery rate, with a resting HR in the 60's instead of the 40's. I'm not running marathons anymore, but I have been doing a lot of 50+ bike rides...

A nice young Puerto Rican girl in my office is trying to get me to get a tatoo incorporating my new sternum scar. I have resisted. John

That "again" stuff sucks. I went into our local version of Podunk General just 3 or 4 days after getting home and they tried to kill me. Long story. At 6 weeks, I think I still have a bit of that effusion or something, as I can feel something down there when I take really deep breaths...

I think you can travel earlier. My surgery was 4 hours from home. The drive home was a piece of cake, and that was less than a week after surgery. You just have to get up and walk around (in a plane) every hour or so to avoid DVT, or clots in your legs. I would say you could fly in 3 or 4...

There are no stupid questions here! There are a lot of great answers, however. Welcome to our wonderful world. The next few weeks will be worse for you than the weeks after surgery; everybody told me that, and I didn't believe them. The surgery isn't fun, but it isn't all that bad and it...

It's all downhill now! Congrats and it is great to be home, isn't it. John

Barry, you will be fine. It sounds like you are in great shape and will recover quickly. My experience has been good. I didn't have any symptoms, but the surgeon made me take it easy after they discovered my aneurism. Still, I rode my road bike 15 miles at about 16.5 mph the morning of the...

Welcome home! You will be amazed at how quickly you recuperate! Except for the vent tube, sounds like you did really well. John

It is a bit over 5 weeks since my surgery. Last week, I started working almost full time and physically, I think I can work full time this week. But, my motivation level is so low. I feel guilty that I just don't feel like doing hardly anything at work when the other people here are working...