How long does "full" rehabilitation take?

[jds]

Hello -

I had a mitral valve replacement the end of May 2007. I have been dedicated about diet, meds, and exercise since I left the hospital. I do running, a little biking (weather not cooperative yet), weights, and rock climbing.

I feel like I have gotten back into pretty good shape. Weight lifting and climbing are almost as good as pre-surgery. But my running times are not very good. I can run now at about a 9:30 per mile pace. I used to be able to do 8:00. I know part of it is age (I turned 60 last November) but I wonder how much more improvement to anticipate.

I'm not complaining. 40 years ago I would have been dead. But I want my expectations to be reasonable. My cousin, an MD, says full recovery can take years. Can anyone tell me their experience?

Thanks -

John

 

[tprice54]

Full?

Full?

Ok, I can say that I'll take your times over mine! My aortic valve replacement was 1/07 and am I back running, but not as fast. Some others (Kodi) have been able to get back up to speed in a year. 4 months prior to surgery I ran a half marathon in 2:10. I am running one May 4th and will be glad to break 2:30. I know for myself the difference is my lung/heart rate capacity. My legs and everything else want to go faster, but I get out of breath/160+ HR if I listen to them!
In hind sight, I wished I had spent more time getting faster the first year rather than going longer.....

 

[ALCapshaw2]

I'm not a runner but do live in the country and did a LOT of yardwork by hand (pushmowing large areas, Bow Sawing Trees, etc.) as part of my exercise program.

It took 18 months before I felt I had reached my maximum 'surgical benefit'. It could be argued that the last 6 months or so of that were more a matter of 'reconditioning' than surgical recovery.

 

[SumoRunner]

I never did run well again after AVR, that was 1991 at age 43. One year pre-surgery my 5K time was about 21, one year after it was 25. But then I never really put full effort into either training or racing afterwards.

A whole host of things were different though. I gained weight. I was on a beta blocker which has the effect of trimming the top end off your heart rate. I was much more cautious and full of self-doubt in both training and racing. Mostly, I wallowed in self-pity and set myself up for failure.

Back in 91 there was no internet to find others in a similar situation. As far as I knew, I was the only one who ever tried to get back into running after AVR. So I spent a decade considering myself handicapped and never really tried very hard. But looking back I can see that about 1 year out I should have been ready to push again. I suspect I could have gotten back into fairly decent shape, maybe not 21 minutes but close.

I only recently began running a weekly interval session for the first time in 18 years. Last year I dropped my 5K time from 34 to 30 mins by dropping 40 lbs. This year I'm on a quest to drop another 4 minutes.

At 60, 8 minutes per mile won't usually win you any trophies (not in my area anyway) but it'll put you in a respectable position.

 

[BillCobit]

Hi John

I had mitral valve repair in January 2002. I seemed to reach my full recovery in summer 2003. Since then, I haven't been able to get any faster, but I haven't gotten slower either (good thing, because that would mean I'm going in reverse).

 

[MikeHeim]

I'll let you know. I had my surgery 2.5 years ago, and I certainly wouldn't categorize my recovery as "full" yet. At 13 months post-op, I ran a half-marathon in 1:56, which was at least 15 minutes slower than I had ever run one before - but still not a time that I was displeased by given the circumstances. I then hurt my back skiing and missed out on a whole summer of training, so I don't know how much better I could have gotten. One easy question is to ask about your meds. Are you on a beta-blocker? What is your dose? Anything over 50mg/day really slowed me down - and I believe that any amount can cause an issue. The main beta-blocker symptoms for me was a "heavy" feeling in my legs and decreased my overall endurance.

 

[jds]

No beta blocker

No beta blocker

Hello -

In response about meds.

I took a beta blocker for about 3 months post surgery - small dose (12.5 mg of metoprolol). Then I pushed my doctor to switch me to something else. He did and I am now on a small dose (5mg) of lysinopril - an ACE inhibitor. BP is good so I'll stay with that. I have briefly gotten my pulse up to 163 or so exercising but normally keep it under 155.

Other meds are relatively minor - 20mg simvastatin for cholesterol, baby aspirin, 1000mg niacin for triglycerides plus eye drops (xalatan and cosopt) for glaucoma.

I'm going to start doing one speed/interval workout a week and try to get my speed better. "Speed" for me probably means a 2:00 quarter.

John

 

[SumoRunner]

I'm going to start doing one speed/interval workout a week and try to get my speed better. "Speed" for me probably means a 2:00 quarter.

I'm not quite that fast but I recently turned 60 also. I ran my 3rd weekly interval session today after work. This one called for 4x800 meters. I had done a couple 400m intervals last week in just about 2:10 and some 200's under 1 min, so I was aiming for 4:30. As I noted before it's been 18 years since I did these track workouts so I was somewhat apprehensive knowing this was going to push into territory I haven't seen in a very long time. OK, let's be honest, scared.

I did OK though, 4:35 - 4:27 - 4:27 - 4:25, just slightly better than I hoped but I have a lot to relearn about pacing. The 1st lap was about 2:10 each time and slowed significantly on the 2nd laps. But then that's the purpose of doing these things, to get the feel of the pace. I think now the fear is going to dissipate as I work through this plan over the next couple months. I'm beginning to feel more confident already.

 

[tprice54]

Ace

Ace

Just a note that my ace inhibitor causes some problems in the heat. When you sweat profusely, your blood vessels need to constrict to make up for the lost blood volume...but the drug inhibits that constricting....I get dizzy and don't feel very good for 5-10 minutes after a run in the heat. I'm down to 4mg, and it still happens. As long as I recognize it, I can deal.....it beats the alternative!