John's Posts

... and doing great. I feel so much better. My energy and recovery 'limiter' has been lifted. Other than some soreness around my sternum and ribs (which I expect for another month or two), I feel fully recovered, in fact I felt very good at about 5-6 weeks, but had to wait until 8 weeks for the lifting limit to be lifted to fully appreciate it. Since then, I've resumed all my regular activities (climbing the foothills of the Franklin mountains, yard work, weight lifting etc), except for returning to my twice weekly exercise class, which I'll do next week. It was nice to be able to dance for several hours on New Years Eve, and not feel tired. I could have danced all night. My advice to others, which others have given, is to walk, walk, walk, before your surgery to get in the best shape you can and then walk, walk, walk, after your surgery to get back in shape. It makes for a relatively quick reward. Happy New Year everyone - here is to a happy and healthy 2018!

...and still doing great. Walking at least 4 miles a day, sometimes 5 or 6. I went for a cardio rehab assessment last week, but I think I'm going to skip it. They want $40 for every session (3 one-hour, once a week, sessions) to monitor you on stationary bikes or treadmills. Walking my neighborhood hills for 1.5 hours a day I think is better exercise. I don't really need to be monitored - if I drop dead while exercising, I don't want to know about it. I had a Bombay Sapphire martini last night with friends, to no ill effect, delicious - a sure sign I'm getting stronger. I'd like to get off the remaining few drugs I'm on (except for low dose aspirin, no problem with that)... which are the platelet drug (both cardiologist and surgeon say finish the bottle, we don't care about it), a beta blocker, a statin. I was also on flomax, which I stopped taking as between the beta blocker and flomax, which also lowers blood pressure, I had a few spells of light-headedness when standing up. That's gone now. I've never had high blood pressure or high lipid counts for cholesterol - so I question why I'm on these drugs. My surgeon said they were negotiable, my cardiologist says he's more conservative and because I have a little plaque build up on my aorta ("insignificant, maybe 20%" he says) and a slightly enlarged aorta, he'd like me to stay on them. Otherwise the cardiologist says "do what you want, see you in 6 months, we'll do an echo at that time to check things out. I think I'm going to negotiate with surgeon, next followup is December 7 - I'll bring him my blood tests and I think I'll start taking my blood pressure - just to have some data. Any collective advice or wisdom? Happy Thanksgiving to All! A new lease on life is something truly to be thankful for!