My First "Workout" Mitral Valve Post Repair Surgery

[johnp]

I knew I couldn't wait. I just had to do something. My stress test is not for another 2 weeks.

I didn't want to run outside in the ice, although I felt like I easily could have. I wanted to keep it "safe". Indoors.

So I put on the shorts, put on my garmin heart rate monitor, fired up the ipod, and just went up and down the stairs in my home. The stairs are heavily padded with carpet, I decided to keep to 1 flight, bout 6 steps. Up and down as fast as I could go, without getting too crazy. My wife was close by watching the shows she DVRs.

3 Mins in, a little short of breath, so I slowed down a little. HR about 105. 10 minutes in, feeling much better picked up the pace, HR 115. 15 minutes in, now in the goove, starting to sweat, HR 120. I was going to stop after 15 minutes but felt perfectly fine. So I kept going for another 15 minutes with my heart rate somewhere between 120 and 130. I stopped at 30 minutes, by now I had a good sweat going. I easily could have gone another 30 minutes.

Quite happy with the results. my first workout and I almost felt better than even pre-op. My cardiologist had suggested I should be symptomatic pre-op, based on the amount of MV regurg. Maybe I was. He terms my regurg "free flow."

Felt great after. Went out for a few beers with my wife. Sometimes life is good. Things turn out better than expected. This was one of those times.

 

[Greg a]

Bravo great to hear ......the sooner the stress test the better so you can have benchmarks set

 

[tprice54]

Good job!!! Quite an accomplishment. Funny having your wife close by, mine made me carry my cell for 2-3 years on every run, just in case.

 

[normofthenorth]

Sounds like a huge success, John -- and it sounds like your post-repair rehab is way quicker than most of us who had replacements, too. (Robotic, and minimally invasive, right?)

My ticker's coming along, though. Two weeks after my Whistler ski week, my resting HR still seems to be creeping back toward its former normal (~60), now crossing 70 some of the time. It seems better than 95! But so far my stair-running is all part of "ADL" living in a 3-story house with stuff stored in the basement!

 

[kodi]

Good for you. Congratulations on going for 30 minutes. Keep that up and you'll be replacing the carpet on the stairs before long. In regards to Tom's post "Funny having your wife close by, mine made me carry my cell for 2-3 years on every run, just in case." I never leave on a run, bike ride or walk without my cell phone. JUST IN CASE!
Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[tprice54]

Well, now I know where my wife got the idea, thanks Kodi!

 

[Bean Counter]

Great job! I rememember my first run (3 months post op), my wife was right beside me as well. I guess we should be lucky that we have loved ones that care so much.