I've crossed the line into severe and need to make a decision

[Michael O]

How about switching to a more "gentle" form of martial art like Aikido which resembles some of the fighting methods found in Jujitsu, Judo and Krav Maga? There is no punching or sparing so you should be able to fully participate.

Well, I can still coach MT, but just won't spar.

 

[Chuck C]

Week 16 post surgery update- Do bee stings affect INR?

Feeling great. If anyone who has not yet had their surgery comes across this thread, please know that things do return to normal and you will feel 100% before you know it.

Ticking: I have become totally acclimated to it. I don't hear it unless I breath deep. If I think to listen for it, I can also hear it when I go to bed, but it does not bother me- it kind of lulls me to sleep. No one else can hear the ticking, except my wife when she rests her head on my chest. She says she likes the sound and finds it comforting.

Warfarin: I started self monitoring my INR about 10 days after surgery and it has been really simple. For me taking warfarin is just a pill and has not had any significant downside, other than giving up heavy sparring in boxing, which is for the best at my age anyway.

I've returned my to my pre-surgery exercise volume, but just not as intense. I climb Mt. Monserate frequently and hit the gym 5 days per week. I started weight lifting again 3 weeks ago, but am taking it easy for now. No need to push things. I'll wait to get my cardiologist's green light before lifting harder.

Set some goals for the next few months: Lose 8 pounds, lift 3 times/week and take at least 14,000 steps/day. So far I am keeping up with the step goal and the weightlifting. The weight has hardly budged, but I think that may be in part because I have built some muscle back with the strength training. I could not fit into my waist 32 shorts 2 weeks ago and now they fit, despite the scale not budging much, so I think I have perhaps moved the weight a little away from the places that I don't want it to the places that I do.

Heart rate. I've seen some normalization the past few weeks. Resting heart rate is often now in the 60s and even in the high 50s now and then. I still get readings in the 70s too, so it certainly is not completely back to normal.

Do bee stings raise INR?

About once a year we get a bee hive on the property. They love the underground irrigation valve boxes. I usually leave them alone unless they are in area where they might cause problems. It turns out that I have a valve leak right next to the hive and so I needed to remove the bees. If I'm going to get a valve leak, I'll take the irrigation valve leak any day over a heart valve The hive is also in the dog area and it was probably just a matter of time before they got into trouble.

I promised my daughter that I would remove them humanely and relocate them. These days there is now a DIY YouTube video for just about everything. Give it enough time and I'm sure someone will post a DIY video for valve surgery. So I watched a video, then donned my mosquito hat with protective face netting, from my backpacking days, put on long pants and a hooded sweatshirt then went to work. I flipped open the box lid with a shovel- they were pretty pissed off, see video below.
I first tried to fill the box with water, but this did not work, as it just ran out the holes in the bottom of the box where the PVC comes in and out.
So, plan B- I vacuumed them out with my Shop Vac and then set them free out on the meadow behind us. We planned to eat the honeycomb and there was over 5 pounds of it. But, it had bee grubs all throughout. Turns out that bee keepers use a mesh that allows the worker bees to get to the honeycomb, but the holes are too small for the queen, so she can't lay her eggs in it. I had no idea. They are actually safe to eat and apparently are a delicacy in some cultures. Thanks, but I'll pass! If I was lost in the woods in survival mode, ok I'd do it, but until that happens I'll pass on the bee larvae for now

No stings! So, I guess science will have to wait to find out about the INR question

 

[pellicle]

Week 16 post surgery update- Do bee stings affect INR?

Really good question. Please do post back.

 

[BillDaThrill]

Great to hear your are doing so well Chuck C! Am encouraged to see your progress as I'm about 11 weeks behind you. My wife too, likes to listen to my valve. I've also been doing a lot of hiking though not anything like that steep assault you do regularly on that mountain. I am up to 140 miles walked in the month since my release from the Cleveland Clinic so I'm chugging along pretty well. I've started cardiac rehab so I hope that helps with the heart rate normalization as well. All seems to be coming together really nicely. Have replaced my dread of surgery with that of my dread of returning to work (ha!) - but in the mean time am truly enjoying recovery as it sounds like you are (minus the bees). Keep on healing!

 

[Chuck C]

Really good question. Please do post back.

We might have to wait for that data. Due to my high tech bee suit, I was able to relocate the bees with no stings. See below photo.

Some bee trivia, which may not be so trivial for you if you plan to relocate bees:

Why do beekeepers always wear white suits?

Bees have evolved to defend themselves against bears and other animals that want to eat their honey. These animals have dark fur, so the bee's DNA is coded to be aggressive against these natural enemies, making them much less likely to be aggressive against those wearing lighter clothing.

Ready for battle

 

[Michael O]

Additional beekeeping trivia - biggest thing that made our beekeeping tasks easier? Paying a lot of attention to when we eat bananas. Isoamyl acetate filtered through humans = bee enemy.

 

[Chuck C]

Additional beekeeping trivia - biggest thing that made our beekeeping tasks easier? Paying a lot of attention to when we eat bananas. Isoamyl acetate filtered through humans = bee enemy.

So, don't eat bananas prior to handling bees?

 

[Michael O]

Yep - instant aggro draw if you've had a banana in the prior 24 hours.

 

[Chuck C]

Yep - instant aggro draw if you've had a banana in the prior 24 hours.

Ok, glad we got that clarified. I was not clear from the first post if that meant to eat bananas prior to relocating the bees or abstain from bananas. I still have one more hive on my property. Had I interpreted it the wrong way, and eaten a bunch of bananas prior to relocating them, well, Pellicle might have gotten the bee sting INR data after all

 

[Michael O]

Ah - sorry. Based on my reading, and a some personal experiences, if you'd eaten a "bunch", your INR data would be the least of your problems, even w/o any existing allergies...

 

[Michael O]

@Chuck C , Have you had any heavy bag/mitt work sessions yet? Thinking about my post-surgery fitness regimen and was wondering how long the open chest would preclude non-contact bag/mitt work?

 

[Chuck C]

@Chuck C , Have you had any heavy bag/mitt work sessions yet? Thinking about my post-surgery fitness regimen and was wondering how long the open chest would preclude non-contact bag/mitt work?

Hi Michael,
Yes, I’ve done a few rounds on the heavy bag. No problem whatsoever. I did my first post surgery rounds on the bag after about 12 weeks. Keep in mind that I had a mini-sternotomy. A full sternotomy might take a little longer.

 

[Michael O]

Appreciate that, and all of your other help/guidance.

...I'm 4 weeks from surgery and you can tell I already have withdrawals... .

 

[Chuck C]

.I'm 4 weeks from surgery and you can tell I already have withdrawals... .

Yes, I can see that, lol.

You'll be on the other side and on your way to recovery before you know it. I've been coming to terms with the fact that I am really going to miss the sparring for kickboxing and boxing. But, as we've discussed, it is for the best. I am very active on warfarin and I'm sure you will be too. I am now doing moderate/hard cardio work outs 6 days/week, and lifting 3-4 days. Rode some pretty big waves with my boogie board on Thursday and really got knocked around hard by one that I was a little late on and spilled me over the top . I was fine. I was thinking, "Hey, if I can get smashed by a wave and tossed and tumbled for 50 feet, maybe I'll do fine with hard sparring." lol, No, not worth the risk. I've already been hit up by one of my students that I taught BJJ in my garage, wondering when we were going to resume classes, so I'll probably start up teaching again soon. Teaching more so than training and I'm fine with that, but pad work and bag work; can't see any issue with that.

 

[Chuck C]

.I'm 4 weeks from surgery and you can tell I already have withdrawals... .

Since you're in the martial arts world, you can appreciate this.

I have 3 friends who are active MMA fighters in the UFC. All three of them are fighting on the same UFC card on July 31. The favored fighter in the main event, Sean Strickland, cornered me in my first fight, along with Alex who is Sean's coach. Sam Alvey also cornered me in that fight, and he is fighting on that same card. I am also friends with Ashley Yoder, who is fighting as well.

They all fight several times per year, but with 724 active UFC fighters, the odds of all three of them fighting on the same night is astronomical. Given the number of fighting slots, I ran the numbers and came up with about 1/27,000! The three of them are more active than most on the roster, but if I handicap the probability, I still come up with at least 1/1,000 odds.

 

[Michael O]

re: MMA buddies - that's very cool. Good luck to all.

re: activity - Thanks - that's reassuring. The next area of concern is whether at 8 weeks post-surgery, I'll be smart about the winterizing tasks - brush clearing, putting the backpack leaf blower on my back, running everything through the grinder. Not excited about having someone else do that, but I'm guessing that if I go slowly, I can do everything but the leaf blower.

 

[Chuck C]

The next area of concern is whether at 8 weeks post-surgery, I'll be smart about the winterizing tasks -

I would really encourage you not to push the activities. I was feeling really good, even just a couple weeks out of surgery, and really had to use self control not to get back to activities too quickly that would stress my sternum or my system. The last thing you want to do is to stress your system and spring a paravalvular leak, while your sutures are still in the healing process, or re-crack your sternum. I would plan ahead of time to hire someone else and line them up, so that you are not tempted. Letting yourself heal an extra few weeks to play it safe is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I remember when I was young I cracked my ribs playing goal keeper, after a collision. 4 weeks later they felt just fine and I was doing bar dips- something which puts a lot of stress on the ribs. They re-cracked and I was back to ground zero.

 

[Michael O]

YES! Cracked ribs suck. I added at least a year to my white>blue BJJ belt time b/c I was stupid about a rib injury.

Point taken re: a few extra weeks. Rehab time for every serious injury I've ever had has been inversely dependent on how smart I was about babying it. "Slow" winds up being fast. In 5 years, I'll think of this rehab time as a blip.

I appreciate you, brother.

 

[Michael O]

Man, I'm a whiny SOB. Just realized I should get a local shop to do my winter/summer tire swap, too.

 

[dick0236]

Man, I'm a whiny SOB. Just realized I should get a local shop to do my winter/summer tire swap, too.

Hi Michael
You're not whiny. Your question is very legitimate and we all want to know what the hell we are getting into. Your body will let you know when you can do things......and you will be able to do, pretty much, all you do now. I remember digging a post-hole, for a rural mailbox, with a manual post-hole digger about 10 weeks after my surgery.......just to prove I could.......I survived but I do recall having a sore back and ribs for a while. I like the advice I was given several decades ago......"You can only eat this elephant one bite at a time".