Started rehab today...

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Mom2izzy

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 24, 2011
Messages
420
Location
Michigan
I started cardiac rehab today. I did 14 minutes on a treadmill at 3.2 mph and a small incline followed by 14 minutes on ane elliptical machine. Both seem harder than walking outside, so I felt like it was a pretty good work out.

My surgeon has been telling me things like..."go until you are short of breath, and then go a little bit farther." and "I want you out of breath and sweaty when you are exercising" (the latter said at my 5week check up where I was released from his care :).)

The rehab nurses were shocked and said they usually want people to stop or slow down when they feel short of breath. They are more used to people recovering from by-pass surgery, heart attacks, etc. than valve issues. I made sure to push the issue because I want to get the most benefit out of this experience. The nurse is now researching the idea of "remodeling" rather than strengthening (which is the goal of the standard rehab patient).

I did learn a couple other things that I will share in the hopes that someone can benefit:
1) if you don't feel like you are getting short of breath, try talking. I was never feeling short of breath during my walks, but I was always alone. When there was a nurse talking to me through my workout, I realized that I was more short of breath than I thought.
2) my beta blocker is supposed to keep my heart rate down, but also lowers my already low blood pressure. When exercising, the blood vessels dialate, and when you stop, your blood pressure can drop until those vessels shrink back down. Since my blood pressure is already low, this can easily lead to becoming light headed or dizzy. A small glass or two of cold water can help speed up the shrinking back down of the vessels and getting you feeling better quickly.
3) treadmills and elliptical machines give me the same type of feeling I get in my legs after being on a boat or an airplane. When I got off those machines and felt "shaky", I had to really pay attention to my body to realize that it was all my legs and not the same as the shaky, weak feeling that comes from low blood pressure. This is important for me because "weird" feelings tend to lead to anxiety which causes more weird feelings...and so on.
 
Good job! You have started the road to a whole new you. Yes it might take a little while for the rehab nurses to figure out how best to help you since you aren't the average patient they see on a day to day basis. Hang in there..
 
Congratulations!
I feel your frustration on the rehab, though.
my first rehab was someplace where they were used to doing only stents and bypass patients. They didn't know what to make of me, and I quit after 4 weeks. They didn't know from remodeling, and wanted my HR at less than 125. yeah, right, I have a pacer that is vibration activated. I hit 125 walking to the laundry room! If you can find a rehab where they are used to working with valvers, then switch, if you can.

My second rehab, after my AVR, was at the heart hospital in Plano. There were several valvers in and out during my 6 weeks. It was much better going where the nurses understood I was not a heart attack patient. With them, they nixed the treadmill because of the vibration, and I used the elliptical, which accommodated the pacemaker a whole lot better.

We had a kid with a Ross procedure in class for a couple weeks, but he started feeling badly one afternoon - whoosh, off to ER, then to admit. Wonderful nurses who really understood the ramifications and recovery process for valvers.
 
Awesome! I'm shocked though, I'm still doing like 2mph on treadmill, and little else, each just 10 mins. I have never walked out there sweaty. I wish they pushed a little harder to be honest.
 
Awesome! I'm shocked though, I'm still doing like 2mph on treadmill, and little else, each just 10 mins. I have never walked out there sweaty. I wish they pushed a little harder to be honest.

This is also where I would have been if I had not made a request to be pushed harder. You can make the request or ask your cardio to do it. In my case, the rehab has little or no experience with valvers who have different needs than the typical CAD, bypass, heart attack, stent, etc, patients.

I find the elliptical a much easier machine to use. It feels more comfortable, but based on the numbers, I am getting better exercise.
 
Good call on the "weird" feeling when you step off the treadmill. I had the same thing when ending a treadmill walk but never when walking outside. It did cause a little anxiety at first but I know now just expect it. I have so far passed on the formalized cardiac rehab. I saw my surgeon the day before I was scheduled to start and he said he thought I would be bored. I do have an extensive history of cycling training and have kept very detailed post op records of my walks/workouts . . distance, speed, HR data, etc. I showed all of this to him. Also, when I showed this to my cardiologist, he suggested that I could start going harder. So far, so good. Although every time I decide to push a little harder, go little longer or faster, I question if its OK. I do think I am likely ahead of where I would have been in the rehab program though.
 
I chose the rehab road for two reasons:

To learn how far I can push it in a controlled situation. I'm hoping that the physical stress will be representative of work stress, so I can be more confident when I go back to that environment.

My insurance covers the rehab, but does not cover gym membership. The structure will "force" me to keep up on the exercise. In the past, I have not found the time to work out because I sit at a desk for 8 to 10 hours a day and then rush home to my little girl.
 
Congratulations! I'm so happy that your recovery is going strong. Can't wait to he home and start my own rehab in a few weeks.

Tom
 
The structure will "force" me to keep up on the exercise.

...and it does! This week will be my last week of Cardiac Rehab. My 36th (and final) CR session is this Friday. I can hardly believe I'm almost done. I've loved it.... With the program I chose, I have the option of staying with them for a fee, but I can't afford that right now since I'm unemployed. They've told me I can come back whenever I want!



Cort | 38.m.IL | pigValve + paceMaker + cowValve | 5 MCs + 1 Caprice Classic
CHD.MCs.CC + RoadTrips.hobbies.RadioShows.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
* rNwJumpStartCruzNite | 5:30-10:30p; SAT, 05/12/12 | BeefVilla, 1225 W Spring St, S Elgin IL *
"I ain't ready for the junkyard yet" __ George Jones __ 'I Don't Need Your Rocking Chair'
 
This is also where I would have been if I had not made a request to be pushed harder. You can make the request or ask your cardio to do it. In my case, the rehab has little or no experience with valvers who have different needs than the typical CAD, bypass, heart attack, stent, etc, patients.

I find the elliptical a much easier machine to use. It feels more comfortable, but based on the numbers, I am getting better exercise.


I think they're so use to taking it easy, in the 22 years the place I go to I'm the youngest they've had, which shocks me TBH. But they deal with much older people, a majority of people who suffered heart attacks or have heart disease, very few valvers. Also most of the people there have been going for years and are not on some kind of program.

I may just have to start doing more outside of CR than now, but that's why I'm in there, is so I can push myself and be monitored. I'll have to see what they have to say when I ask about pushing a little harder. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't struggling on the bike, but that's about it.
 
Ovie: I had the same experience - they were far too cautious. They deal mostly with post-MI and coronary bypass patients. I had to tell them I needed more challenge. After a couple of weeks I really got into it and although occasionally they got alarmed at my heart rate, I did just fine. Fortunately there was one other guy that was pushing it too and we developed a little competition. I really increased my exercise capacity after that.
 
Back at it today and I'm hoping they go easy on me...ha ha! I was a long Easter weekend with lots of eating and not enough sleeping. I'd really like to go back to bed! This is why it's good to be in the program. If I was trying to do it on my own, I'd still be sleeping. The three year old would have me up in an hour anyway, and then I'd probably take a nice long walk to "relax". She can be over stimulating at times :)
 
Back at it today and I'm hoping they go easy on me...ha ha! I was a long Easter weekend with lots of eating and not enough sleeping. I'd really like to go back to bed! This is why it's good to be in the program. If I was trying to do it on my own, I'd still be sleeping. The three year old would have me up in an hour anyway, and then I'd probably take a nice long walk to "relax". She can be over stimulating at times :)

Congrats on starting rehab ....and i so hear you about the three year old as I look after my three year old grand daughter
 
I had a couple of marathon runners as techs at my cardio rehab so they were great in understanding how much, how soon was possible. Irregular heartbeat was the chief concern; after nothing irregular showed up on the recordings, they turned my loose to do the old man shuffle as hard as I could. Breathing was the limiting factor, not the heart itself.
 
I just realized that it's been almost a month since I received the paperwork for rehab and I haven't done anything with it. SOOOOOOOOOOOO......just scheduled the initial appointment. Now that I'm back to work, I'm in serious juggle mode to make work and rehab fit together. My cardiologist told me I'd probably be bored by it but to at least try it. Well....I'm going to try it.

I can't believe how much energy I have these days. I've lost weight and feel great.
 
dcc - you went through a rough stretch pre-surgery, it's no wonder you fell better! New heart valve, weight loss, just those two are enough to make a person feel much better, and you've got more to boot! Glad you feel better, and hope that you can get to rehab for at least a few sessions. Best of luck!
 
My rehab nurses said they don't want us out of breath either. I get out of breath when I do too much talking as well. But if I don't talk I do ok. They say that my stamina is very good though. I didn't really want to go through the rehab progam but I find that I am really enjoying it. Hearing about everyone else's experiences of how they came to be in rehab is so interesting. And, I love the education meetings that we have.
 
I started rehab about two weeks after my surgery. I was honestly somewhat surprised that I could start that soon, because I was still having a lot of pain and trouble moving around at that point. Now, I have just completed my sixth week of rehab, which just doesn't seem possible. The recommended regimen at first was not something I could call a workout, but it was certainly all I was ready to do at the time. Over the past two weeks, I can say that the exercises have got me sweating again, and it feels really good to start doing some of the things I was doing when I was working out prior to finding out about my need for surgery. I am now on two, 15-minute treadmill sessions, one of which has me running intervals. I also have two sets of dumbbell exercises for my shoulders and arms, and a 15-minute ride on the recumbent bicycle. I have been trying to push myself during the entire process, and the staff has been very supportive of that. Before surgery, I had been running on a treadmill three times per week, with intervals up to six miles per hour. By the time rehab is done, my goal is to be back up to that speed. I have never been a physically fit type of person - that was something I was really working on last year. The last thing I want to do is consider myself "held back" in any way by my heart condition. That is an excuse, and I am not willing to let it take away who I am and what I want out of life.

Matt C.
Phoenix, AZ
AVR/MVR replacement, 2/28/12
 
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