SCUBA Diving After Heart Valve Surgery
Heart Valve Replacement Patient SCUBA Dives On Honeymoon In Fiji
As most heart valve surgery patients will share with you, there is a certain amount of fear that appears during the recovery from open heart surgery. As an heart valve surgery patient, your sternum has been cracked and your heart has been stitched….. OUCH!!!
That said, most patients typically require a long recovery period following heart valve surgery which is used to restore (i) mental confidence and (ii) physical capability of the upper chest.
As a former cardiac surgery patient, I can personally relate and attest to this.
From stretching at cardiac rehab to running along the beach, it takes a significant amount of time to heal and get back in the physical swing of things. The saying, “No pain. No gain” actually applies somewhat to heart valve surgery recovery.
I’ll never forget when my surgeon told me to “Play through it Adam!”. Dr. Vaughn Starnes, my cardiothoracic surgeon, was referring to the soreness and pain I complained about in my chest. “Your heart is doing great,” he said, “Better than before! Now you just need to play through it. Your discomfort is muscular-skeletal.”
I took those words of wisdom to heart (pun intended).
Soon enough, I found myself lifting light weights, swimming laps in the pool, riding my bike and even running. Once I graduated from cardiac rehab, I took on another challenge… Returning to my surfboard!!! (See my “Surf’s Up!” blog to read about my return to surfing.)
Recently, I broke through another physical barrier that I will share with you:
In 1999, I became a certified SCUBA diver. Shortly thereafter, I became a SCUBA diving nut. During the following five years, I logged over 100 dives across the United States, Mexico, the Carribean, Bali and Thailand.
SCUBA diving is an amazing sport. It’s probably the closest I will ever get to being an astronaut.
Considering my aortic and pulmonary heart valve replacements (via the Ross Procedure) in 2005, I figured that my days of SCUBA were over! However, just to be sure, I emailed Dr. Starnes and asked him whether or not I could SCUBA dive following my cardiac surgery.
His response was clear. The email read, “You are fine to SCUBA dive.”
I have to admit I was happy and concerned at the same time. On one hand, I desperately wanted to get back in the water, submerge 50 feet and swim with all types of fish, eels, sharks, coral and anemones.
On the other hand, I was a little frightened that SCUBA diving after open heart surgery could be disastrous. “What if something wrong happens?” I thought to myself. “What if the pressure under water compromises my valves?” A million different “What if’s” drifted through my brain.
Well… Fear, as you probably know, can be a dangerous mind-game. Someone once told me that fear is really nothing more than a foolish acronym, F.E.A.R.
False
Experiences
Appearing
Real
Life is too short to be controlled by F.E.A.R., right?
Needless to say, during my recent honeymoon to Fiji…
I slipped into a wetsuit, popped on my buoyancy control device, and…
BLEW SOME BUBBLES!!! (That’s diver slang for going SCUBA diving.)
Guess what?
I’m still alive!!!!
Guess what?
Robyn, my new bride, also dived with me. It was her first dive. She did great!!!
Now… What else can I do?
Maybe…
Go to Tibet and climb Mount Everest like Veronika Meyer?
We’ll see!
Keep on tickin!
Adam
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August 6th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Hi
Great site.
In October 05 I was admitted to hospital feeling as though I had really bad indigestion. That night I underwent over 8 hours of surgery to repair a dissected aorta - and whilst they were “in there” they found that I had a bicuspid aortic valve, something that I was not aware of at the age of 38.
They replaced the valve and I am now enjoying every minute of my new life. I will go diving again soon I hope and I did indeed get depressed during the 6 - 8 months after the procedure.
Happy now, got married in 06 and hoping to get another 40+ years in!
March 1st, 2008 at 6:28 am
I’m 58. I had my aortic valve replaced in 2000. I’m quite physically active, working out regularly, bicycling, water skiing, swimming, hiking to the tops of 4 Colorado fourteeners the last two years. Now I want to learn scuba diving, but a dive instructor in Hawaii said I’d need a doctor’s permission. My family doctor said he will not give it. I’m hoping my cardiologist will give me one. I wonder if he’ll also play it safe - I can see why they might not want to risk signing a statement saying it’s okay. Any suggestions? Will most dive instructors require a doctor’s okay?
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:57 am
Lloyd,
This is a great question. As you read above, I Scuba dived one and a half years after my heart valve replacement surgery. Before I went diving, I did call my surgeon to obtain his thoughts, counsel, and…. blessing.
In the end, he said to me, “You have no limitations. Scuba diving is okay.” Dr, Starnes never gave me a form or written approval.
As I write above, my first-and-only time Scuba diving after surgery was on Fiji. The Scuba shop was certified PADI-gold. However, they never asked me for written approval once I disclosed the information about my heart surgery.
I hope that helps. Let me know what you find out!
Keep on tickin,
Adam
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Thank you but I’m feeling confused. Here you speak of a first and only time scuba diving and above you speak of logging over 100 dives. What am I not understanding?
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Hey Lloyd,
In the comment above, I am referring to my first-and-only time AFTER my surgery.
Sorry about the confusion there.
Before my surgery, I logged dives across the U.S., Mexico, the Carribbean, Bali and Thailand. Does that make sense?
Adam
March 19th, 2008 at 5:59 am
Thanks for this article its made me much more comfortable about my post surgery activities. I am 33 and had aortic valve and root replacement surgery in oct 2007 since then and my return to work I have resumed activities such as lifting weights, cycling and intend to get back into running and have really wanted to get back in the water and continue with my passion for scuba diving. Although the surgeons here are great and I cannot thank them enough for ’saving my life’ they are always very vague about what I can and cant do and what constitutes ‘overdoing it’
I had kind of decided that I would pursue these activities anyway but its really great to hear that its actually safe as well! oh and its amusing to gather from your comments that you probably tick as loudly as I do!! Many thanks. Paul.
April 16th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Happy to see everyone still enjoying life after surgery. I had the ross proceedure in 1996 when I was 17, my second of 3 surgeries. I’m headed to Honduras at the end of april to learn to scuba dive. My G.P. told me I wasn’t to go below 20 feet. Just woundering the depth you went to diving in Fiji? Hope everyone keeps living life. My motto is, I might as well be dead if I can’t love life.