Recent content by Alex B

I had this same concern last year, but now I play 3 days a week. I notice that my bumps and bruises last longer and come more quickly, but I don't care. I love the game, so I continue to play. I'm only 31, but look like I've been through a war. The guys I play with are nice, but they do not...

Hi All, I"m supposed to be between 2.5 - 3.5 INR. I was calling in every week or two with my results and adjusting my warfarin accordingly. However, I've been pretty stable so they cut me loose now and said to only call in if I'm outside the range. My question is where I can find the chart...

Hey all, I was inspired by sumo runner during and shortly after my surgery last year. Now I'm 10 months post op and after running on my own for awhile now, I started competing. My longest run prior to this one was 4.5 miles, but I had been following a training regiment to get up to a 10k. At...

my advice is to walk as much as feels comfortable. The Dr's told me I was walking too much at first, but it felt so good that first week or two, to get outside and smell the fresh air and see life again. Let me know if you have a similar reaction.

My new workout regime. I don't recommend you start until you are "fully recovered". I started this workout about 4 months post op, and I've been trying to do 2-3 of these a week. Just check out the Workout of the Day (WOD) on this website: www.crossfit.com They change it every day. Good...

Hi All, This seems to be the right place to pose this question. I heard about new medications in clinical trials in Europe, but with googling I can't seem to find any info about it. Does anyone here know? My surgeon made it sound like it was still a couple years away from anything serious...

When I had my AVR, the first "baseline" echo was at about 2 weeks post-op from my cardiologist's office. I got the results a week later when I met with the cardiologist. I make it a point to request copies of the report and keep them in my file. I went back at 6 weeks and has another one...

Got my Christmas present this year. The lady at the lab is going to be pissed when she doesn't see her favorite pincushion. I used the INRatio2 for the first time this week. The first couple of tries failed because I didn't use a large "hanging" drop, I just got a drop and pushed it on there...

at 4+ month post op the thumping has eased quite a bit. I'm completely off Metropolol now too, which I think also helps. It was annoying to begin with, but either I've gotten used to it, or it's diminished because I only notice it rarely now and it doesn't keep me from sleeping all night.

Great news Danny! This was about the time I started running, but I would agree with others to not push too much. However if you feel good, and your Dr clears it, you can start finding your new normal.

very nice indeed. I established my 5k time at 37:00 10 weeks post-op. My last run brought that down to 32:00, I'm hoping to break the 30min barrier before 2010...

My energy came and went in the first few weeks, sometimes I felt like I could start jogging, other times just walking downstairs for lunch was laborsome. After about 6 weeks though I stopped having the SOB and low energy, I was raring to go, I started jogging week 7, and have improved energy...

My EF dropped from 65% to 50% after surgery (6 weeks post op), but the cardiologist told me that he expected it would drop considerably. He told me that for me this is fine, and I should not be concerned. He also told me that everyone is different where EF is concerned. My next Echo is 6...

Hey there, I called QAS 2 weeks post-op, they told me I had to wait 90 days, (which is this week), so I'm trying to get everything setup. So far, I just called them, then they contacted my cardio, he approved, now they will submit my paperwork to BCBS, once insurance approves I will have my...

it's great for those of us that have had understanding family/bosses, it's not that way for everyone. I was really lucky, my boss said take as much paid leave as you want, so I used 4 weeks, and then started part-time, after 7 weeks I was full-time.