concerning echocardiogram results FINAL UPDATE 3/12/2024

[Matthew]

Best of luck!! Sounds like you have a great team that will be treating you and good support at home with family. Take your time in recovery, knowing there are better days to come. You did your homework and it should pay off in the end. Looking forward to hearing you're back and better than ever in the coming weeks. You got this!!! Matthew

[Louis]

Good luck, and do let us know how things are going as your recovery progresses.

(In other words, don't wait until your first post-surgery century ride to check in. )

[bigbill]

You're my tire guy; I'll think about you whenever I ride on 32mm Bontragers. My come to Jesus moment was almost two years ago when my cardiologist said: "lose weight or be miserable for the rest of your shortened life." I lost the weight and take small dose BP meds these days.

[mass_biker]

Wow. Thank you for the update and good luck with your surgery.

I write this ~ 5 weeks after my open heart surgery to correct severe mitral valve regurgitation. 52 YO fairly fit guy, who - with a family history of heart disease - has been seeing his cardiologist every year. Thank goodness for an attentive cardiologist.

In any case - and for good color as well as finding a community dealing with these conditions, check out: heart-valve-surgery.com. I found the insight and real-life feedback there excellent and very helpful as I was prepping for, and ultimately, recovering from mine.

As for my surgery - it ended up being a mini-thoracotomy (through the side) - and a repair (not a replacement). I went under the knife on Friday morning, and was released Sunday afternoon. My recovery was aided by the fact that I was pretty fit going into it, and prepped for it like a race. Stretching, keeping active, eating/hydrating well etc. 1 week after surgery, I was allowed to go on the trainer. And soon after, I was cleared to be outdoor on the bike, and “exercise to the point of discomfort”. FWIW, my fatigue level was high, my base HR was at least 15-20bpm higher than before (surgical team said that was normal due to the trauma the heart has), and I was navigating discomfort in/around the incision point (starting below right armpit, and going between the ribs - i.e. climbing out of the saddle, staying in one position for a long time etc.). Coming off beta-blockers helped a ton. From what I learned from my cardiologist, most active people who have OHS have a pretty crummy experience with them, but I definitely wanted to get the green light to come off the beta blockers before I did (and it took a good 2 days for them to clear my system).

Modern medicine is amazing. Listen to your doctors. Take advantage of any PT if your health plan offers it. Take it easy, but - as others have suggested - be clear with your team about your expectations for what “returning to normal” look like post surgery (in time).

If helpful, PM me directly and I am happy to provide any other color that may be helpful.

Best of luck and tailwinds!

[thwart]

Sending all sorts of good vibes your way.

I notice you wisely scheduled this for the cycling off-season... of course not so for XC skiing, though. But it's an El Niño winter, so we probably won't have great snow conditions anyway.

Please keep us posted!

[Cantdog]

Best of luck! As someone who cares for a lot of folks going into these big procedures or having issues afterwards—having good function before is huge. Also recovery is faster than you’d expect. Dad had a cardiac arrest secondary to severe aortic stenosis(bicuspid valve), very fast CPR initiation and went on to have open aortic valve replacement and was up and active very quickly. Doing great 10 years later still working out.

[flying]

Sounds like your in competent hands!
Speedy recovery!

[teleguy57]

Yesterday was 3 weeks post-surgery for me, and I thought I'd provide a quick update.

Related to the discussion on cardiac calcium screen, my score was above 1,000, so my surgeon wanted me to have a coronary catheterization prior to his work so “if you need bypass(es) it’s only another 20 minutes for me to do that while I have your chest open.” Interestingly, that test showed nothing of concern despite the high CCS so no bypasses needed.

Surgery was about 3.5-4 hours, and I ended up with a repair of the aortic root (graft) with a new aortic valve (bovine). It was done as a composite procedure where the valve is pre-installed in the conduit used to replace the dilated portion of the root and ascending aorta.

Everyone tells me the surgery went very well and my recovery was well ahead of schedule. After 4 nights in hospital the first week home was mostly a blur, so I kept thinking “if I’m doing really well I sure am glad I don’t have to go through what those who are doing average are experiencing.” I was feeling good enough that our sons, their wives and our three grandchildren were at our house Dec 26 and that went well. I had a few hiccups: huge hematoma on my arm where the withdrawal of the arterial line was less than smooth and had some episodes of aFib post surgery (apparently fairly common) which we have under control with meds now. They tell you it’s miserable to cough given the sternotomy and they have that right!

Started a 2-month course of blood thinners early given the aFib, and looking forward to that being done. I've been walking since Dec 23, starting at 4 minutes 2x/day and am now up to 20 minutes 2-3x/day. I start a formal cardiac rehab program tomorrow.

Most of the feedback I get is that I'm way ahead of schedule, and for that I'm especially grateful. I know all the prayers and best wishes from my friends has and continues to make a big difference. Thank you!

Appreciate the skill of Dr. Eric Weiss and the caring of the full surgical team at Aurora St. Luke's in Milwaukee.

Now lots of work to do on rehab and looking forward to getting back on the bike this spring.

PS. Was saddened to read the post about Gasman; he had some helpful thoughts both earlier in this thread and through some PMs for me. Thankful our paths crossed here.

[NHAero]

So great to hear you’re ahead of schedule on the road to recovery!

[thwart]

Originally Posted by NHAero

So great to hear you’re ahead of schedule on the road to recovery!

+100. Great news!

[saab2000]

Outstanding. My dad (whom Teleguy knew for decades) also had open heart surgery a bit over a decade ago. He was very disciplined about following Dr.’s orders and when he was told to get up and walk around inside the house, he did. And his recovery was amazing. Ultimately something else ended up getting him about a year or so later but he had the energy of a much younger man than he was just weeks after the surgery.

I’m happy to hear about this successful procedure and hope the recovery continues!

[flying]

Glad to hear your doing ok & as a cyclist I'm sure your recovery will continue ahead of schedule Good Luck & Happy New Year

[ldamelio]

Outstanding. Glad to hear you're doing well.

[teleguy57]

Thanks for all the comments. Had my first day of cardiac rehab yesterday; was so happy to be permitted to break a sweat! Most of this first session was about determining work limits on a treadmill, but I did have a final 10 min session on a recumbent bike (no standard bike ergometers in this lab).

Have to recount one funny story. The exercise physiologist who will be my primary guide was asking about HR when I was exercising pre-surgery. I said something like "well, my HR for ventilatory threshold 1 is about 120ish, and for VT2 about 140." One of the other staff people swung their head around and said "wait a minute, we've never heard any patient use that language here -- who ARE you?" That led to both some chuckles and a good conversation about endurance athletes. I'm pretty comfortable they know the levels of fitness/activity to which I aspire and will help me work toward that.

[jimcav]

glad to see the update and that you are already on the road to regaining fitness!