Hi,
Today (6 weeks and 2 days) my surgeon has 'discharged' me following telephone follow-up conversation.
Based on my description of current level of exercise and discomfort (close to zero) along with a photo of my scar taken this morning I am:
- able to drive; and
- removing PPI (unless indigestion starts happening) from daily meds, leaving Bisoprolol, Aspirin and Statins; and
- to have regular check-ups by the cardio team at my local hospital.
In the last week I've completed two cardiac rehab sessions from the videos produced by BHF, increased maximum walk to just over 1 hour had 2 rest days.
The re-hab videos are very well made and easy follow and the re-hab nurse I spoke to extremely knowledgeable across all areas for which I had questions - definitely worth doing.
It seems I'm on track to being 'Normal' in another 6 weeks or so, after which I should consider myself not to have heart disease (unless/until new valve deteriorates). I do need to stay extra vigilant for signs of any infection and obtain antibiotics promptly if present.
I hope my story so far is encouraging/ re-assuring to those in-waiting, and not too irritating to those whose journey is harder than mine has been (so far!).
All the best to you all
Steve
PS During the last year or so when researching my condition I got the impression that those OHS candidates of us with just defective Aortic Valve disease (with or without aneurysm) are far fewer in number that those needing CABG - this document (hqip.org.uk/wp-content/uplo... contains UK OHS statistics for 2019 suggesting that those having just AVR number some 5000 each year in the UK.