Charlie's Journal

I am 12 weeks post initial surgery - aortic valve/root/ascending aorta replacement. I had a bad run of luck and was readmitted to hospital about 10 days post surgery for an additional two weeks due to both pericardial and plueural effusion, which involved additional surgery. Rehab and exercise is now progressing well - 6 times a week and I have moved on from walking to light jogging, up to about 4.5 miles (very slow compared to pre-surgery, but definite progress). I am also doing three strength and conditioning sessions a week (very light weights) so feeling like recovery is really now on track after the initial early setbacks.

The surgical team have removed any maximum heart rate restrictions and in a session I have had with a cardiac rehab team, they encouraged me to get on with life, run to feel for the next month (40-60 minutes) and not to stress around the level the HR gets to.
I am finding that last bit easier said than done. My resting HR was around +30 bpm higher post surgery. That is carrying through to exercise - with the gap between pre-surgery and post surgery HR getting higher as my HR goes up (so during a run today it was around +50 bpm higher at the top end of the range than would have been the case pre-surgery). I am sure that the higher heart rate is in part due to the surgery and healing process, part down to me being less fit and part down to my anxiety when exercising.
Any thoughts and experiences of higher HR post surgery would be really appreciated.