John's Guestbook

John Cook  I’m probably not going to be much help.

I had two nights where my watch recorded a 60bpm jump in my heart rate.  I don’t know if it was real or if it was a bad reading.  I don’t want to wear a 24-hr monitor unless I’m sure it’s real.

I had arthritic edema going into surgery & bad cardiac edema coming out.  They put me on heavy doses of diuretics & electrolytes in the hospital.  If my electrolytes dropped too much, I’d have V-Tac.

Once my edema got under control and my body healed some, the V-Tac wasn’t a problem if I kept taking magnesium & potassium supplements.  I didn’t get off the diuretic & supplements until 4 weeks ago.

i was also on carvedilol pre-surgery (6.25mg) and on a maximum dose coming out (50mg).  I’m down to 12.5mg.

I need a lot of drugs to stay under 120 for my systolic. I’m also on 10mg amlodipine & 25mg losartan. I’ll probably stick with this combo unless it gives me bloodwork problems or starts interfering with my running.

Fidel Martínez Ruiz  Hey Scott and John, good morning from here. Regarding drugs I´m taking from surgery, 2 years ago, Losartan, bisoprolol, aldactone, Jardiance and Lixiana. I don´t know the equivalent in USA. Regarding pulse, I was worry in the beginning, because my watch read 120 when I start hiking and after got down to 65-70-80 bpm. I´ve come to think that these ups and downs don´t matter much. Clocks are not usually very precise.

Susan Lynn  Treadmill, stationary bike, arm bike, and free weights.  The resistance, speed, and reps were increased as our hearts became used to the exertion.  My rehab facility also had rowing machines and a universal machine we were able to use toward the end of the 12 week program.  It was well worth the time to attend. 

John Cook  At first they had me do 5 minutes of warmup on a treadmill and then 15 minutes of RPE (rate of perceived exertion)  2/3 walking on the treadmill.  Then I would switch to either a stationary bike or recumbent elliptical and do 15 minutes of RPE 2/3 (out of 5) and then a 5 minute cooldown.  They would take my blood pressure before, during, and about 5 minutes after exercise.

Now I’m starting with either the treadmill or the bike and then doing functional strength training with 5lb ir 6lb dumbbells depending on how I’m feeling.  I do: biceps curls, triceps extensions, squats, side lunges, standing wall push-ups, upright (military) press, front row, side laterals, and do a standing bench press using a light band.

i switched to the functional strength because I can do more cardio on my own at home and I also want to be able to golf 9-holes in mid-September.

I’m doing well enough on the treadmill now that I’m starting up walk/jog intervals this week (I was a runner pre-surgery).

My rehab sessions are  2 or 3 days a week.  On the weekends, I try to get on my treadmill at home or do some walk/jog trail running intervals.

John Cook  That’s for that info, Dan, and it’s reassuring.  I’ve only done one Bruce, not quite a year ago.  I made it just over a minute into Stage 4.  I’m not a fast runner, but I do enjoy it.  I also mix a lot of treadmill hikes in between my runs to help build my aerobic capacity while giving my joints a break.

My plan is to start off with flat treadmill walks and slowly build up the incline.  I’m not planning to do any running until I’m cleared for it.  I’m sure I’m going to lose some aerobic capacity that I’ll have to recover.

Thanks.

Dan Fouratt  Sounds like a good plan.  Every exercise I took my BP before and after, this is what they did in rehab. I also charted my BPM average during the exercise and max.  Good luck, Dan