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Yes, but you are going much farther than me at this point! I envy you!

FYI, my mechanical AVR was right or a little under 2 hours.

Yesterday I ran a total of 1.6 miles... 1.1 of it at once at an 8:24/mile average pace. On top of that we tacked on another 4.8 miles of walking. Also, the cardy has cut my beta-blocker dose in half. I was having a little partial syncope when standing up, especially from squatting. I'm a...

Over 5 of the six miles was walking. Also, my sternum wasn't broken. The valve was replaced via a two inch incision between the second and third rib on the right.

I made the same decision you did to go ahead and do the surgery asap even though I could have waited months to years potentially. I went with the Medtronic Open Pivot mechanical valve. Taking coumadin is not as big of a deal as some may indicate. I'm still able to do everything I want to do...

I have the Garmin 405 running watch with HR monitor and it is always dead on with the old fashioned method.

How many surgeons did you interview?

That is correct. It is only for isolate valve (aortic or mitral) replacements.

My wife and I did 6 miles yesterday (post-op day 19) which was comprised of .75 miles of running (at a 9:20/mile pace) and the rest a brisk walk for a total of 6 miles. The running did tax my lungs in a good way. I could tell they were getting worked in a way that will help them improve. I...

I'm a runner and now a Marthon. I started from scratch years ago. I think the key for a lot of folks like yours to develop a consistent plan of gradual increases in distance - no more than 10% increase per week over the previous week. Don't worry about time too much now. How many miles per...

My pain was pretty minimal too. The worst pain was in my back from one of the drain tubes. That lasted about three days. The incision site was mostly just numb. Once the numbness wore off the musculo-skeletal pain wasn't that bad.

Here is it is about 14 days post op. No sternotomy = no broken bones. Smaller incision = less blood loss, less chance of infection and better cosmetic result.

Here is the scar about 10 days post op.

Maybe by the time you need one, you can grow one from your own stem cells...

It is a bit early to tell. I'll be able to do that in about 3-4 months or whenever I feel like I can max myself out in a short race. I have a Medtronic Open Pivot mechanical valve. I'm 38 years old though so it was an easy decision.

Thanks GymGuy! I have this delusional fantasy that, in about 3 months, I'll be able to crank out multiple miles between 6:00 and 6:15 with no trouble. That's probably not a reality since I was only doing 7:15 miles the week before surgery. But hey, at least I have a goal right? LOL... I am...

No aerobic exercise for 20 months? What was the reason for that?

This is THE way to do an isolated AVR. There is really no reason to do a sternotomy or mini-sternotomy anymore. The key is finding a surgeon that has enough experience with this approach. Mine had done 500 or more.

Here is a better version:

I do run by HR monitor but have not noticed any major fluctuation as you describe. I do understand the beta blockers can limit the max HR for some people. I haven't run hard enough to be able to tell. Here are my splits, Avg HR and max HR for my first run/walk: Split Time Dist. Avg...