Deep Freeze
It's a glorious world, isn't it, with such wonderful diversity in people and places. So, while folks in the southern hemisphere may be enjoying the summer months, in the north we're having winter. And for the past week, southern Alberta has been cold and snowy. I mean minus 25 centigrade. Brrrr. And a good 20 cm of snow. Brrrr.
This is the first blast of cold and snow this winter. Such weather is not entirely a surprise at this time of year. But, still, it is a shock to have to put on extra layers of clothes, to plan for extra time getting places, and to need to put the snow shovel to work.
I've heard that often there is an increase in heart attacks when a snow storm hits. People who may be out of shape and who are normally sedentary are outside with their shovels, digging, lifting, and tossing shovel-fulls of snow to clear their walks and driveways. Heart rates and blood pressures go up with the effort and, if there's a build-up of plaque in the heart arteries, the extra physical stress from the shovel-work can end up in a blockage.
I was pretty cautious, then, with my first shovel work since the surgery. Mostly, I think, I'm out of shape. Those arm, shoulder, and back muscles are not yet restored to the strength and vigor I had before this valve problem. Despite the cardiac rehab fitness classes I'm doing, I found I had to pause often to catch my breath and to rest.
One fellow in the fitness class maintains that we shouldn't be shoveling the snow at all. The rehab nurses, on the other hand, say that it's OK - it's good exercise and strengthens the upper body. So long as we don't push it really hard.
I've found the whole shoveling experience to be annoying and tiring. So much so that I'm getting a show blower. Wonderful machine. Will be very helpful. One more toy ... er ... tool, I mean ... to get because of my heart.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Exercise
Walking along the path of recovery
Right from those first groggy moments out of anesthesia, walking has been the main fitness activity to go with my recovery.
In the first days after surgery, it was a few tentative steps hanging to to the physiotherapist. Then it was a turn down the hallway with a physiotherapist at the ready in case my balance was off. Then it was a stroll around the unit with F. Then two laps. Then a flight of stairs and a couple of laps every few hours.
When I was discharged it was first just 10 minutes out on the sidewalk in front of our house. Then 15, 20, 30, and then up to 45 minutes. Now I've progressed to around an hour and about 5 kilometers every day or two.
Mostly I'm aiming to walk at a good pace, swinging my arms quite a bit (though not quite with military drill precision or height), making sure my heart rate gets up and I work up a bit of a sweat. This has been great heart exercise. I feel my stamina improving. My breathing is deeper and stronger. My legs have been sore at times but after a slow day or two I recover and can push a bit further.
One weird thing has been a numb feeling and a sharp tingling sensation at times in my left pectoral. Dr. M. explained that they took the vein for my by-pass from this area and so, of course, there was some nerve damage from the harvesting. Now some of those nerves are growing and reconnecting and reactivating and the result is the tingling. A fellow in my exercise class has a similar feeling in his leg (where they removed a vein to do his bypasses) which he describes as a burning. It's a bit uncomfortable at times and a little annoying but certainly not debilitating.
Speaking of exercise class, this is the main source of information and motivation for my recovery fitness program. The class is part of the Building Healthy Lifestyles program of Alberta Health Services. This is the physical activity part of the Cardiac Rehab program I wrote about earlier. After the initial information sessions, a one-on-one session with a cardiac nurse, and an evaluation session to determine my base level of fitness, I'm now into hour-long classes two times a week.
I never was the jock type and I've never done a group fitness activity ever before, but I'm finding that I really enjoy these classes, and even look forward to them. We meet at the Soccer Center. We do some warm up laps around the indoor playing field, under the watchful eyes of some Cardiac Recovery Nurses, one of whom is our leader. She (and one he; they all take turns giving us direction) keeps time for us and tells us what to do with our arms as we walk: punch straight in front, roll our forearms as if we were hitting a small punching bag, make small circles with our arms straight out to the sides, make big circles, move our arms as if doing a forward crawl, do the backstroke, flap our arms up and down like a bird. It's quite amazing how much of a sweat you can get just by working against gravity. After the warm up laps we do about twenty minutes at a higher level cardio work out where we get our heart rates up. Then we cool down and do some low impact strengthening exercises and some stretches. We track our heart rates and the nurses help make sure we do the exercises in the proper way and have good information about how they're helping our recovery.
And I'm feeling fitter and stronger. Not Charles Atlas, by any means. But certainly much better than I've felt in a long while.
So these classes are twice a week. On other days I usually walk around the park and lake just a block away from our house. And most recently I've taken to using walking poles from Mountain Equipment Co-Op (or, I guess, more properly, trekking poles). The weather has been really great so it's been great to be outside. The poles are adjustable to the right height and they add a good extra bit of a work out to the upper body.
One weird thing has been a numb feeling and a sharp tingling sensation at times in my left pectoral. Dr. M. explained that they took the vein for my by-pass from this area and so, of course, there was some nerve damage from the harvesting. Now some of those nerves are growing and reconnecting and reactivating and the result is the tingling. A fellow in my exercise class has a similar feeling in his leg (where they removed a vein to do his bypasses) which he describes as a burning. It's a bit uncomfortable at times and a little annoying but certainly not debilitating.
Speaking of exercise class, this is the main source of information and motivation for my recovery fitness program. The class is part of the Building Healthy Lifestyles program of Alberta Health Services. This is the physical activity part of the Cardiac Rehab program I wrote about earlier. After the initial information sessions, a one-on-one session with a cardiac nurse, and an evaluation session to determine my base level of fitness, I'm now into hour-long classes two times a week.
I never was the jock type and I've never done a group fitness activity ever before, but I'm finding that I really enjoy these classes, and even look forward to them. We meet at the Soccer Center. We do some warm up laps around the indoor playing field, under the watchful eyes of some Cardiac Recovery Nurses, one of whom is our leader. She (and one he; they all take turns giving us direction) keeps time for us and tells us what to do with our arms as we walk: punch straight in front, roll our forearms as if we were hitting a small punching bag, make small circles with our arms straight out to the sides, make big circles, move our arms as if doing a forward crawl, do the backstroke, flap our arms up and down like a bird. It's quite amazing how much of a sweat you can get just by working against gravity. After the warm up laps we do about twenty minutes at a higher level cardio work out where we get our heart rates up. Then we cool down and do some low impact strengthening exercises and some stretches. We track our heart rates and the nurses help make sure we do the exercises in the proper way and have good information about how they're helping our recovery.
And I'm feeling fitter and stronger. Not Charles Atlas, by any means. But certainly much better than I've felt in a long while.
So these classes are twice a week. On other days I usually walk around the park and lake just a block away from our house. And most recently I've taken to using walking poles from Mountain Equipment Co-Op (or, I guess, more properly, trekking poles). The weather has been really great so it's been great to be outside. The poles are adjustable to the right height and they add a good extra bit of a work out to the upper body.
So now I look like a fitness geek, even if I'm not Charles Atlas.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Check Up
Visiting surgeon for the first time since the BIG CUT
Had my first follow-up visit with the surgeon. It's been three months since my surgery. The bottom-line? "Good, good, good" ... those were his words.
However, things are not 100% perfect. I guess I'll never have the heart of a 30 year old again (ha).
There is still a small leak from the mitral valve. They did tell me this after the surgery. I knew about it when I left the hospital. My question to him was about the long-term prospects for my heart given that the valve is continuing to leak. He said, first, it was a minor leak, whereas before it was a real gusher. Second, when they checked after the surgery and found it was still leaking a bit, his judgement was that going back in to try to fix it would have the potential to cause further damage and weakness and be harder on me and the valve than if they just left it. Third, he said I was a "young man" (ha). He implied, I think, that I'm not in any imminent danger and that my body can handle this leak and there's no need to worry about having to go back for further work soon, say, within a year or two.
I do wish F had been there too. It would have been good to have her interpretation and memory of what he said. I feel now that I should have asked more specific questions. I didn't ask, for example, how he would quantify the leak. Is it 2%, 5%, 15%? I also didn't ask if the leak means I'm going to have to continue to be on various heart medications for the rest of my life. Right now, I'm sure that the medications I'm on are helping to reduce stress on my heart so as to be sure it heals well. But will I need to continue on them even after I'm well-healed?
He said he wants to see me next in a year. I guess I'll save up my questions until then. And we'll see how things go. I'm doing the cardiac fitness rehab class and it feels good to be doing a bit of a work-out and to have a bit of soreness in my muscles afterwards. My blood-pressure and heart-rate are good during exercise. I'm not concerned about hurting my heart ... and it's not like I'm training for a marathon!
Had my first follow-up visit with the surgeon. It's been three months since my surgery. The bottom-line? "Good, good, good" ... those were his words.
However, things are not 100% perfect. I guess I'll never have the heart of a 30 year old again (ha).
There is still a small leak from the mitral valve. They did tell me this after the surgery. I knew about it when I left the hospital. My question to him was about the long-term prospects for my heart given that the valve is continuing to leak. He said, first, it was a minor leak, whereas before it was a real gusher. Second, when they checked after the surgery and found it was still leaking a bit, his judgement was that going back in to try to fix it would have the potential to cause further damage and weakness and be harder on me and the valve than if they just left it. Third, he said I was a "young man" (ha). He implied, I think, that I'm not in any imminent danger and that my body can handle this leak and there's no need to worry about having to go back for further work soon, say, within a year or two.
I do wish F had been there too. It would have been good to have her interpretation and memory of what he said. I feel now that I should have asked more specific questions. I didn't ask, for example, how he would quantify the leak. Is it 2%, 5%, 15%? I also didn't ask if the leak means I'm going to have to continue to be on various heart medications for the rest of my life. Right now, I'm sure that the medications I'm on are helping to reduce stress on my heart so as to be sure it heals well. But will I need to continue on them even after I'm well-healed?
He said he wants to see me next in a year. I guess I'll save up my questions until then. And we'll see how things go. I'm doing the cardiac fitness rehab class and it feels good to be doing a bit of a work-out and to have a bit of soreness in my muscles afterwards. My blood-pressure and heart-rate are good during exercise. I'm not concerned about hurting my heart ... and it's not like I'm training for a marathon!
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