Part of recovery is a PMA positive mental attitude, so it would nice to hear from some HA veterans and how well they are doing x years on.
One of the doctors told me "your stenting has given you 15 years trouble free" and if so that takes me to around 83 and I find that comforting. Before that I had only been with my current wife for 9 years and wanted more. I still have a lot of things to do, although riding the Himalayas on a Royal Enfield is probably a bit risky now..
So lets hear from you long-termers, trouble is many will just be living their lives and will have forgotten about us newbies..
Written by
Khonkaen
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
28 Replies
•
At 68 I had a mild heart attack and was rushed to hospital and entered the system over the May bank holiday last year. Had all the checks, e.ray and echo then swiftly on to an Angioplasty which they found to be impossible due to almost total artery blockages! That was a very low period for my wife and I, especially when the "designated" nurse sat down with me and told me the dire prognosis of my condition - repeated to my wife about two hours later. The end result was for bypass surgery which was an an urgent to do" for me and would be held in hospital until I could be given a slot. After three incidents of chest pains where I had to use the issued spray, brought on I now realise, by visitors who asked for a blow by blow of how it happened, since I was, on face value, fit and well. After these very scary incidents, I was then tagged as an urgent surgical case.
On 7 June I went to surgery and received my triple heart bypass surgery. The next three days were not pleasant, mainly because of the pain and then anxiety and fear. However after five days I was released (with some pressure from me) and went home. Again, the next few weeks were difficult - emotions all over the place, pain management, weakness, and fear and anxiety. Eight weeks later I was driving and after 12 weeks felt so much better it was amazing. Slowly I began to exercise and then went through the hospitals "rehab" where I met people not so lucky as myself who were struggling to get over whatever surgery they had been given.
There were many reasons for their situation, weight, level of fitness before the operation, will power and little help from relatives and age. My saving grace is my positive nature with a strong will power and a love of life and my wife! Moved on to the gym locally and exercises at home -
At the 1 year point I went to see the specialist to be assessed and see "where I was" I went through a long list of tests and with my wife, saw the specialist who was so happy to tell me that I appeared to be a huge success and had near perfect results. He said it was like a mid life "Major service and MOT" and I would be "Good to Go" for the rest of my natural life. He also said he envied me for having had this work done for, with care of my health (diet, weight, exercise etc) I would live out a natural life span, but he had not had such an intricate "service" and really did not know how his heart was since he had no events to date. He was so kind and honest and genuine, we both walked from the hospital feeling ten foot tall.
Now one year, two months, one week and three days ( I am really not counting) I feel the fittest I have been for years. There is nothing I cannot do now that I could do before, probably more now than ever. Heavy gardening, washing, polishing our car, chopping trees etc etc. If I exert myself too much I get a small warning from the cut in the breast bone, (even now) just a small ache that tells me to remember what I have been through. I still take the prescribed medications and will do for the rest of my life, but such a small price to pay. I am here due to the skill, kindness and dedication of the entire hospital staff of this cardiac specialist unit, and the love and support of my wife and in no little part my attitude to the position I found myself in. I truly believe that saying "I can't do this" actually means "I won't do it" for with the willpower, nothing is impossible, if you put your mind to it. Many will argue this or call me arrogant however, I can only speak for myself.
The heart attack was a serious wake up call which many never have and either succumb to the heart attack or the coming few days afterwards. I thank my God for this gift and will try my best not to let anyone down by abusing or not respecting the gift I have been given. "Always look on the bright side of life" Sorry for the length of reply - but you did ask!
I had a quadruple bypass the day before ticking-ticker so still a newbie. No emotions for me as I was happy to be rid of angina and breathlessness.
Onto long term. I know two people doing fairly well in their nineties over forty years post their event. One had a bypass and the other a heart attack. No issues since bar medication changes due mainly to ageing. Secret seems to be healthy diet (loosely Mediterranean), adherence to medication and, keeping physically and mentally active.
It’s really fantastic to hear good news stories. And I’m sure you’re right, a positive attitude is essential, for recovery, however much Heart disease you have.
But my medical history means it would be unreal to ever expect to return to how I used to be,
To date I’ve had some excellent medical care, and lots of drug juggling, some counselling, and lots of trainer help. But it’s now 10 years since three HAs and 9 stents. More recently, I have had to add leaky valves and uneven heart beat. which restrict me even further physically. However much I exercise (I do), eat well and keep my weight down (I do), pace myself (yes, fairly well), and I don’t smoke ....... the hand I’ve been dealt (maybe also my fathers genetics), limits my expected level of recovery.
I’m writing, not to depress anyone, but to be realistic. So, for people like myself, however positive we are we’re never going to return to our previous level of activity. But we must try! A really positive attitude does mean we’ll get the very best out of the hand we’ve been dealt.
Well that's 10 years on and here's to hearing a similar story from you in 2029 Kristin.
I don't see myself ever being back the way I was and I guess that goes for most of us, okay my health is not going to be 100% so I plan on making up for it in other ways. I needed a change, start fighting a bit more, I always liked a challenge, never had this one in mind, but those are my latest cards.
Ask me to eat all the greens I eat now 5 months ago and I would have said "coblers to that", now I love them, but back then I had no idea I was ill. I gave up smoking age 14, never drank a lot, ate reasonably well (obviously not well enough), but osteoarthritis and brochitis made me lazy and it seems I got my mum's heart genes.
Anyway I have a lot on my bucket list before I start pushing up the daisies, just do them a little slower and a little more carefully. Hope I too make it to read your "20 years on" story.
I agree Kristin,no amount of will power will bring us back to the levels of fitness we once had but with determination and willpower we can live the fittest life possible within the parameters of the hand we have been dealt.I live in a village and no one even guesses I have health problems. Jx
What a great post.....love your positivity. You’ve reminded me that it’s time to review the bucket list. I did shoot a gun (first and last time), rather strangely, for a pacifist, always wanted to. Then did a great St Petersburg trip, then pulled out of flying a glider. Far too small and flimsy.
My husband had heart attack and 3 stents in 2005. They said he'd already had a "silent" attack some time previously. He had always ( since his forties) had hypertension requiring meds and was a fairly heavy drinker.
They couldn't stent the artery they wanted to do but in spite of that and having valve disease and from 2012 Permanent Atrial Fibrillation he has continued to do all he wants to do ( he's 74)
He did reduce alcohol intake after the stents. Our diet also improved somewhat. Until May had no problems although annual checks for valves. We have therefore had 14 good years
I’m a newbie to heart conditions, having been diagnosed earlier this year with a rare form of inherited cardiomyopathy. I’m still trying to adjust to the slower pace of life on medication. I’m 59. At my age, my father had a heart attack - he was playing badminton at the time. He subsequently had a double heart bypass at Papworth Hospital, which is one of the hospitals I’m now attending. That gives me faith. Following his bypass, my dad enjoyed playing badminton and tennis. He finally hung up his tennis racquet a few years ago because of a neuropathy in his feet. His heart is still pumping away. He’s 92.
had 2 heart attacks in 2011 which gp said was chest infection - which then turned into pericarditis - in CCU for 5 days - came out feeling scared but with meds got on with my life - albeit a slower pace - 2016 had a stroke - thankfully no lasting effects then May last year had another HA - got rushed to Oxford and given 3 stents and sent back to local hospital where I had a miriad of speciallists checking everywhere - taken down for CT scan where they found numerous cancers in my lungs - had to wait 5 months before any treatment due to having the stents - that was really stressful - November was in Harefield getting half a lung taken out - was offered chemo to - mop up!! - but 1 ignorant cancer consultant who informed me not 100% guaranteed - also side effects would be drastic due to type of chemo due to my heart - so I said no thanks - operation was - I was told - a complete success - even though cancer still on right lung - but hey - my heart consultant says I am looking good - and after all - your heart is the engine for your body
so I set about carrying on with my garden which is looking beautiful - growing veggies never even heard of!! with some success - my only weakness - is weakness!! have to get OH to move pots etc - found a lot of helpful items to make it easier to dig / plant
My garden is my therapist - I know whats coming - and being completely honest I worry about my plants more than my health!! and planning next years planting
OMG your positivity absolutely amazes me and your post did me a huge amount of good. I am a naturally anxious person and my "mild" HA just a year ago absolutely floored me. My whole medical history has closely patterned that of my mother right through my life. She died of heart failure at 67 yrs old so when I hit 70 I pretty much expected something to happen and it did. (GP had been insisting my severe breathlessness for 3 years was muscular.) It has been made much worse by extremely bad reactions to almost every tablet I've been given; either allergies , hallucinations or just making me so weak I could barely move. The most recent BP tablets caused SVT which is only just starting to improve having stopped the tablets. I badly needed cardiac rehab to give me the confidence to know I could do things while supervised but it was refused point blank as I use a wheelchair and have very limited mobility. I'm now afraid to leave the house on my own or to drive any distance. Husband has stopped even asking me to go anywhere so I am on my own for most of every day and have started smoking again with the little voice in my head saying if that finishes me off at least I won’t be in constant severe pain any more. Your post has made me see how stupid I’m being when people go through far far worse and come out the other side. I need to get off my backside and start living. Thank you.
I did manage an hour in the garden yesterday; like you it's my therapy . I can sit and dig even if I can't walk.
No going back now kidda. Chuck the fags in the bin and do what you can, we are all in the same boat. Realise it is tough on your husband too, make him proud of you, no one is going to give you anything, "One life live it"....and if there is an afterlife it's a bonus. I could with a bit of aftercare, but I am a long way from home and can't get back.
I am sitting on my back porch listening to music contemplating ruining a few gardening plants with my acid fingers.........ha ha!.
Husband's attitude is ignore it and it's not there; wouldn't even go to hospital when they rushed me in. went back to bed. Time I gave myself a kick in the behind but depression and isolation are hard ones to get through.
Sorry to hear about that, I guess kicking you own backside is your only option. Contortionism is a tricky one to master, bite the bullet and go for it. Good luck darlin'.
In late November 1999 I had a grim angina attack, was whipped into the now closed Middlesex Hospital and after an angiogram, had a quadruple by-pass in time for Christmas. Recovery was swift and by the late summer, I was hill-walking again. That stood me in good stead until 14 years later when I had a SCA in Birmingham Airport. (Hint, if you are going to have an SCA, a big airport near good hospitals is the ideal venue if you are going to beat the odds- doctors everywhere, forest of defibrillators etc.) So that's nearly 14 untroubled years after the CABG. I was sent home wkith a clever device, an ICD, just below my left collar bone which is my own personal defibrillator which will shock me if my heart plays games again; it sends digital messages regularly via Broadband to the cardiac unit at Hereford Hospital who look after me very well. My bionic machine is also a pacemaker And now I' m looking forward to my 7th anniversary after the SCA. Sure I have slowed down a bit mainly because I am nearly 77 and have arthritis. So is there life after all that nasty cardiac stuff? You betcha. I am grateful for every day and am eager to see what tomorrow will bring.
In 1982 had a H A aged 34 , By pass surgery in 2015 and 2 further stents in 2018 . I have a very very PMA I will be 72 in September but feel like I did in the 60s. I do think PMA is a vital part of survival after a H A
Our neighbour in Thailand has was diagnosed with cancer 8 or 9 years ago, she gets up at 5am every single morning and cooks food for the Buddhist monks and she is still the same healthwise. As far as we know she has had no treatment, just diet and PMA. Like you she has a hobby of gardening, but with quite a few snakes that she lives and let's live.
Our house here in central Portugal has 4000m2 (about an acre) and hitherto I have the least green fingers you can imagine. But I must recover and so spend a fair bit of time there in the sunshine. The olive trees look after themselves, but the vines get worse every year under my care. The old fruit trees need some tending and this year we put 12 new ones in and 3 have died, so I have a lot to learn.
Having lost a lot of weight along with strength, I get my wife to carry heavy stuff, or share the load with me. I get some funny looks, but who cares, not I?
Thanks for your story sharing your optimism.
Eat greens every day with balsamic vinegar on.
PS. I live half the year in NE Thailand (Khon Kaen) and half in central Portugal, in two very modest houses. Lucky me.
My husband had a HA when he was 64-like most it was totally unexpected.
Twenty years later we are active and enjoying life. We’ve traveled the world, seen children married, grandchildren born and learned how to use the Internet, cell phones and appreciate every day.
A heart attack doesn’t end life and it offers us a second chance.
It also doesn’t give us a magic wand to remove the natural process of aging. Regardless of how we want to be 20 again the body simply won’t cooperate. Aches and pains, wrinkles, loss of hair and sometimes a little loss of memory recall is part of life.
It’s what we do with our lives that count. PMA is the best medication we can take. No side affects and the best thing is it’s free for anyone that wants to give a try.
Just to say hi from Sisaket province. We (you and I) live thousands of miles away from many on here and my UK homeland but now live only 200km apart at least half the year by the looks of it!
I had my triple bypass at Bumrungrad Hospital Bangkok 50 days ago (would have been your local University heart centre in KK but I needed to act quickly and I knew Bumrungrad could get me in on demand and had insurance to cover its western private care rates). Would have been Papworth Hospital Cambridge but the consultant cardiologist I spoke to advised me against travel.
My recovery is going well. Bumrungrad had me in cardio-rehab of sorts on Day 3 and the gym on Day 5. My daily walk is now up to 5 km.
I'm 68 and married 10yrs to an Isaan lady with our own Thaiglish 9 yo daughter and we both adopted my wife's cousin soon after the birth. She is now 22 and the 1st in my wife's family to go to university (as was I in my family nearly half a century ago).
Seeing my family grow and prosper is all the motivation I need to take every effort to be around another couple of decades if possible. I also run our local Hash House Harriers club ("drinkers with a running problem" in Ubon, so I need to get my fitness back up so I can at least set a 7km trail for my friends/members. A touch of hip osteoarthritis means I haven't run trails myself for a couple of years.
Wishing you all the best with your own programme and life plans. Portugal plus Thailand sounds great. We have a condo in Bangkok and a house cum farmland in Kantharalak, Sisaket. Love it here after a 35 year City financial career in London. My avatar is Thai-related too - name of wife's family village, 3km from our house.
Small world, I live only 3km of the main Isaan heart hospital in KK, so very lucky when the stool hit the blades, even luckier I had just sold a house in the UK and had some money in the bank to pay for the stents.
I would be interested to hear about your aftercare centre, even a single visit would be helpful, 200 clicks to Korat is not far to travel in my truck when we get back in October.
We have a few things in common with osteoarthris which stopped me walking let alone running, biking and scootering right up to destination doorsteps, not a smart move for me.
Wow, a "very modest" house on 4000 m² of arable land in central Portugal. Enough to make anyone recover! My wife and I just returned from a blissful week in Lisboa (we are from South Africa), but unfortunately ran out of time to explore further north and south, as we would have liked to do.
I had an aorta valve replacement 9 months ago. After 3 months felt fairly normal and started playing squash again, taking it very easy at first, as I soon ran out of breath.
Then 2 months on a terrible infection hit my body. After a myriad blood tests, scans and other examinations the condition was described in terms which the medical profession uses when there is still no answer: FUO, or fever of unknown origin. Strange as it may seem in 2019, diagnostically this is an acceptable illness.
Generally I felt as bad, if not worse, as the weeks after the operation. Mercifully and thankfully I improved such that we could with reasonable confidence leave to spend 3 weeks in Europe, where I in fact turned 65. The trick was to not overdo it, a difficult feat to achieve with all the hills in Lisbon and Sentra!
For my part, to sum up: my physically body is able to do about 70% of what it could do before the operation, but interestingly my cognitive abilities have declined more. Details of what happened a day or two ago often escape me completely, while my memory generally is worse than before. Especially names of people and places are hard to come by. Some nurses and carers initially ascribed this to having been under anaesthetics for 9 hours.
I also get tired very easily, even after having slept for 8-10 hours. I could get up, have a small breakfast and happily go to sleep again for another 1-2 hours.
I suppose I must add that about 18 months ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, but after trying out various CPAP machines I gave it up - trying to sleep with those machines in the long run tired me out more than the sleep apnea itself.
Here's to PMA, which at first looked to my untrained eye dangerously close to PMS.
The houses are both modest, the acre of land in Portugal came with the house.
My body and brain are all over the place, I am hoping things are going to steady up. I am enjoying the walking, squash ouch!! I can do about 70% of what I did before, but that wasn't very much.
As a young man I was very fit, could run both wings on a rugby field, climbing, karate and ran everywhere like Forrest Gump, even into my early 50s. Then along came arthritis and I got lazy, something I have come to regret.
Starting to feel sorry for myself now "shut up and pull yourself together"
I’m a newbie compared to many, my HA came out of the blue in April this year (out of the blue but looking back there were lots of symptoms which I didn’t give any attention). I’m 51 so in heart terms relatively young, and I did struggle with the ‘why me’ thought process for a while.
Tonight I’m laying reading this, with a really sore shoulder. A sports injury no less! Today was Cardiac Rehab, my first 2 hours back in work and I was feeling so good I went to a Zumba class this evening (but didn’t give it the oomph I would have previously). The shoulder hurts, but it’s a happy hurt, because it’s not my bloody heart!
It all still seems very unreal, and I still can’t understand people’s reactions when I tell them what happened. In some ways the reality, living it, was far less dramatic than you imagine. Kind of a ‘oh well, this is a bit crap, best just get on with it’.
Like so many of us here, I have really taken notice of this massive warning. My diet and attitude to food has changed, I try to do something physically active every day, from painting the kitchen doors to a brisk walk with the dog. I’ve lost 2 stones since H-Day and am enjoying the buzz of wearing clothes that I never thought I would get in again, and not feeling horrified if I catch my reflection. Hearing the genuinely bowled over ‘omg, I can’t believe it, you look amazing’ feels fantastic. If this hadn’t happened there’s no way I would have got a grip and sorted myself out.
What an interesting story. I too had my HA in march/april and I too lost 2 stone, but a about a stone too much for it to be an improvement, a bit gaunt now ofr the time being. Cut 4 inches off my belt to make it of any use. Mine too came out of the blue, I even drove myself to the heart hospital, only 4km away and couldn't believe what they told me. But I have a dvd and all the photos. My daily activity has increased every week and today my wife told me to slow down on the 2nd of our 4km walk and that's a first, with arthritic knees.
Now the subject of my reply to you. Haven't been able to get any rehab and wondered what it involved? It's not going to happen for me given my location, so wanted to try some DIY stuff. I know you guys are supervised, so will have to watch out.
No rehab here in South Africa, unlike UK. Back home after the operation I had to watch 5-6 different CABG YouTube videos to see what in fact happened and try to figure out how patients survive. These videos were really an eye opener, especially one showing how the sternum is cut in two with an angle grinder, and thereafter the ribs separated by a contraption called a Finochietto retractor or rib spreader.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
To medicate or not to medicate, that is the question 🤔
Where do I start? ……… VT and ICD newbie
My Heart is doing a lot better but I think it's not strong enough. 
Propranolol 40mg twice a day and slow heart rate (HR). 
