What were and are your Goals Pre & Post AVR

[vhmoriarty]

So Goals...something you set for yourself to look forward to in life.

1. Did you have a goal set for after you had your AVR (ie: hiking, running a marathon, visiting another country?)

2. How far in advance did you set your self this goal....in 3mths, 1yr, 5yr?

3. Why did you choose this goal?

4. Have you met this goal yet?

5. Do you believe that setting a goal with benefit your health?

 

[vhmoriarty]

1. I want to be able to go hiking, Not Mt. Everest, but just normal hiking in the mountains.

2. I have set this for my 6mth goal in the Spring.

3. I have always wanted to hike to see the beautiful scenery but never have been able due to my SOB.

4. Going to work on it after surgery.

5. Im hoping making a big goal and several small goals will do alot for my health.

 

[ChouDoufu]

goals are necessary. how else do you know where you want to go?
how can you plan to get there if you don't know where there is?

started off with lots of little, easily-reachable goals right after surgery.
first was wake up from surgery, then survive icu, then not pass out during
catheter removal, then walk to the toilet.....and on and on.

second week....walk 1/4 mile, then 1/2 mile and on to walking 10 miles.
then started running. 100 meters, then 200, then a full lap. then 1/2 mile.

later would be run 5k, then run 10k. once on the bike, 1/2 hour, then one hour,
then 25k, then 50k, and finally 100 miles in the mountains.

at the same time, still had little goals. sleep a full eight hours. roll over in bed.
clean a bathroom mirror. mop the floor. do a pushup. do a pullup.

the big goal is run a marathon at one year post avr. only eight weeks to go.

 

[vhmoriarty]

goals are necessary. how else do you know where you want to go?
how can you plan to get there if you don't know where there is?

started off with lots of little, easily-reachable goals right after surgery.
first was wake up from surgery, then survive icu, then not pass out during
catheter removal, then walk to the toilet.....and on and on.

second week....walk 1/4 mile, then 1/2 mile and on to walking 10 miles.
then started running. 100 meters, then 200, then a full lap. then 1/2 mile.

later would be run 5k, then run 10k. once on the bike, 1/2 hour, then one hour,
then 25k, then 50k, and finally 100 miles in the mountains.

at the same time, still had little goals. sleep a full eight hours. roll over in bed.
clean a bathroom mirror. mop the floor. do a pushup. do a pullup.

the big goal is run a marathon at one year post avr. only eight weeks to go.

Good Goals !!!! Awesome!

 

[Bill B]

I am an odd case. I was perfectly happy with my health status right up to the day of surgery. I had essentially no symptoms and was able to do just about anything I wanted. I would only get symptoms if I tried to do something active above 5000 feet, which was a once a year thing, and even then, the symptoms were mild. So, the rapid shrinkage of my newly diagnosed BAV and insistence by my surgeon that I needed it replaced by the end of this year just seemed like a bad dream.

So, I had no higher goals. My surgeon said I dodged a bullet, as he found during the surgery last week the valve was on its last legs despite my lack of symptoms. He said it was only a matter of a few months and I would have had the BIG symptom (bye, bye).

The surgery last week was the most dramatic thing that has ever happened to me. I have never had a sick day in the hospital or taken any medication for anything in my entire life. Waking up after surgery, sitting up in the chair the next morning and drinking cranberry juice over crushed ice was a most delicious experience. I was pain-free and just felt supremely blessed for the little things in life.

During the week in the hospital I reflected on this and did set some general goals.

I want to reorient my lifestyle. Even though I am an active guy, have loads of friends, and enjoy working on my race car and other people's cars as a retirement hobby, I want to take advantage of what should be (after my post-op anemia corrects) much more aerobic capacity. I ran marathons in my 30s and gave it up due to a groin injury. I would like to get back into running. I don't have amore specific goal there yet, but I used to love running and was a sub-3 hour marathoner.

I want to travel with my family. I have only been outside the country on business trips. Never been to Europe, Africa. My wife and I were consumed by activities of daily living. We are going to change that now and broaden our horizons and spend less time putting around the house.

So, having not felt impaired before, my goals came after the surgery and the new-found perspective it gave me on life. My recovery, now only 10 days post-op, has been fast. I have no idea how far beyond my pre-op health I can go, but I hope it will be huge.

I believe that for most people who are going to be knocked back by this surgery, more specific goals like some others have expressed, are essential to moving forward in recovery.

 

[DebbyA]

So Goals...something you set for yourself to look forward to in life.

1. Did you have a goal set for after you had your AVR (ie: hiking, running a marathon, visiting another country?)
I wanted to be a better hiker, too.

2. How far in advance did you set your self this goal....in 3mths, 1yr, 5yr?
Planned a couple of days in Shenandoah around 6 months after surgery.

3. Why did you choose this goal?
Don't have a good reason

4. Have you met this goal yet?
I've modified it to become the world's second slowest hiker. Uphill is still a challenge. I think I need to train harder. Also think blood pressure medicine is affecting my performance, and will take that up with cardiologist in a couple of weeks.

5. Do you believe that setting a goal with benefit your health?
It keeps me going to the gym a few times a week, and that can't be bad.