Train travel

[Sewing19]

I’m 6 months post 3x CABG and have just done a long train journey to visit my daughters. I’ve recovered so well from the surgery that I thought ‘I can do this’.

At Crewe, due to delay with 1st train, I had 4 minutes to catch my next train, no time to wait for the lift, so I legged it up and over the bridge with my luggage.

OMG it took me 10 minutes for my breathing to get back to normal and my wobbly legs to settle. No chest pains fortunately but it made me realise I am still in the recovery stage.

[Hidden]

Dear Sewing19

Strange the way your body reminds you of its incredible journey lest you forget!

Like yourself I did a similar thing, doing my walk of fitness the other day a hat blew past me with the shouts of “please get that” hanging in the wind.

I did just that without thinking with my inner “night in shining armour” shouting me on.

The said hat was retrieved, after a keystone cop style chase , to its owner, she was so disturbed at my breathing that she wanted to call for help.

Explaining to her and then myself later that it was just my body telling me that I was not quite ready to play the hero part yet.

Even my old Jack Russell looked at me as if I was stupid.

But my god my newly repaired heart can really pump out when it needs to !

Take care.

[Nettekin in reply to Hidden]

Hi blue1958. Your post really made me smile on a windswept and wet afternoon. As you say these occasions prove 2 things - to remind us where we have been and also where we can go. Best wishes for a healthy and happy Christmas x

[Hidden in reply to Nettekin]

And to you Nettekin and all your loved ones

[Sewing19 in reply to Hidden]

Your reply made me smile 🤗 I think because we just get on with things we forget what has been inflicted on our bodies. Take care. X

[Hidden]

Hello

Wow I would have been on the floor never mind 10 minutes to get my breath back !

But sometimes when I talk with my Rehab Nurse and I say I did whatever and was out of breath she gives me a reminder that even when people have not had Bypasses they would get out of breath , I think I forget this sometimes as well as listening to my body

Hope you enjoy your time with your Daughter x

[Sewing19 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for your reply. I had a great time with my daughters and grandchildren. ❤️ I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing but maybe another time I’ll get a coffee and wait for the next train 😂😂😂

[Hidden in reply to Sewing19]

Glad you had a lovely time and I think that is a great idea next time a coffee and wait for the next train x

[Razor1967]

Can certainly empathise, also 6 months post op CABG x 6. Have been feeling OK and doing 1 hours walks with the dogs just fine. Went to my works Xmas party last night getermined to take it easy. Unfortunately the DJ put One Step Beyond by Madness on. Well I love that song so got up and I was up bopping along with the rest of my colleagues like a good un 😄😄. Had to have a long sit down under a cold air vent for a good while afterwards whilst my heart had a good old thump in my chest. Hopefully it will have " cleared the pipes" a bit more. Thankfully no worse the wear for it this morning, although a few of my work mates kept asking if I was alright 😄😄. Probably has done my some good.

[Nettekin in reply to Razor1967]

Hi razor1967. Another post to cheer up a dismal Sunday afternoon. I have a mental image of you "getting down" on the dance floor that may take some time to disappear! Best wishes for a happy Christmas x

[Razor1967 in reply to Nettekin]

Ha ha! Yes, the young uns around me looked a bit startled so see a bald 54 year old " giving it large" on the dance floor. After what happened in June, I am just pleased I made it to this Christmas and have decided life is too short ( possibly literally !) and need to make the most of what's left. Happy Christmas to you too, go easy on all that rich food 😀, although I will treat myself to a few pigs in blankets. It is once a year after all 😋.

[Nettekin in reply to Razor1967]

Lifelong vegetarian, so not sure what the equivalent is - courgette in a duvet maybe? Or carrot in a blanket..... 😁x

[Sewing19 in reply to Razor1967]

Like pre CABG ‘a bit of what you fancy …….’ I went to an 80’s do a couple of months ago and I danced loads more than my ‘non heartie’ friends, but I always did. 😂 I paced myself and amazed myself. Was knackered the next day though but I am 68 🤗

[Sewing19 in reply to Razor1967]

Brilliant. Good for you. A mad dance will have done your head a lot of good if nothing else. 👏😂

[Nettekin]

Hi sewing19. Lots of entertaining and supportive replies to you. You did really well to manage this trip and most people would have been out of breath doing a four minute dash, never mind after heart surgery. So give yourself some credit for the achievement and marvel how far you have come. Best wishes for a happy Christmas x

[Fish4Info]

As it happens, I had a CABGx4 15 years ago, aged 47. So, 20 years before you, relatively speaking. 6 months to the day (after a good recovery) I actually climbed to the top of Snowdon as part of an 11-12 mile hike with 2 of my sons. It sounds dramatic ... but it was slow and steady ... all day. I doubt I could do it now ... and I certainly couldn't have done a dash like you tried. Slow and steady is definitely the way to do things. 😀

[Sewing19 in reply to Fish4Info]

Wow that’s amazing. Yes pacing yourself is important. So good to read that you’re 20 years post CABG. Brilliant. Keep up the good work 🤗

[Fish4Info in reply to Sewing19]

Ha ha. Only 15 years post CABG ... but much younger than you when I had it. 😀

[MountainGoat52 in reply to Fish4Info]

Well done on the Snowdon trip at 6 months post op. I wonder whether you have kept up your level of fitness. I'm a hill walker and was back climbing in the Scottish Southern Uplands at 6 months post bypass. Now 3 years later I travel further north to climb Munros. It's amazing what a bypass op can do. I've a friend that is 40 years post bypass and now in his 70s and he still walks at least 4 miles every day. 😀

[Fish4Info in reply to MountainGoat52]

I'm a bit lazy TBH. I lost my dog - and my partner isn't keen for me to get another. :-(. I walked miles with him. The lockdown hasn't helped ... and I have other stuff going on ... not heart. My surgeon said he wanted the op to have a 35 year outcome before needing a redo. I pointed out I'd still only be 82 - but I'm 3/7 there (42%). Maybe now that I have a bit more time on my hands (recently unemployed, or is it retired?)

I admire your Munro ambition.

[MountainGoat52 in reply to Fish4Info]

Yes, having a dog certainly forces you to get out. Without that need it is summoning up the interest to go out that is the hardest part, particularly when it is cold and wet. I set myself a 1,000 mile challenge for 2021... almost there, but days out travelling to see relatives has not helped. You can't drive and walk at the same time! 😂

As for Munros, well I am doing them while I can as I'm 70 next birthday. There are some nice pairings up in Scotland. Have a couple in mind for later this week if the weather plays ball, but I do have a Plan B if not. 😀

[Fish4Info in reply to MountainGoat52]

LOL ... I hope your plan B works better than BoJo's (we need his plan B - plus hands, face, space) to work! 😀

[MountainGoat52 in reply to Fish4Info]

Indeed.... when was the last time you saw some hand sanitiser out in public? 😀