S
scottvant
So, not to keep harping on this or anything, but: To anyone busting their head about when to operate/not to operate/operate before the holidays/wait until spring/I get a new job/the kid gets a little older/I retire or WHATEVER...
To briefly recap my situation for those who don't know--about a year ago I started to get sick. Day after Thanksgiving, diagnosis is bicuspid aortic valve (until then, undiagnosed) with 4+ regurg and active endocarditis. Previous history--no heart trouble, active bodybuilder with weekend forays into long bike rides and skydiving. Healthy resting pulse, 100% asymptomatic--no breathlessness, no swelling, absolutely no indication of heart trouble whatsoever. Doctor assumes my BAV was either not leaking or only VERY MILDLY stenotic, if at all.
In other words, valve was leaking for at most, 6 weeks, as far as they can tell... Granted, quite severely by the time of my operation, but still.
WHAT I'M SO IRRITATED ABOUT:
Met again this week with cardiologist. Two months post-op, he finally tells me about my enlarged LV/LVH/whatever. At that Two-month mark, he says, "no weightlifting for six months, ride your bike all you want, go ahead and train for that 585-mile AIDS Ride next summer. Four months post-op, I go on Coreg, cos pulse rate is not going down on as a result of monitored cardiac rehab alone. Most recent consult (yesterday, ~10 months post-op), word is--nix on weightlifting of any kind until directed otherwise, nix on the 585-mile bike ride until Summer 2005 (if at all), pretty much moderate exercise only until directed otherwise.
In other words, heart conditions developed during those SIX WEEKS (only!) of leaking are, at the moment, showing less-than-encouraging signs of regressing, if at all. The road to Wellville is a long one, apparently.
I do realize of course that there are people with tougher rows to hoe than me and with more conditions to overcome and any number of complications I could be considering but am not. I guess I'm having a real problem dealing with the fact that a year ago, I was a perfectly healthy 34 year old athlete and now, I'm a heart patient on blood pressure pills, told really not to go back to the gym (I mentioned I might not be able to resist the siren call of the weight room if I went back to a gym to do cardio workouts and it was suggested I work out at home instead--a depressing, make-me-feel-like-an-invalid suggestion if ever there was one...)
Oooh, yuck. That sounded like a pity party. Not intentional. But what the hell--I wrote it, I'll leave it.
My point being, in hindsight, if I'd have had even a few weeks of notice what was going on, I'd have gone under the knife at the first sign of trouble and spared myself what looks like is going to be a nice, long, slow recovery, nursing a damaged heart muscle back to health.
Scott
, be careful people--it's a jungle [in] there.
(PS--is a dilated aortic root different than an aortic aneurism? My aortic root is 4.3--that sounds bad... Is it?)
To briefly recap my situation for those who don't know--about a year ago I started to get sick. Day after Thanksgiving, diagnosis is bicuspid aortic valve (until then, undiagnosed) with 4+ regurg and active endocarditis. Previous history--no heart trouble, active bodybuilder with weekend forays into long bike rides and skydiving. Healthy resting pulse, 100% asymptomatic--no breathlessness, no swelling, absolutely no indication of heart trouble whatsoever. Doctor assumes my BAV was either not leaking or only VERY MILDLY stenotic, if at all.
In other words, valve was leaking for at most, 6 weeks, as far as they can tell... Granted, quite severely by the time of my operation, but still.
WHAT I'M SO IRRITATED ABOUT:
Met again this week with cardiologist. Two months post-op, he finally tells me about my enlarged LV/LVH/whatever. At that Two-month mark, he says, "no weightlifting for six months, ride your bike all you want, go ahead and train for that 585-mile AIDS Ride next summer. Four months post-op, I go on Coreg, cos pulse rate is not going down on as a result of monitored cardiac rehab alone. Most recent consult (yesterday, ~10 months post-op), word is--nix on weightlifting of any kind until directed otherwise, nix on the 585-mile bike ride until Summer 2005 (if at all), pretty much moderate exercise only until directed otherwise.
In other words, heart conditions developed during those SIX WEEKS (only!) of leaking are, at the moment, showing less-than-encouraging signs of regressing, if at all. The road to Wellville is a long one, apparently.
I do realize of course that there are people with tougher rows to hoe than me and with more conditions to overcome and any number of complications I could be considering but am not. I guess I'm having a real problem dealing with the fact that a year ago, I was a perfectly healthy 34 year old athlete and now, I'm a heart patient on blood pressure pills, told really not to go back to the gym (I mentioned I might not be able to resist the siren call of the weight room if I went back to a gym to do cardio workouts and it was suggested I work out at home instead--a depressing, make-me-feel-like-an-invalid suggestion if ever there was one...)
Oooh, yuck. That sounded like a pity party. Not intentional. But what the hell--I wrote it, I'll leave it.
My point being, in hindsight, if I'd have had even a few weeks of notice what was going on, I'd have gone under the knife at the first sign of trouble and spared myself what looks like is going to be a nice, long, slow recovery, nursing a damaged heart muscle back to health.
Scott
, be careful people--it's a jungle [in] there.(PS--is a dilated aortic root different than an aortic aneurism? My aortic root is 4.3--that sounds bad... Is it?)
