Have you got used to the noises yet (thump, thump, click, click) ??

Nope. It’s still freaking me out how loud it is !!

I feel it tick at the bottom of my throat more than anywhere else which is weird 😃

bottom of my throat

that bits weird isn’t it? For me, the throat thing only lasted about a week or so but it sometimes come back.

The noise of the valve took a long time getter used to – perhaps 3?ears in my case..

The noise of the valve took a long time getter used to – perhaps 3?ears in my case..

Christ on a bike I hope it doesn’t take that long 😅

Alright everyone, update time.

I’m now 5 weeks post op and started back at work today. Its been quite an eventful few weeks that has seen me amazed at how well the body can recover from some serious surgery.

AS I mentioned I had to have a permanent pacemaker fitted and have an appointment at the end of the month to have the settings reviewed, currently my HR is all over the place and my resting heart rate seems to be about 10-15 bpm higher than pre surgery. I’m also hitting high bpm around 145 just walking up a steep incline. Apparently as you start building fitness again it will improve.

I’ve dropped a stone and half in weight since leaving hospital and haven’t really been watching what I eat as the surgeon said your body will consume lots of calories repairing itself so eat what I want for 8 weeks then look at the Mediterranean diet.

I have my first cardiac rehab session Thursday to hopefully stat building up my stamina and strength again and my goal is to be fit enough to ride my bike again at the 12 week post surgery point.

I hope everyone else is doing ok at the moment !!

Excellent news 😁 Hope the recovery keeps going so well!

Renton, so glad to hear you are post op and on the mend. Even with the complications it feels that you are are through the woods, and you’ve given me a big uplift being back at work in 5 weeks.

I’m still a bit off the op yet as still pretty active, but it still plays on my mind and your update has calmed me in one way but sensibly made me aware that the op might then lead to further challenges.

Let me know how the exercise recovery goes. So pleased for you fella.

Glad to hear thing are going well, I’d take it steady going back to work so soon….

@natrix I’m working from home sat at a computer doing half days this week so relatively easy. I’ve got an appointment with the dr on Friday to clear me to drive and then hopefully start full time next week.

Alright all,

Im now 8 weeks post surgery and have been doing cardiac rehab twice a week. It all seems to be going ok but at high heart rates I was getting quite breathless. I mentioned this to the cardiac physio and she asked me about my pacemaker settings. Told her I had no idea what it was set too but that I have an appointment coming up soon so would ask.

It turns out that they had set my pacemaker to give me help up until a max heart rate of 130bpm so anything above that and my heart was trying to do it on its own. As my heart isn’t beating on its own correctly this explained why I was getting quite breathy. They have now set it to give me 160bpm and said if I needed it higher they can quickly adjust it. Pre op my heart rate never got above 155 anyway and at age 46 its not far off max heart rate now anyway.

It also turns out that since surgery I’ve had a few bouts of Atrial Fibrillation with the last one being 07 august. Apparently quite common after OHS and the pacemaker nurse didn’t seem concerned. Next check up scheduled for 18 months time.

My INR levels seem to have settled now too. I’m sat at 2.0 which is perfect for my On-X valve. Hopefully they are going to extend the testing frequency out now.

Ive a meeting with the surgeon on the 20th and hopefully will get the all clear to start riding again. The physio said no reason why I cant ride now but having tried to do a light press up and having a bit of pain Ive decided to wait and see what the surgeon says.