Road to Recovery - Completed

It's been a little bit over 5 months since I had my open heart valve replacement surgery to fix my Bicuspid Aortic valve that also had a huge Aneurysm above it twice the size it was supposed to be (6cm vs 3cm).

My Injection Fraction was 18%. Normal is around 60%. Injection Fraction is the percentage of blood in the heart that it can pump out with each contraction.

My heart was also double the size it was supposed to be as it was trying to overcome the weak inefficient valve that was not working well at all.

In other words I was in rough shape and literally could of died at any time!

Yesterday I journeyed back to St. Paul's Hospital where my open heart surgery had been performed to get my post surgery Echocardiogram done and find out if my heart function had improved from the surgery.

I was of course expecting to see much improved heart function, but was blown away when the doctor told me my heart was normal and my prognosis was for a long and healthy life.

My Injection fraction was now 58% and my heart was back to normal size! I can only see this as a miracle and thank God for this gift!

My doctor also recommend that I should possibly get my pacemaker/defibrillator removed as he said I didn't need it anymore. I am still in a bit of shock but in a good way as I was expecting to see improvements to my heart but this was amazing and I don't think my appointment could have gone any better.

I want to thank everyone for their prays, words of support and love shared with me over the past 5 months, it has meant so much to me!

What's next? The Road to Restoration perhaps! It's time to restore my body back to a condition I once had, maybe not so extreme as before, as my goals are different now Bodybuilding is who I am and even though I will be downsizing my goal physique a bit from what it use to be, I do plan on getting a good portion of it back over time... 

TRT Update 5 Months Off TRT - Not Feeling So Good

In this TRT Update 5 Months Off TRT Video, I go over some of the key areas that I feel are regulated a lot by Testosterone or the lack thereof and how this is effecting me at my current Testosterone level.

Testosterone Levels - Currently 4.7 nmol (should be 8-28). Getting an update in about a week.

Weight and Strength - Lost another 5 pounds, now down 30 pounds, 175 pounds from 205. Trying to keep any remaining muscle is very difficult, I am not really making any progress anymore, just trying to keep what I have right now, workouts are hard.

Base Energy - Overall I generally have energy throughout the day.

Brain Fog - I am finding it very hard to remember short term stuff, it just disappears from my mind. Regular daily activities require a lot more concentration or I find myself getting off track and not even remembering what I am doing. I struggle to find names and words at times. 

Motivation - I have to force myself to go to the gym or even do activities other than walking.

Mood - I am not in a very good state right now. I feel kind of lost and low on ambition.

Recovery - Sore after every workout for several days.

Body Aches - Most of the time I am sore, getting up in the morning, after sitting down for even a short period to time.

Libido - Non Existent, I just don’t even think about it much. The only OK thing is that some of my heart medication acts as a vasodilator which is kind of the same as what Viagra does in terms of increasing blood flow. So my hardware still works but getting things started is a bit tuff as I am just not in the mood most of the time.

 

Road to Recovery - 4 Months Post Operation

What's going on 4 months Post Open Heart Surgery to replace a congenital Heart Valve defect? Well if I didn't know better, I would say I am for the most part back to normal now. I feel like I can do most everything I want to do. Life now is a bit different then before, I have a new set of goals! The first one was to survive and that one has been checked off my list. My next goal was to be able to go for walks, go to the gym and keep my body tuned up, and do some outdoorsy stuff. Again another check on my Road to Recovery list . Now I am even out ripping around on my Electric toys, training at the gym as hard as I want to, and feeling really good doing it all.

I am still a bit careful when it comes to high level cardio as I have not had my post operation heart test done yet to see how much it has recovered from my pre-operation baseline, which was an injection fraction of 18% (Normal is 60%). I feel my injection fraction now will be very much improved and would not be surprised if it is close to the 60% normal marker, at least that's how I feel. I can tell you that whatever my injection fraction is at now, I am OK with it as I feel really good and do not feel that I have any real limits on what I can do with my new working heart.

Well take a watch of this video as I hope you will enjoy the kind of new format. I hope to record in this format in the future (weather permitting), that is if you like it, perhaps it's a bit distracting? Let me know.

Road to Recovery - 4 Months Off TRT

In this video I talk openly about what I feel like being off TRT 100% for 4 months. As many of you know I had major heart issues that I became aware of in early January 2023 resulting in my having to have open heart surgery to replace my Aortic Valve and a portion of the artery above it. This was a result of a genetic defect I was born with.

Because of this I stopped all hormone therapy 100% and at the moment I am getting blood work to check on my Testosterone levels to see where they are at after several years of being on TRT. As expected my Testosterone is not very high now being off TRT but surprisingly better than I thought it would be. I will being getting my Testosterone checked out again in a couple of weeks to see where I am at and then have a discussion with my doctor to see what may be the best course of action moving forward...

I also talk a lot in this video about how I am personally feeling and how this is effecting me now that my testosterone is very low as compared to when I was on TRT. 

 

Road to Recovery - 2 Months Post Operation

In this video I take a ride on my EUC and talk about how things are going now that I am 2 month post operation. All in all I am feeling good, and as you can see in this video I am back to riding my EUC (Electric Unicycle). I am being pretty careful on it not trying to do anything crazy!

Life is a bit more complicated these days with all kinds of appointments and tests and calls related to my Heart condition which can make other things I want to get to a bit harder like getting my weight training in. At least at this point I need to limit my weight training a bit but I want to get more consistent with it for sure.

I also talk about TRT and how it relates to my Heart condition and what I am going through since TRT and the Heart and how it can be related good and bad benefits to the Heart so it really needs to be monitored properly by a knowledgeable doctor. I also talk about one of the drugs I am on called Entresto and my concerns with it. One concern which is the cost, I feel because of its high cost and profitability, how it is promoted over other less expensive drugs that may be as effective but less profitable for "Big Pharma" at the end of the day...