Deborah Shames - Heart Valve Journal

My Journal

3287 days ago

How long has it taken for complete recovery with a repaired valve? It's been six months and although I've been able to climb mountains and enjoy high altitudes, ...Read more

How long has it taken for complete recovery with a repaired valve? It's been six months and although I've been able to climb mountains and enjoy high altitudes, I tire easily. Anyone else have a similar experience? I'm 64 and have always hiked or worked out.

Wiliam Height Are you still on medication, as that will keep your heart rate nice and low. You may have to keeping ... Read more

Wiliam Height Are you still on medication, as that will keep your heart rate nice and low. You may have to keeping working up the endurance. Speaking in terms of a mitral valve repair recovery which I had on 1/30, these are usually repaired through an assortment of rings and bands which need to implant. 6 months to 1 year, so I wouldn't plan to go max heart rate until then.

Tom Elliott Hi Deborah. I'm 66 and about 7 months post-op from mitral and tricuspid repair, and I don't think I'm ... Read more

Tom Elliott Hi Deborah. I'm 66 and about 7 months post-op from mitral and tricuspid repair, and I don't think I'm quite back to 100% yet. I'm still on a low dose of Metoprolol, which as William suggests keeps the heart rate and blood pressure down a bit from where it would otherwise be. I think this may affect my stamina, but it's hard to tell. I'm not climbing mountains, but then I probably couldn't have before, either ;-)

Barry Van Gemert I would think building up your exercise tolerance after taking it easy post-op, and if you were sympt ... Read more

Barry Van Gemert I would think building up your exercise tolerance after taking it easy post-op, and if you were symptomatic pre-op, is going to take quite a while. Cell division in the heart is very slow, so as William said, give things time to come together.

Deborah Shames Thank you all. Although I'm not on any medications, I do have a titanium ring to reduce the size of m ... Read more

Deborah Shames Thank you all. Although I'm not on any medications, I do have a titanium ring to reduce the size of my valve. And you're right that prior to my surgery I backed off my exercise routine. Because I was told that I'd have all this energy, and instead I'm tired, I thought something was wrong. But most people would be thrilled with what I can do in a day, so I'll stop being so hard on myself!