Riding again after major heart surgery.

[Jdsk]

That's good to hear.

What advice are you following now?

Jonathan

[djnotts]

What do you suggest? My on phone only advice from Cardio Physio is totally non-specific. Don't do too much.....no idea of where I started from. Never seen me. Reluctant to have me do walking test, I think because I, unlike many, am actually doing any exercise. I imagine a fair few on same wards as me already in Threshers and McDonald's.

In general Cardio after-care is very poor, especially compared with Oncology. No name, no contact, on discharge letter. Waiting list/time for OP ECHO unknown to Physio.

Thanks.

[joeegg]

After my triple bypass i found the aftercare to be excellent.Starting with a weekly one hour home visit by a cardiac nurse who did things like checking heart rate and blood pressure together with a general chat.
Then moved on to a monthly visit to my local hospital and cardiac team there.
I felt all the staff were overly cautious with regards to exercise,but i think that's what they are taught.
Finally signed off by the heart specialist into the care of my local gp.
Overall i found the aftercare very thorough and any issue i had was quickly looked into.

[djnotts]

Seven weeks post event and treatment i ended up back in A&E. Same ecg and symptoms (very mild ache) as original. Howeve, judged not another HA on basis of triptorin levels. Told probably over-exertion.

Bizarrely, day after A&E I received through the post, no cover note, full and comprehensive exercise plan from WEEK ONE! Only 7 weeks late. Obviously not specific to me but still would have been very useful the day i was discharged.

Start over. Damn and drat.

[Jdsk]

"Troponin":
https://labtestsonline.org.uk/tests/troponin-test
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troponin# ... biomarkers

Jonathan

[djnotts]

^ sorry, wrong spelling!

[Cowsham]

Seven weeks post event and treatment i ended up back in A&E. Same ecg and symptoms (very mild ache) as original. Howeve, judged not another HA on basis of triptorin levels. Told probably over-exertion.

Bizarrely, day after A&E I received through the post, no cover note, full and comprehensive exercise plan from WEEK ONE! Only 7 weeks late. Obviously not specific to me but still would have been very useful the day i was discharged.

Start over. Damn and drat.

What did it recommend?

[djnotts]

In the main seated and standing full body stuff rather than walking (or cycling) most of which did not occur to me and are not mentioned in other Hospital Trusts' guidance.

I was already doing some weight stuff to counter the muscle loss side effects of my cancer meds.

There are some walking guidelines, all of which I have been exceeding.

Just a general slow down I guess. No sign of actual face to face assessment nor monitoring.

[drossall]

Seven weeks post event and treatment i ended up back in A&E. Same ecg and symptoms (very mild ache) as original. Howeve, judged not another HA on basis of triptorin levels. Told probably over-exertion.

I have had concerning episodes roughly annually in the seven years since my double bypass. On each occasion, the hospital have taken me seriously, checked me within an inch of my life, and found nothing.

As I related on page 1, I was told on discharge that I was free to push myself, which would not be true of everyone, and my original experience was of feeling abnormally tired rather than of anything more dramatic. I have had to accept that chest discomfort can relate more to it having been pulled around and perhaps to overdoing it slightly, and so not everything is an alarm bell - whilst of course still taking symptoms seriously. It's not always easy to know, and everyone's case is different.

[joeegg]

drossall. I have the same feelings in my chest and shoulders which feels like things are not quite in their original position.Even walking sets off a tightness on my chest but seems as if it's the skin and not internally.
Riding the road bike in a more or less fixed upper body position gives me no problems at all.

[drossall]

Thanks for sharing - encouraging.

[al_yrpal]

I sometimes had a small pain above my left tit. I didnt think anything of it. The GP went a bit loopy and I got scanned. A deputation came out and said I had a narrowed artery but it was ok they were going to let me go home! To sort it a surgeon said they could open up my chest and do it, that would take 5 months, or I could get a stent.

I chose the stent. I was laid out on a table for about 90 minutes whilst they put a thingy in my wrist. He put in 4 stents and told me "you have the most twisted arteries I have ever seen. How did you get here?" I said, on my bike, he looked shocked. "On your bike! I mean how did you get here on the second floor?" So I said I walked up the stairs because the lift was busy. He was shocked and got a nurse to walk me about. Then he said I havent finished come back in a month.

I did. And he put in 4 more stents which this time was pretty painful. He kept giving me morphine.

My Dad drove a steam train but got invalided off that at age 55, he had narrowed arteries too.

Before this happened I was often off road on my MTB (none of this gravel nonsense) giving it a lot of welly. I never had chest pain. I only got a little pain if I leant over to my left. I thought it was cramp.

So, having 8 stents hasnt stopped my cycling at all, neither has it affected how much effort I put in. I sometimes still get that cramp. Perhaps all that stenting wasnt necessary after all? Anyway very grateful to the NHS...

Al

[Cowsham]

I sometimes had a small pain above my left tit. I didnt think anything of it. The GP went a bit loopy and I got scanned. A deputation came out and said I had a narrowed artery but it was ok they were going to let me go home! To sort it a surgeon said they could open up my chest and do it, that would take 5 months, or I could get a stent.

I chose the stent. I was laid out on a table for about 90 minutes whilst they put a thingy in my wrist. He put in 4 stents and told me "you have the most twisted arteries I have ever seen. How did you get here?" I said, on my bike, he looked shocked. "On your bike! I mean how did you get here on the second floor?" So I said I walked up the stairs because the lift was busy. He was shocked and got a nurse to walk me about. Then he said I havent finished come back in a month.

I did. And he put in 4 more stents which this time was pretty painful. He kept giving me morphine.

My Dad drove a steam train but got invalided off that at age 55, he had narrowed arteries too.

Before this happened I was often off road on my MTB (none of this gravel nonsense) giving it a lot of welly. I never had chest pain. I only got a little pain if I leant over to my left. I thought it was cramp.

So, having 8 stents hasnt stopped my cycling at all, neither has it affected how much effort I put in. I sometimes still get that cramp. Perhaps all that stenting wasnt necessary after all? Anyway very grateful to the NHS...

Al

Did you feel any better ( I mean had more energy or strength ) for having the stents ?

[al_yrpal]

Honestly didnt feel any difference. A bit sceptical whether they were needed?

Watched the stents go in on the same huge screen the surgeon was using, fascinating.

Al