Ken's Posts

A rapid pulse seems to be pretty common post surgery from what ive heard, and read on this site. Mine was in the 90s for 3.5 weeks. They switched my beta blocker to Bystolic. Whether it was the drugs or just the passage of time, it dropped significantly after that. At 5 mos post surgery I was taken off all bp meds. Hope that helps.

I'm 3 mos post-op also, my HR has been high 90s to 105. My cardiologist just put me back on 25mg of metoprolol (I had been off for last 6 or 8wks). I noticed a difference immediately- HR dropped to high 80's / low 90s and I feel better. I'm hoping consistent exercise will continue to lower my HR even more. Good luck!

Cardiac brain for me was real as well. Things just didn't process like they used to for a while. I was between jobs when this whole thing started, so I have had the luxury of not having to rush back to keep a job. I have been ready for a couple months where I know I could have worked successfully, and am still looking for the right placement that I can keep until I retire! ;-)

I think I waited 9 weeks. My recommendation is take as much time are allowed/can afford. Thankfully I work for a company that put me on Short-term disability with full pay while I was out. I was entitled up to 12 weeks based on the surgery or whatever the doctor ordered. After 4 weeks the doc said I could go back if I wanted to but in general the 9 week mark seemed to be a good spot. The extra 5-weeks just gave me time to spend with my family while actually feeling pretty good and not add that extra work stress on too early.

I was operated on Feb 18th. I was initially given the OK to go back on week 5 and have been feeling very good. The clinic at work though wanted to make sure I had some rehab and also wanted to know what my travel restrictions were. Cardiologist wanted 2 weeks of rehab before clearing travel. All this required a stress test to start rehab which I was finally able to get done today. Hopefully will start rehab Monday and it looks like I will be out a total of 8 weeks.

Don't be in a rush to get back to work if you can afford it. After 4+ weeks I tried to ease back into it. I found my concentration to be limited (I was placed on the heart-lung machine twice during my OHS), and I would tire very easily. Eventually, I caught a flu (which may or may not have had anything to do with going back too soon) and sat out for another 3 weeks. As mentioned above, the effects of surgery do linger for a while. It does go away, but I've found it to be a slow process.

I plan on taking 8 weeks off. I am lucky because I have the sick time at work coming to me. It has been one month since my surgery and am just now starting to feel like myself. I still can't sleep well and need to get that taken care of before going back to work.Starting rehab next week.