My official post op thread

[kimcdougc]

Okay sood, I am not going to look at your status anymore post op. You are doing just great! My walks are far shorter in distance, albeit I am a few years older than you. lol. Oh well, one step at a time.

53 year old female, in the waiting room 9 years. Bicuspid Aortic Valve stenosis, AVR May 23, 2013, On-x 21 mm valve, Swedish Hospital, Cherry Hill location, Seattle, Wa. Dr. Glenn Barnhart.

 

[sood]

6 weeks post op today. This week they started me on some weight training in rehab. Also today I was able to get my heart rate up to 120 bpm on the treadmill, 42 beats above resting and felt just great. The weight and strength training is a bit hard as the sternum is still tender and healing. Still can't do anything related to chest related strength exercises. And everything else is still very low weight and low intensity.

My INR has stabilized around 2.5-2.7 (range is 2.0 - 3.0). I won't be getting poked again for another month, which is too long for my comfort level. But after 2 more months they can order me a home monitor and I'll monitor weekly at home.

All in all everything is going great, and I'm thankful I haven't experienced any complications. Excited to try a caffeinated beverage soon, since they said I had to wait 6 weeks.

I'll be returning to work full time next week, been working part time the past couple. Reducing cardiac rehab to one day a week so they can guide me on what to do on my own for the rest of the week. I'll be working out at my local gym an additional 4 days per week. Looking forward to getting the green light on light jogging soon.

 

[epstns]

Keep up the great work! Sounds like a textbook recovery for you.

Thanks for posting of your success. It helps the new folks realize that not everyone hits all the snags and bumps on the way back to their lives.

 

[Rachel]

So very happy for you!!!!!

Sounds like you're moving right along nicely - keep it up and you'll be jogging before you know it!

 

[sood]

Thank you Steve and Rachel!

I did have something weird happen to me the other night, after a really long day I sat with my legs on the table and they starting shaking. It lasted a good minute until I showed my wife and she told me to stand up. As soon as I stood up I felt fine and the shaking went away.

Has anyone ever experienced such a thing? I think I was just exhausted.

 

[kimcdougc]

Yep, you are doing quite a bit now working and your rehab. Remember to be kind to yourself.

 

[sood]

I convinced the therapist to let me jog today. She let me jog for 1 minute and it felt great!! I was able to convince her because they were monitoring my heart on the box today. I could have gone for longer. Everyone at rehab was having fun watching me since I haven't seen anyone jog in there. And they liked my on-x tshirt I wore today. On-x sent me a shirt and carbon ring.
Feeling better after my caffeine induced irregular heartbeat last week.
Also feeling a little better on the weights as my sternum is healing.

 

[canon4me]

sood, you sound like you are the yardstick by which others measure their own progress against. I am thrilled to hear that everything is going great and you are loving life. I made the mistake of having some caffeine yesterday and no afibs thank God, but only slept about two hours last night. I will be really happy when the night sweats stop because my wife is really giving the wash machine a workout. That should improve when my pericardial effusion clears up. Take care and your progress seems nothing short of phenomenol!

 

[Rachel]

I convinced the therapist to let me jog today. She let me jog for 1 minute and it felt great!! I was able to convince her because they were monitoring my heart on the box today. I could have gone for longer. Everyone at rehab was having fun watching me since I haven't seen anyone jog in there. And they liked my on-x tshirt I wore today. On-x sent me a shirt and carbon ring.
Feeling better after my caffeine induced irregular heartbeat last week.
Also feeling a little better on the weights as my sternum is healing.

I know that feeling!!!!

Way to go!

 

[SuzanneSLO]

You comments about cardio rehab mirror those of many other posters but still surprise me. I have no experience with cardio rehab but worked out in a physical therapy setting for more than a year. In PT, the range of abilities is everything from professional athletes to seniors trying to improve their ability to transfer from a wheelchair.
Is it true that cardio rehab focuses only at the low end of the fitness continuum? One would think that safely transitioning athletes back to their pre-surgery condition would be as valuable for cardio rehab as it s for PT. -- Suzanne

 

[sood]

Thanks Guys. Suzanne the problem with cardiac rehab that I see is that it is a one-size fits all program. No matter your age, type of heart issue, etc... But at the same time going there keeps me from doing something that can maybe hurt myself this early after surgery. The reality is that most everyone at the place I go to is in their 60's at least, most of them have not gone through open heart surgery. They are mostly people who have a heart issue that they haven't had any kind of operation on, or they have had minimally invasive procedures like stents put in.
I am only going there once per week now and going to my own gym 4 other times per week. I use the visit there to guide me on what I can do that week on my own. I feel like they have held me back for weeks, but they are following a protocol. And since I'm not training for the olympics or anything else for that matter, I'm following their extremely conservative guidelines.

To my amazement I also shot some hoops at Dave & Busters regular sized rims over the weekend. I started on the mini one and it felt fine so I just tried to toss a ball at the bigger basket and sternum was fine. I used to play basketball in high school although I don't play much anymore.

I have some info on my cardiac rehab progressions, I took photos of their charts they had me work through. Mainly the different treadmill work starting at 4 weeks post op and then bike stuff. I'm sending it to a couple people on this forum, if anyone else is interested please PM me your email and I will forward it to you.

 

[epstns]

Suzanne - If you go to a specialized cardiac rehab clinic, then they have the typical equipment used on cardio only. My rehab cohort was primarily people older than I (I was 63), many of whom had experienced heart attacks and bypass surgery. There was only one other valve patient. Although the range of equipment was small (primarily stationary bicycles and treadmills) they adjusted the intensity of activity to stress each patient to their limits. By the end of rehab, I was jogging about 11:00 miles, while others could only walk at much slower pace. I was also using heavier free weights than the others, although nowhere near the levels I had lifted pre-op. As long as the technicians are willing to push you, you can get a good workout. If you don't want to push, they rarely push you. I was usually the only guy to break a sweat. . .

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Steve: Thanks. That is what I was hoping to hear. Today I will be talking to my cardio about starting the process. -- Suzanne

 

[sood]

I celebrated 8 weeks post op and a late birthday for my wife by going to Vegas this past weekend. It was a much needed little getaway. We drove their and I realized that sitting in a car for a few hours resulted in poor circulation in the legs. But we stopped a few times. Also it was so hot in Vegas (around 115-120) that it was hard not to feel too tired. Energy was lacking a bit. But we had a great time.

I finally feel fully recovered from the caffeine overdose I previously wrote about. Had some funny soreness after that by my rib for a while. They let me jog for 3 minutes today at rehab so I'm going to work that into my treadmill routine. Weights are getting easier to lift and I'm slowly starting to increase them. Sternum is feeling pretty good but not 100% yet. I did do some chest related exercise planking on a medicine ball and doing rockers on the bosu today. Will probably start some light weights with the chest next week.

All in all I feel like the surgery is way behind in my rear view mirror. Overall on a day to day basis I feel like I'm about 95% of where I used to be. Exercise wise I'm probably not close to that but it will come.

I am happy I can lift my 42 pound 3 year old now. Feeling very blessed and fortunate. I work hard in the gym though and with my walks the first few weeks post op. That has been really important in my recovery.

 

[epstns]

Great work, sood! You have found the combination to the lock on your recovery. Keep on working hard - at this point, other than the sternum itself, you are highly unlikely to "break" anything, so do whatever feels good.

 

[kimcdougc]

Keep up the good work Sood. I can't do the cardio rehab as it is 1 1/2 hours away from the house. So I have done my own research and have been pushing my walks more everyday. When did you start the free weights how much did you start with? - Kim

 

[sood]

Thanks Steve! Kim I started doing light bicep curls using 5 lb dumbbells when I started cardiac rehab which was 2 days shy of 4 weeks post op. I increased to 10 lbs a week or two after and maybe around 6 weeks I started doing some light tricep and back work. I started shoulder stuff around week 7. We're talking about really light weights here, but in the past week I've felt like I can do more and just raised the weights a little bit. Still doing a lot of reps and it doesn't feel like I'm overdoing anything.

 

[Rachel]

I increased to 10 lbs a week or two after and maybe around 6 weeks I started doing some light tricep and back work. I started shoulder stuff around week 7. We're talking about really light weights here,

I couldn't lift 10lbs at 6 weeks - it took a very very long time before I could do that - so your comment about it being light made me laugh

You're doing great!!!!

Vegas sounds like the reward you needed - you're certainly on your way!

 

[sood]

Rachel you are funny! Thank you

 

[sood]

10 Weeks Post Op! Unfortunately I'm going to the hospital on Friday to sit and wait for my uncle to have a TAVR like procedure to plug his leaking mitral valve. He has already had 4 open heart surgeries in his life and the docs really didn't want to open him up again. He isn't even 60 yet.

I'm continuing to do well, I've realized in addition to coffee, a few bites of chocolate are also giving me irregular heartbeats. So no chocolate or coffee or any caffeine for me until quite a while where I feel better.
I'm jogging about 4 minutes on my treadmill routine and doing walking with incline the rest of the time, along with bike and an occasional eliptical machine and weights mixed in sometimes.

I'm going to declare myself back to "normal" at 10 weeks for all the new users that may read this at some time. I was expecting 1 year to return to normal after reading many peoples experiences, but I'm pretty much back to normal. Exercise wise I'm probably 60% of where I was before but that is more because of me not pushing it as opposed to my body not being able to handle it. This new "normal" is slightly different. Obviously sometimes I can feel my chest pounding and the valve ticking. But on a daily basis I'm doing the things I was doing pre-surgery and feeling better than I did pre-surgery. The valve ticking noise has gotten much quieter since the beginning. I'm guessing that might be because I'm getting used to it and also because tissue is forming in the dacron graft they used to repair the aneurysm. I've read that some people think that graft amplifies the valve noise.

Coumadin has been a non-issue although my last blood check the INR was at 1.9. I'm looking forward to a few weeks where they will prescribe me a home monitor so I can test weekly.