Craig's Journal

Firstly, thank-you to everyone who posted well-wishes for my surgery. I would have replied and posted some updates whilst I was in hospital but I couldn't navigate the site properly on my phone. It is now 4am on day 11 (counted in Australian days). I arrived home late yesterday evening. My stay in hospital was a couple of days longer than expected due to some tachycardia and slow rising INR. Both are now good. My recovery has been much much better than I had prepared myself for. Only on pain meds for 3 days after surgery, and quite mobile once the tethers to all the monitoring and drainage equipment were removed. I was given the extended warranty card for my new mechanical aortic valve when I was discharged from hospital . I am going to get it framed and proudly display it on the wall at home. I'd like to send a big thank-you to the Heart Valve Surgery community, and especially to Adam and his book. This was my main reference source over the months leading up to my surgery. And what an all-encompassing reference it turned out to be. I started my journey with zero knowledge of the heart, my ailment, or what was involved with surgery. Looking back from my day 11 vantage point I can't think of a single time where I said to myself "gee, I wish I had known that". Thank-you to everyone for the knowledge you have imparted. Now looking forward ... it's time to put my walking shoes on and get stuck in to my walking program.

Hi. I am a month out from AVR surgery. My sugeon has given me instructions to dial back my exercise intensity by keeping my heart rate below ~150 bpm. I currently exercise every day, albeit at the more casual pace. My question is, is there a pre-surgery exercise routine I can follow that will make life post-surgery a little easier? A pre-hab for my rehab I guess. Should I focus on upper-body conditioning, or cardio, or ??????? Thanks.