Heart bypass: Best wishes for a quick recovery

I will be prepping my Swing for a few months of storage here in Hawaii. Just learned that I will be needing heart bypass surgery soon. Looks like I have three blockages. Couldn't last four minutes on the stress test. Good thing my wife is also retired.
I know that recovery is different for everyone, and for those whom went through the process, how long did it take you before your doctor released you to ride again?

Easyrider wrote:

I will be prepping my Swing for a few months of storage here in Hawaii. Just learned that I will be needing heart bypass surgery soon. Looks like I have three blockages. Couldn't last four minutes on the stress test. Good thing my wife is also retired.
I know that recovery is different for everyone, and for those whom went through the process, how long did it take you before your doctor released you to ride again?

Easyrider
Thoughts & prayers are with you for this,(let us know when you are admitted) though it's a pretty routine thing nowadays.
As for getting back in the saddle my mate had similar following two heart attacks (first shouldve killed him as he ignored it) & within 6 weeks flew put with us to Malta and did a tour. Hardest part for him (as there where diabetes complications) was balancing his meds (won't go into detail in case folk are eating when reading) bit you can imagine a strong dose of alien chemicals in the body has on the bowel.

Scootypuff Snr,
Thanks for your response. I too have diabetes and so far I am only on pills. How long did it take your mate to resume normal activities?

Easyrider wrote:

Scootypuff Snr,
Thanks for your response. I too have diabetes and so far I am only on pills. How long did it take your mate to resume normal activities?

Believe it or not light work load (painter & decorater) within 8 weeks as he's self employed so no entitlement to any benefits.
But obviously no heavy lifting (ladders/scaffold)
Rode out with him this Tuesday & you'd never known he'd been ill if not met before.

Choose your Dr's wisely----I have lived thru heart attack and stroke, now type 2 diabetic, maybe some Agent Orange----but lived thru it and am fine....but I see Internal Med Dr....they can keep you alive---my experience, Heart people tend to over prescribe.---In addition to Internal Med Dr I have VA GP Dr watch me-----According to my downtown Dr, VA blood tests are the best and very comprehensive.----next birthday I will be 80 and feel fine and am active---attitude has a lot to do with it-----and riding bikes/scooters lots of miles. Good luck----get up and be active as soon as you can.

Best wishes. The indicator for when you can get back on your bike should be when the hospital/doctor indicates that you should begin physical therapy. My wife had heart work done and she was given a solid physical therapy program soon after. Your return to riding should coincide with initiation of that program.

Easyrider,

I was scrolling down this thread with my comments in mind ... then I read John's reply.  His comment about attitude is exactly what  my comment is.  A positive attitude goes a long way to speeding recovery.  Also give yourself time to heal.  The bike will be ready for you when you are ready.  Live to your "name" ... easyrider.

Looking forward to hearing how great your first ride was after this bump in the road of your life is all sorted out.

e mālie,
Mike

Thanks ALL for your thoughts. I have my first visit with the surgeon tomorrow morning. Really thinking about my mortality. Never thought that it would happen to me. Went to the gym at least twice a week. Walked four miles a week. Do a lot of yard work around the house.
Once again a big mahalo!

Prayers and Wishes to you Easyrider!
Heart bypass and diabetes both. I guess I don't have anything to complain about.
I met a man in his 30s at the nursing home where a friend of mine was recovering from a heart attack. He has brittle bone disease, kidney failure and needs a liver. I really have nothing to complain about!

Easyrider wrote:

Thanks ALL for your thoughts. I have my first visit with the surgeon tomorrow morning. Really thinking about my mortality. Never thought that it would happen to me. Went to the gym at least twice a week. Walked four miles a week. Do a lot of yard work around the house.
Once again a big mahalo!

Good luck to you with the visit hoping perhaps you won't need as much work as anticipated, surgeons can do some amazing things these days.

Best wishes for a successful surgery and a quick and complete recovery, Easyrider.

Easyrider, easy does it when your ticker is involved. Cardiac arteries can be replaced by veins frm inside the chest wall. Less or no pain, leg vein harvesting requires longer recovery and pain from the leg surgery. Best I can tell you is to watch it, whatever it is: watch it with a lot of detachment, whatever it is. Best of luck.

Jay.

Hi "easyrider",
I want to add my best wishes for you to all the others here. Prayers for your speedy recovery.

Thanks all. A big MAHALO for all your thoughts. Met with the cardiac surgeon this morning. We scheduled the surgery for this Thursday at 8:30am. According to the doctor, I need to have a triple bypass, maybe quadruple if the last vein is large enough. I should be out of ICU by Saturday. Really makes me think about my mortality. Never thought that this could happen to me.

More prayers, my brother lived many years after his heart stem cell transplant hope you do too.

Surgery went well. It was a quadruple bypass. I just get tired easily. Just posting on this forum this evening is tiring. I am on a mild exercise regiment. Trying to adjust to no salt meals. Bad thing is that I may be allergic to lemon/lime.
Thanks for the prayers for my health.

Tired us OK it's the bodies way of healing.
Glad all went well, gods speed on recovery

That's a Thanksgiving no matter how you look at it, follow those orders the doc gave you and it should go well.
One thing about docs, at least my Cardio guy, follow these orders, I hate do overs he said and he wasn't smiling when he said it.

Your big hurdle is behind you. It's all small but crucial changes from here on. Good to hear from you.

Jay.

Congrats on getting through the surgery, now the hard work starts, recovery. Follow all the orders the surgeon and staff give you, its for your own good.   Lean on your family and friends, they are there for you.  Don't get discouraged because of the pain and weakness, you just went through a life saving procedure and it will take time for you to heal and you will loose some of the strength and stamina just from being immobile and sedentary.   And finally, take a long term view of things.  You may not see your progress back to health from day to day, but those gains will be much more apparent if you judge them in weeks or months.  This will help you to stay positive which will impact your recovery more than you can imagine.

Good Luck

Bob the nurse...

Thank God and the Doctors for your surgery that went well. Like the others have said, take it easy, follow orders and lean on family and friends.

Good news that surgery went so well! This getting older ain't for weaklings. I haven't tried heart problems yet but diabetes, arthritis, chronic kidney disease and cancer haven't been much fun. But modern medicine does keep us older gents going a lot longer now than in the past.

I expect you'll be back on your bike by the time some of us are just taking ours out of winter storage.

Congrats for being on the road to re-newed health Easyrider ! As the others have said ... follow the doc's recovery instructions. One short story that attests to this --- my mother had TB back in the 1920's when if contracted it was a death sentence. Her doctor gave her treatment and instructions to follow back to health. She recovered and the doctor used her case in presentations dealing with what can be accomplished when the patient follows instructions.

All the best and more prayers will be offered for your speedy and complete recovery.
Mike

Hey !!! Glad to hear everything went well. Offering my prayers for a speedy recovery now !!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! I meet with my PCP this coming Monday. What amazes me is that I am able to tolerate the pain without pain killers. I did take Tylenol for back pain. They replaced the pillow to hug with a support bra like strap that I can squeeze close my chest bone when I need to caugh, get out of bed, or sneeze.

L&H

So glad to hear the excellent news! Seems like you're carefully following the right track to eventually get back on your SWing. Easy does it.

Wife and I had a scare Saturday night when I was taking a shower. Maybe I was too confident. Never used our shower chair. I had been warned by the nurses that a hot shower could make me weak. Well I have taken several showers without any problems, but this past Saturday night I increased the hot water rinse. Soon, while standing, I got very dizzy and fainted in the shower. My wife tried to catch my fall. I ended laying on my back. After resting and checking my physical status and with her help I was able to hug a pillow and sit up on the chair. I also got dizzy again and sick. After my wife rinsed me off, I was able to get dressed and walk back to my recliner chair where I have been sleeping after returning from the hospital.

Hey, Easy, take it EASY. Live up to your name. Please listen to the docs and nurses. Give it time. You have many great rides to prepare for.

I second the motion. Lots of us seem to think we're healing more quickly than the docs recommend and over do it. I'm confess I've done that a time or two and regretted not waiting for the body to catch up with my desires to get going again.

Easyrider, your first instinct is to get back on your feet as quickly as you can; after all, you are only 68. Your body just gave you a reminder that it is recovering from a major assault on all its systems and you are not going anywhere until it is good and ready.

Jay.

unfortunately pushing it get's one shoved back, you survived this one don't push it again Think about this what if someone, anyone wasn't there when you needed that help. Yeah I know what does he know well when they restitched me up I knew.

You got lucky, this time.  Don't push it.  Easier said than done, and I've done similar stupid stuff.

In case the nurses didn't explain why, here is an explanation:

Cooling process and your heart
When you submerge your body in hot water, your temperature rises, but your blood pressure drops.

Evaporating sweat normally helps cool you off. But, when you immerse yourself in hot water, that natural cooling mechanism doesn’t work. As a result, you can’t cool off.

When your body gets superheated:

Your blood vessels dilate to try to help cool off the body.
Blood diverts to the skin, away from the body core.
Heart rate and pulse increase to counteract a drop in blood pressure.
Normally, these events don’t cause problems. However, if you have existing cardiovascular disease, the cascade of events could overtax your heart. This can lead to:

Loss of adequate blood pressure, if your heart can’t pump enough blood
Increased blood pressure, if you have blood vessel disease or narrowing and hardening of the arteries
Dizziness or feelings of faintness
Nausea
Abnormal heart rhythms
Inadequate blood flow to the heart or body
Heart attack

Easyrider, don't feel bad. Nobody here has any intention of telling you off. We have all done stupid stuff; the idea is to not repeat the same mistake. Okay to make new ones, but no repeat of stuff that don't work. Take it easy: many here have gone thru similar life changing events. Take it easy brother.

Jay.

Old retired and disabled nurse !!!

EvilTwin,
Thanks much for that explanation. It is exactly what happened.

Cotetoi,
Thanks. Sometimes I think I am stronger than I really am. My doctors all commented that it was good that I was healthy prior to my surgery. I'm so thankful for my wife being at my side. We both support each other. According to my cardiac surgeon, complete healing may take six months.

Sorry Easyrider I left for a while. I  I am glad that you came through it o.k., my prayers will be with you through your recovery.

Thank you Pastor! Just got back from visiting my parents grave site. Had to thank them too.

My cardiologist  just released me to do more physical activity last week Thursday.  So I washed my Swing, checked all fluids, aired up my tires,  checked all the electrical. Just needed a reason to ride. Well I decided to go to the gym after watching the AFC championship game and my wife said that it was too late for her.  That gave me my reason to ride. Had to be especially careful not to lean to far to one side at the lights and stop signs. Doc said that my chest bones should be healed but takes longer for the nerves to heal. Not sure if I can hold the bike up if it leans too far over. Wife said to let it fall (ouch!).
It was strange getting on and feeling the weight of the Swing.  Must be the same feeling some of you get taking your bikes out for a first rde after the winter storage. Took it easy for the six miles to the gym. Bike behave as though it was ridden just yesterday.
Thanks all for your comments and best wishes.

Good to hear that you are back on the saddle. Actually I'm envious. It's been damn near 0°F here on the east coast lately. I don't think many of us here will be getting out until the time you are well healed.

Tim

Good for you and continued healing successfully, SOL be your namesake

Good to hear you are back on the iron horse.
We are getting some extreme weather: instead of January thaw, we are in the grips of extreme arctic cold winds, snow, freezing rain and other items on the weather smorgasbord.
Enjoy your new rides, everything in moderation, at least in the immediate post recovery period.

Jay.

Wish I could send all of you some Hawaiian sunshine. Temp in the high 70s today. Need to plan a trip to the beach park to test my drone. It had some control problems New Year's Eve trying to film the fireworks.
Hope for an early taw for the frozen states!

I have been away from this forum for awhile and missed your initial email concerning your health. I am glad to hear of you getting back on the bike.

Prayers coming your way from Yuma, AZ.

We had 72 degrees, sunshine today, but the wind blew at 25 mph. No riding today.

Glad to hear you got back in the saddle.  I'm envious of that weather, we were about 20 this morning, but temps should go up by tomorrow.  

I did a bit of surreptitious riding this last monday while my wife was still at work.  Took the three wheeler out and did fine with it,  so I decided to take the Kawasaki out as well.  Short rides both, but felt real good to get out and get them moving.  Swing is just a bit too heavy to manage with the shoulder yet.
Just dont tell my wife...

Modernman1953, I remember riding in dust storms when living in Las Cruces NM.

EvilTwin, you're bad. Last month I worked on my lawnmower. When I wheeled it past the patio doors, my wife came running out to observe that I was not doing the lawn. She had to do the lawn twice in the last 30 days. She admitted that some of the work I do is labor intensive for her. I now am free to do the yard work.