AVR and bicycling...looking for experiences

[Fast Eddie]

Hi all

I'm new to the forums, having first posted last week in the pre-surgery forum. I am currently scheduled for ascending aortic aneurysm repair on May 8. I have been diagnosed with some AV stenosis, but at this time the feeling is that they won't make a final decision on valve replacement till the covers are off.

So I need to decide up front whether I would go with mechanical or tissue should the surgeon decide the valve is not worth saving.

I am leaning toward the On-X at this point mostly because I don't want to have OHS again at 70+ years. (I'm just 60 now).

But one of the great passions of my life is bicycling. Not racing, but faster day rides. Sometimes in a pace line. When I'm in good shape I will be riding at an average of 18-20 mph. And doing anywhere from 30-35 miles on shorter rides to 90-100 mile charity rides.

I have some concern about being on Coumadin and crashing on the road. I don't go down often, but it can happen, as any cyclist knows.

Are there any other riders out there willing to share their experiences? From the little I've explored so far there are some folks who are riding with mechanical valves.

Ed "Fast Eddie" Friedman

 

[tprice54]

welcome

welcome

Eddie, welcome. Hopefully others will chime in for biking, as I mostly run. Glad your cath went smoothly. If you want to go over valve selection ,go to that forum and you'll see plenty!
You'll be back biking in no time, but I think it's best to have a 12 month goal out there to train to post op. My AVR was 1/25/07, and I'm looking at a marathon in January 08 or Novenember 08....

 

[kbheart]

Hi Ed,
I'm still bicycling. I wear a helmet and take it easy. There were several men in my cardiac rehab class that were still biking with friends after surgery. I think you just need to be more careful about falls. Wear that helmet and if you do fall, get checked out by a doctor. Heck, people fall in the shower or get in car accidents while on warfarin and survive. You can fall anywhere so why not fall while riding a bike with the wind rushing by you through the beautiful countryside. Good luck with the surgery!

 

[67walkon]

Ed, I think I saw your similar post somewhere else. I'm 57 (and 1/2, but who's counting?) and doing similar stuff. Last weekend, for example, I did the MS 150 from Miami to Key Largo.

I have the same concerns. Right now, I'm asymptomatic, but my AV is at 1 cm, so it won't be long.

Bike riders fall. Especially people on road bikes doing the mileage and speeds you're doing. Subject to meeting with the surgical people at Shands, my personal thoughts are that some of the tissue valves are now lasting 15 to 20 years, the techniques are improving all the time and I'll take my chances on a much better methodology being developed down the road. Heck, if they can do the minimally invasive thing without cutting our sternums, we'll just be healthy 75 or 80 year olds instead of healthy whatever our ages are now.

I was off and on coumadin for an arrythmia problem a few years ago. The problem was pretty much fixed by getting off caffine and taking a really good med. Personally, I didn't like it. They had to give me really large amounts to get my blood levels up high enough to suit them. I tend to get a lot of little nicks working on my old British car and stuff like that, so I don't want to be on coumadin if I can avoid it.

That is my 2 cents worth.

John

 

[mntbiker]

Hi Eddie,
I just replied to a different thread of yours. Yes, you can fall and be on warfarin and live to tell the tale. MarkU has had a couple of good falls, here is one of the threads where he was talking about it:

http://www.valvereplacement.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19085

I have tissue so can't share any personal experience.

AdamT is another roadie that has a mechanical and rides rather seriously, I haven't seen him around for a while but you could PM him.

Welcome and keep the rubber side down.

 

[MarkU]

Hi Eddie,
I just replied to a different thread of yours. Yes, you can fall and be on warfarin and live to tell the tale. MarkU has had a couple of good falls, here is one of the threads where he was talking about it:

http://www.valvereplacement.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19085

.

That guy must be a real klutz...oh, it's me

Best advice is to wear a good helmet and ride defensively.

Mark

 

[67walkon]

Eddie, I saw a guy go down this morning. He was headed south while I was going north. Boom! He was down, without a helmet, bleeding all over the road. Fortunately, the bleeding slowed to a trickle pretty quickly so I wasn't faced with a difficult decision. He busted or dislocated his shoulder or collarbone, messed up some ribs and got a pretty small gash on his head, but is okay.

I'm gonna fight for a tissue valve for just that reason. Sooner or later, we're gonna fall. I don't want my brain banging around inside my head, especialliay if I'm on Coumadin, so that means no coumadine if possible. But the good news is that in almost 4,000 miles since I started riding again last August, I haven't had a single fall! But I will, and so will you.

 

[Fast Eddie]

No helmet, huh?

No helmet, huh?

John

Yeah, I hear ya. It's all a judgment call. No clear answers.

So this guy didn't have a helmet? That's just idiotic. If one has enough time to react you can KIND of control your fall and mabe protect your noggin. Not sure I could. But I NEVER ride without a helmet.

I went down on the road two years ago. I was last in a four man paceline and someone up front swerved to avoid a pothole. Then someone else put brakes on. I never had a chance. My shoulder and knee took the worst of it. There was some scraping on my helmet, though.

I suspect I will give up pacelining and riding in large groups. Too much chance for error in those cases.

For me the idea of another OHS at 70+ is just too unattractive...

Fast Eddie

 

[MarkU]

John

Yeah, I hear ya. It's all a judgment call. No clear answers.

So this guy didn't have a helmet? That's just idiotic. If one has enough time to react you can KIND of control your fall and mabe protect your noggin. Not sure I could. But I NEVER ride without a helmet.

I went down on the road two years ago. I was last in a four man paceline and someone up front swerved to avoid a pothole. Then someone else put brakes on. I never had a chance. My shoulder and knee took the worst of it. There was some scraping on my helmet, though.

I suspect I will give up pacelining and riding in large groups. Too much chance for error in those cases.

For me the idea of another OHS at 70+ is just too unattractive...

Fast Eddie

I agree. When I had my big crash last year I was doing about 20 mph when I hit a patch of sand. I just bounced down the road like a rag doll. It all seemed like it was in slow motion at the time and I can distinctly remember my head bouncing off the road a couple of times. My helmet was cracked and flat on one side but did what it was supposed to do. I shudder to think about the outcome if I had not been wearing it, especially with the Coumadin.
Mark

 

[67walkon]

Different kind of bike!

We all crash on bicycles, unfortunately.

Tomorrow I'm headed up to the UF Medical Center to do a consult with their surgical team to see what they say. I hope the 15 to 20 years on tissue valves is right and I hope they develop a really less invasive way to do them between now and then. But, in 15 years I'll be 72, and who knows what might get me before then!

 

[Bionic Man]

Had to get a artificial valve but hasn't slowed me down

Had to get a artificial valve but hasn't slowed me down

I enjoyed the rehab after surgery which is a mixture of exercises including the stationary bike. It wasn't long before I was riding for very long stretches. Personally, I think biking would be a fantastic activity and certainly is great cardio unless you're expecting bone-breaking crashes.

For me being on warfarin, I have broken ribs playing basket ball and had scrapes and bruises, but my bleeding/bruising has not been substantially different. Others may have experienced something different.

If you're given the option of a non-mechanical valve then perhaps that's something you could look into but some of us never get that choice due to other issues.

I hope whatever you do after your surgery that you don't give up being active.

I personally have chosen to live my life and enjoy the things I enjoy. Life, for me, is too short to not live it.


David