I am aself employed gardener and had my triple bypass on February the 18th in Lancashire Cardiac Center.
At week 7 I was thinking it's going to take at least 6 months but reading Peoples posts about all the pains and medication setbacks I was having on here helped me pick my chin up and crack on with a sense of reality .
I cut hedges ,mowed loans and even managed a 1 hour cardio session and a treadmill and small weights in the gym .
I thank you all for sharing your experiences and offering reassurances .
I wish you all the best and hope I can pop in from time to time and help people with answers just like I was helped.
PS whilst I know it's gonna take a bit longer for full recovery , I went in hospital so I could live and that's exactly what I'm gonna do
My tips for recovery
1. Breathing exercises #1 of them all
2. Sleep position , get comfy on your back for first 6 weeks minimum.
3. Walk at least 1000 meters with an incline on the way at around week 6.
4. Ring the GP,cardio nurse, ward if you have anything causing you anxiety .
5. Plenty of water each day with vitamin C
6. Burn them bloody stockings
Deanos.
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Deanosbeano
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Hi Deanos, glad you’re getting back into the swing of it. I went back to work 12 weeks after both my ops and it felt great to be getting back to some sort of normality.
Couple of things I would also add to your list:
1. Take the painkillers, post-op is not the time for heroics.
2. Do what the nursing staff tell you to do and don’t do what they tell you not to do - usually means it hurts!
You are right about those 2 additions paracetamol got me through and some codeiene when the ribs started to heal .
It's amazing how things improve in weeks 9-12 isn't it . When I think back to week 4 when I tried to walk too far and the energy just pulling those stockings up or the first shower when I had to sit down for a bit
When you wake up your intake is around 1500 ml on the spira ball , the target is around 4000ml .
Every physical thing you do requires good intake if breath and once you achieve that as a norm everything else becomes easier .
On day 3 I was around 1200ml but with exercises on the Spiro ball ( each patient is given one ) I was upto 2800 ml in a few days and now I'm at the 4000 ml
Well I know just how good I have to be,,, thank you for your inspiration , my journey starts today. Will be settling into my hospital room later in prep for surgery tomorow .
It's an unbelievable journey that miracles must surely play a part .
Make sure you watch them nurses on day two when they wake the other patients up , I've never been so in awe in all my life ,you will never get another chance to be so close to an Angel on earth
Be sure to put the result in perspective no matter what it is ,you have already started the solution to any outcome by having the angiogram. The journey gets no worse than nervousness and anxiousness .
Good luck and ask for the anaesthetic if they don't offer it you for the angiogram
Thanks , the stockings were secretly my greatest challenge and probably made me fitter pulling them up than walking but I hated them .
Discharge note said 8 weeks but cardio rehab said "oh we say after two weeks wear them at night and then Evey other night then not at all " I said I've done 6 weeks I'm doing the full 8 .
Next day I thought hmmm I'll try just the night hahaha
Just popped in to say all is well with me and I hope others are recovering well too .
I learned that It's amazing how heartburn mimics my old symptoms of Coronary artery disease to the point where I panicked a bit , kinda scary that one but a Zantac or a chew on a Rennie etc soon squashed that fire , ironic really that's how I used to treat my heart disease too before I knew I had it :).
Looking forward to a bit of a ret in winter , I have over done it on occasions but you learn your limits and your body reminds you of you don't .
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