Darrin's Posts

Thursday will be the start of week 12 since my mitral valve repair. I was initially signed up for 18 sessions at three sessions per week for a total of 6 weeks. Monday will be my 18th session and I asked them to add another 5 sessions so I could complete two more weeks. (after all I exceeded my max out of pocket on my insurance months ago :)) My goal during the last two weeks is to improve my running while being monitored. I can now run the 15 minute treadmill portion without stopping but my speed is low (4.3mph) and I have 0 incline so I still need some improvement. I also started resistance training - after my first time I was barely able to lift my arms!!! I have lost a lot of upper body strength. Stress test 2 (the final!): 13.0 METS up from 11.3 in the first one. That is pretty good in my opinion but I was hoping for better. Total time on treadmill went from 8min to 9min 54 sec. Max elevation from 15.5% to 16%, Max speed from 3.7mph to 4.2mph, and Max heart rate achieved before tapping out went from 136 to 149. I would have liked another crack at it because I felt if I could have got a better jogging rhythm I could have done better but I will take it. In rehab I went from an initial resting blood pressure of 128/84 when I started to 108/68 on session number 17 (6 weeks later). I am now firmly in the normal range for the first time in... well years. I am not sure how much is attributable to diet (low sodium/fat), exercise, weight loss, heart surgery, or meds. I lost 4.5 pounds during rehab and have now lost a total of 26 pounds since January. My morning weight is 169. So a lot of progress but I still have a bit of work to do before I will be able to run my first 5k. I continue to be amazed by the stories from some people on this site who run 1/2 and full marathons etc post repair. You are amazing!!! I have another appointment with the cardiologist on October 15 and I have a lot of questions about how successful the repair was and what are the odds of having a re-operation sometime in the future. That is probably my biggest worry right now. Also, I would also like to know if/when I can eliminate or reduce the metoprolol. So far I would say that Mitral Valve repair has been best thing to happen to me in years. I feel so much better and my fitness level is really starting to improve.

Eight weeks post surgery and my fitness level continues to improve. I can now run (more like a slow 4.3mph jog) for 7 min on the treadmill at the cardio rehab facility before I hit the heart rate limit they set for me. So my 15 min treadmill session is 7 min jog, 3 min walk, 5 min jog.. I hope to be able to run (jog really) for the entire 15 min in the next couple of weeks but we shall see how that goes. Another thing I learned is it turns out the staff don't like it when you exceed the heart rate limit and they tell you to take easier and you ignore them. I had my baseline echocardiogram and the rehab people have told me it looked "good". I would like a bit more information than that so plan to call my cardiologist as my next appointment isn't until early October. I am sure he will be excited to hear from me and have another round of questions!!! My wife and I did a hike from our house (at 6,000 ft) to a nearby hill (6,300 ft) and back. This was the same hike (3.4mile round trip) we did the day before my surgery to compare the results. I posted the results as a picture. It looks to me that my heart was able to handle the walk with less spiking and lower BPM while climbing. However, my heart rate is recovering much slower after exertion so my average heart rate (BPM) was higher. All in all - I am mostly pleased with my progress. I have a lot more energy than before the surgery as I go about the day. My exercise tolerance continues to slowly but steadily improve.