Penny's Posts

Hey all, I haven't been on this site for some time. I completed rehab which was great and am back to doing my normal activities. Regular exercise is 2-4 miles per day plus 40 minutes of stationary bike. A couple months ago I started feeling dizzy during exercise but wasn't too concerned but when I had a follow up with cardiologist he put me on a 5 day heart monitor. I got the results today and it showed I was throwing PACs (premature atrial contractions). One of the guys in my rehab was having these after his bypass. I've increased the diltiazem to help my heart to regulate. I was just wondering if anyone knows if this is common after open heart? I'll be seeing my cardiologist on 4/15 to discuss this but as it's two weeks from now I'm just curious. Apparently it's not normally too concerning but because of the dizziness and when I'm laying in bed I often feel my heart quivering I wanted to know if anyone in this community has experienced it.

Today was the eval for rehab and I ended up walking 100' up and down the hallway to determine my BP, oxygen and heart rate for 6 minutes. Oxygen and heart rate were really good with a fast recovery for my HR to come down. BP was a little high for my liking especially the bottom number (dystolic?) and the nurse said it was something we would need to watch during rehab. I start Monday three days a week. She told me to make sure I didn't do my own exercise on days I come to rehab which my pup Mal won't like but we'll see how it goes. I also realized after my post yesterday that today is 8 weeks post op not 9 not that it makes that big a difference. Nurse did tell me that if my surgeon told me at my one month recheck I could lift up to 25# then at 8 weeks I can try lifting the 40 and 50# bags of chicken and bird food and see how it felt. So I unloaded the sunflower seeds and dumped them in my barrel - no problem. The pain I had been experiencing in my sternum has suddenly disappeared so I like that too. Thanks everyone for your support. And I really enjoy the updates that Adam does from seminars, etc. I continue to learn things every time.

Tomorrow - 10/18/18 - I will be 9 weeks post op. I am feeling great. No more afib and off the Amironidone since 10/10. Breathing is normal, down to one levalbuterol treatment a day and that is only because I don't want any leftovers. Still on Lasix, about 2 weeks of pills left and we'll see how things go once I'm off it. Had a post op echo and got the results last week. The peak gradient was 16 which is the best it can be based on the size of the new valve. The one I had in June the peak gradient was 71 - yikes! Very happy about that as is my cardiologist. Have been having some chest pain on the breast bone and of course I thought I had done something I wasn't supposed to but my cardiologist said no, that is the natural healing process and proceeded to explain to me how they wire the breast bone back together which is a trip to listen to him explain all of these procedures to me. I love this guy. Finally starting rehab, first evaluation is tomorrow. I had been denied the rehab because no clinical notes were attached to the authorization request and after talking to the rehab center and surgeon's nurse I happened to get my monthly call from my BCBS nurse and asked her if she could intervene since she said I definitely need the rehab. Apparently BCBS screwed up and didn't send the notes to the dr who approves the rehab for them. My nurse was livid. This was last Friday and on Monday it had all been approved. I did not know that my BCBS nurse was my advocate to make sure the insurance took care of everything but now I know if I have any problems in the future she is to be my first call. So my eval tomorrow at rehab will include a 6 minute walk on the treadmill. I should ace that since I have been walking 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 miles a day ending it all uphill since I live at the top of the hill plus 40 - 50 minutes of stationary biking for about a month. And according to my phone's fitness app I typically walk between 5-6 miles per day converting the biking into steps. I am cautiously doing more things around the house and yard - washed all the inside windows last week and trimmed a bunch of vines and flowers. Bought chicken and bird feed the other day but I don't think I should be lifting 40-50# bags of feed yet so that is a question for rehab. Still in the car for now. The one thing I have learned from all of this is that there will be good days and bad days and you just have to let your heart and body heal and eventually the good days will outshine the bad. I went into this with a positive attitude for recovery so I thought I was going to be a bad ass with this surgery and be superwoman afterwards. My heart gave me an attitude adjustment. So, give yourself a chance to heal and you will wake up one day and realize you've have more good days than bad recently and be on the mend.