My latest update showing off my Open Heart Valve Surgery battle scars, after all this is who I am now. I talk about how I am feeling, what I am able to do now about 5 weeks post operation and what my expectations are moving forward in terms of activity and fitness expectations.
This is for sure not the end of my fitness journey but perhaps just the beginning and maybe even most important challenge of my life. I am not sure what to expect but I do know I will give it my all and there will be no excuses along the way.
I have been home now for about a week and for the most part it has all been good, slowly walking a bit longer and a bit faster, generally over 10,000 steps per day and walking as far as 2 miles in one go. Today I walked to A&W and back home which is a 3+ mile round trip. My walking pace is getting close to 3 miles per hour so this too is an improvement.
I still really need to watch my diet as over the weekend (super Bowl) I was not on my best eating behavior and as a result on Monday slipped back into AFIB for a bout 6 hours but thankfully I came out and back to Sinus Rhythm pretty quickly. Being in AFIB I do not feel very energetic and when I went for my walk while in AFIB I did feel a bit light headed at one point. When in Sinus Rhythm I feel really good and do not get short of breath or light headed at all even on longer faster walks.
My chest is still a bit sore being that the sternum was cut right down the middle for my open heart surgery, it will take at least 2 months for it to heal and right now I am exactly 4 weeks post surgery. This journey back to what will be my new normal heart function will take several months but I can say I feel a ton better than I did pre surgery so I am very optimistic I will be able to do most of what I was doing before I was having the heart trouble, just maybe a bit more conservative and not pushing myself too extreme. After all you only have one heart...
This video is primarily for my viewers over on the Replica Airguns channels as I have not posted anything about what's been going on with me the last month and a bit. My Airgun channel does not have very much personal content like my GetFitOver40 channel does, so I wanted to fill them in on where I have been and what's been going on.
In this video I talk about being in the hospital for a month because I was experiencing shortness of breath and a feeling of pressure in my diaphragm area which was later found out to be a heart problem.
Unknown to me I had been born with a Congenital Heart Defect where my Aortic Valve was defective which over time had cause the Aortic Root area to double in size (3cm normal to 6cm).
This defect caused my heart to work a lot harder than normal making it enlarge over time which is not good and reduces it's pumping ability. Before my operation my heart function was below 20%, a normal healthy heart is around 60%.
While in the hospital I had open heart surgery on my Aortic valve replacing it along with a section above it. I also had a Pacemaker/Defibrillator put in. There where a lot of concerns because my heart was also enlarged and not functioning that well, the doctor even said they may not be able to get me off of bypass which would then require an emergency heart transplant. The good news is the operation went well and no need for a new heart at least for now...
I was in the hospital for longer than normal because of my enlarged heart and because of all the stress to it. I was in and out of what's called Atrial Fibrillation. This is when the heart beats very irregularly and faster than normal. It can be short term or longer term and can sort itself out or require intervention to help get back to a Sinus Rhythm. At the time of this post I believe it has gone back to the normal Sinus Rhythm, so fingers crossed it stays this way.
As you can imagine, this has been a life changing event and means my lifestyle will be changing a bit. I will not be doing anything to overstress my heart but that does not mean no more fitness for me, just a different fitness approach. Perhaps a more scaled back approach but I am always up for a challenge and this is no different in terms of how I would approach any challenge in my life.
After several disappointing days where I thought I was going home but the hospital decided it was best for me to stay another night, I am now finally really going home!
To be honest my spirit was broken and I was not in a good place, so going home for me was a wish come true. I can barely believe after a month in hospital it is finally happening.
My heart is still in a state of AFIB but it is somewhat controlled with medication at least to the point where it has slowed down to a more tolerable rate. It may find its way out of AFIB over time but in the event that it doesn't, I have an appointment in 5 weeks for another Cardioinversion to shock it back into a normal non AFIB mode (Sinus Rythm). It should hopefully stick this time as my heart will have had some time to recover and I should be holding less water even though I have lost a lot so far there is still a bit to go.
I guess I will have to start doing more for myself now, nobody is taking care of me hand and foot, but I don't mind. I really needed to get out of the hospital and back to a somewhat normal life, just not a very busy one... The plan is to keep it simple and for now several short walks each day and build on it over time. There will be no weight lifting for at least another 5-7 weeks and that is also as long as I am out of AFIB.
I have already lost a ton of muscle but that was to be expected. By the time I start lifting again it will be like starting over again but I accept the challenge and hopefully you can join me and perhaps we can get back into shape again together.
I have written a similar post a couple times this week but as it turned out the hospital decided to keep me another day, we are now going on three days and to be honest my spirit is a bit broken. Yesterday was my wife Nicole's birthday and I really wanted to go home and celebrate with a nice healthy dinner out but it did not happen. Will today be the day I get to go home? I really don't know and maybe that's what is so discouraging for me is not knowing when.
I have done everything I can on my end by going for walks and showing them I can physically do what is required to leave the hospital but what I can't do is make my blood thin enough or calm my heart down enough for the doctors to be happy with me leaving on a good baseline.
The blood thinning is the easier of the two, it's mainly about using a drug called Warferin to get my INR up to around 2-3 which the new type of metal mechanical valves require to stay in peak performance.
The bigger issue is getting my heart to settle down a bit, one side is beating fairly normal while the other side is kinda beating in double time. I had the Cardioversion done a while back which fixed this but often times it does not last for too long and so treatment with drugs is the next step to calming down the heart as it is very stressed from the operation and already not being in great shape to begin with.
So as of right now I don't know if I am going home today? I will add to this post as the day progresses and I know more about the situation. I would really love to go home this afternoon and maybe even see my son play soccer this evening but again this is out of my hands...
UPDATE: So I am staying yet another night. My blood is thin enough now but my heart rate is still too high to let me go home. The Docs put me on a new drug to help slow down and regulate my heart but that only happened mid day. I spoke with one of the doctors today and it really comes down to just getting my heart rate under control, once that happen I will be a free man, while I am sure there will be lots of hospital visits down the road. So here's to tomorrow? Will I get to go home?
Monday, February 20, 2023 at 1:48PM