Well....glad to report that I am doing well as of this morning and hope to go home later this afternoon.

I now have 3 more well placed stints in my heart and the Cardiologist says with the right rehab and change in lifestyle I should be around for at least 5 more Super Bowl celebrations!.

He did suggest that the Chiefs play a few less games that are heart testers or that I skip the regular season and save myself for the post season.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes...comedy comments and general goodwill l. At some point I will impart some of the more interesting events during my stay here.

Good news! Did they go through your groin or wrist? As long as you have been there my guess the groin.

I got number 8 a week ago Tuesday

Take a good rest and watch some replays of the Chiefs beating the Bills in the playoffs.

Sorry....hit the down thumb button by accident. I meant to hit the thumbs up.

My bad!

Congrats...


from the dark side of CP: Something something vaginoplasty something...

Actually....they went thru my wrist for the exploration of where my vessels were clogged. That was the 10 AM surgery and had its moment of comedy.

After viewing what they found with the initial exploration I was back in the surgery room for the 3 stents.....that ine was the 2 hour time frame. That time they went thru the groin and entailed a complete shave of my junk because they were prepared to go in thru both groin areas if necessary. Luckily they only went in thru the right groin and it seems to be healing pretty well.

When they went thru the wrist for yours did you get a hematoma? Since this was my second time if them going thru the wrist I got one and they had to put 2 wrist bands to keep the lump from growing.

All in all my experience wasn't as bad as it could have been....but I did get really tired of all the blood draws that have left my arms looking like I am a drug addict.

No hematoma for me, sorry to hear about that. I bet that was and is painful. The only time they went through the groin for me was back in 2007 for my first 4. In 2015 the next three were through the wrist as was the last one.

From my experience, I wouldn't worry about only having 5 more Super Bowls if you follow the diet/exercise rehab routine they recommend. They told me 10 more in 2007. :D

I expect something like this:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...pg_UX1000_.jpg

This is great news! I don't know you, and I have no knowledge of your age, physical limitations, or any other variables in your life. But I hope you take that 'five more Super Bowls' as the basement prediction and make it your life's mission to blow that number out of the water. Start kicking ass and takiing names one minute-hour-day at a time!

IMO, they give the short number to cover their butts in case of a future law suit. Some people are sue happy and they have to protect themselves.

So...

Why they have to shave your bean bag area?

Good news!

I believe that Mos requested it.
I read that somewhere on here.
;)

The analthesiologist prefers a smooth approach

Good. You needed three of them? Damn, you must have had some serious blockages. I had a 95% blockage in one artery and had one put in 12 years ago. I remember in the days leading up to it I couldn't walk from here to there without that burning/seizing feeling like my chest. You must have felt like absolute ass.

I don't know if you're a smoker or not, but if you are, brother, it's time to ****ing quit.

I had 99% blockage in one artery and 95% blockage in another. They were the same arteries that I had stents put in 2 1/2 years ago. The third Stent was put in an area that was fine the last time.

And yes....I was struggling to walk more than 50 yards before I went for the Stress Test...

But the thing that bothered me most was just 2 weeks before I was in the ER where the ER doc basically gave me2 antibiotics to cure a case of what she called a bad case of bronchitis....I took the meds for a week and things seem to get worse. I retained fluid, couldn't eat and coughed so much I got dry heaves.

I am home now and resting....I have follow up Rehab that begins next week that I plan to follow to the letter.

BTW...never smoked.

Wow, tough times for sure. Glad to hear you are home resting.

From my couple years of going to rehab, there are 5 things that contribute.

Diet, exercise, genetics, stress and smoking. Of course the only one we can't do anything about is the genetics.

I will never forget the first session with probably 40 couples in attendance (spouses included) when the instructor said "12 ounces of red meat a week."

I stood up in total shock, what? I eat more than that every day! She said back calmly, "how is that working out for you?"

My big fear is what will occur in rehab ...I have already heard some horror stories.

Glad to hear you are on the mend! Scary stuff.
If you are inclined to read/listen to books, I highly recommend "Outlive" by Peter Atia.
It has lots of great info on how to improve arteriosclerotic health. TMMV.
Keep up the important work of getting better!

Nothing to fear Sir, I don't think I would still be here north of the dirt without it.

I finally decided driving the 30 mile round trip on a schedule could be replaced by buying my own top of the line tread mill and recumbent bike along with the weights etc. and doing it every day on my schedule.

On one of their recent visits, one of my son in laws asked if I do the treadmill every morning to "get my heart going?" My answer was a resounding yes.

I feel great after 30 minutes on it every morning.

Downvoted by a Bills fan, lol. Don't you know that getting downvoted by a Bills fan is like getting positive rep from anyone else?

Mosbo - Very glad to hear you're on the mend. I hope you're here to enjoy many more years of Chiefs wins and Bills losses.

Nothing to fear. You will feel MUCH better. Have a good friend who basically was in your situation last year. He feels great now! Said it's the best he felt in years. Just get through it and it will be well worth it. And then stay on a schedule. Maintenance is key here.

The key is not to fall back into old habits when you start feeling so much better because the ticker is getting good bloodflow.

:clap: The hardest part for me was the change in diet, but now after years it is the norm and pretty easy since I do all the cooking. I have learned to love fruit and veggies.

Back 20 years ago, double cheeseburgers for lunch wasn't out of the norm and a big bowl of mac and cheese with dinner was delightful!

Now the only time any cheese gets consumed around here is when the grandsons are here. :D

Today is Day 1 of my journey back to better health....the good start was sleeping in my own bed!! Not sure about anyone else who has has a hospital stay but one if the more subtle torture devices is a hospital bed. There is just no way to truly comfortably sleep in one.

Never mind the every 4 hour visit from your nurse to check your BP....check my blood sugar... and drawing blood .

It was nice to get a full 8 hours of sleep and have a normal breakfast that wasn't made by the hospital staff.

Glad to hear my good man.

I've been 100+ lbs. overweight for a couple of decades. Yet, my heart is the best thing I got going, Tons of tests, no issues whatsoever. I was athletic up to 40 or so. I think it must be a genetic thing for me.

Something I thought about thru all of this is having a sub group within Chiefsplanet that allows those of us with health issues to provide life experiences having gone through the same health issues. Many of us are now much older and have life experiences that we can share with those going through the same experiences right now.

This is a great idea. I don't at all mind people posting these in the Lounge and in fact love that they do. But I think there are probably a significant portion of posters who decide against posting here because it feels kind of personal to post in the main forum. Having a dedicated spot makes sense with our aging population.

Even if the new sub forum were created, I would still say post them in the Lounge for anybody comfortable. We have way, way, way less interesting shit posted here every day, and personally I learn a lot from reading these threads.

Mods....if any of you are in here reading this thread can you send me an IM on my suggestion and the possibility of creating a sub forum on this...

We could also toss in the Retirement thread too since it it really applies to a certain segment of our group here.

:clap: One day and step at a time, all the best to you on this journey!

Dang meds.. .having an allergic reaction to one my new mends!!

Irritating enough to recuperate after heart surgery but having one of the meds exacerbate my recovery...

Going to call the Dr's office when it opens this AM

I hate when I can't get a good rest st night!

Which one is causing the problem? Statin? Plavix?

I can sympathize, as I had severe muscle pain last night and got very little sleep myself. My cardiologist doubled the strength of my statin after this latest stint and the pain is severe. **** that, my cholesterol is not very high anyway.

It's the Brilinta......got a rash on my feet and and on my stomach and it is spreading. Went by the Dr's office and he is telling me to stop the Brilinta and go back to the Clopidigrel.

My Cardiologist is fine with the dose of my Statin....I take Atorvastatin 80MG and it works fine.

Just getting past these first few days is the challenge.

I've taken Atorvastatin for 10 years. No issues. Just my experience.

I had to google Brilinta, does basically the same thing as Plavix only stronger and faster acting.

I have been on it for 17 years at 20mg and he just bumped it to 40, too strong for me it seems. :( Maybe because my cholesterol is so low to start with?

If your cholesterol is low, why are you on a statin?

Sorry, I think statins are a money grab and I'm seeing a lot of long term users here.

My cholesterol was 240. Now its 160. No side effects. Only use 20mg.

No side effects that you know of. Statins have been shown to cause liver issues.

But you weren't really the target of my question.

For example, my wife had high triglycerides but low cholesterol so they put her on a statin. She now has virtually no good cholesterol, her bad cholesterol is also nearly non-existent and it hasn't helped her triglycerides. She had to, wait for it, change her diet.

Yeah. ..my Cardiologist is sure my issue is the Brilinta since it is the only new med I have.

Been taking Atorvastatin for 7 years and my cholesterol is fine.

Nothing more irritating than having an allergic reaction to a new drug.

Yeah it sucks. I had an episode recently and it was not fun. Basically spent 2 days in some kind of pseudo-psychotic lala land. I couldn't get out of bed.

Hope you are starting to feel better.

Slowly getting there.....my feet are beet red and itching like crazy

Well hopefully they've identified the cause and you will feel better soon.

Once again, I think the Drs. cover their asses for potential legal issues. They had me on Plavix for over ten years before I talked a Dr. into taking me off of it. It was working, so none of them wanted to take a chance even though the more recent subscriptions said for about a year if I remember correctly.


Highest my Cholesterol has ever been was 166 in 2007 when I was 95% blocked in 4 and they had to do emergency stint procedures. Last month it was just below 120 total. At one time it got down to the low 70s total.

Sorry, just catching up here, been out planting trees.

I hadn't heard that about the liver before. My regular Dr. recently had a liver scan done on me (excellent insurance) and She determined I have non alcohol related cirrhosis of the liver. (I thought to myself, holy shit how much would I have to drink to have it be the cause:D)

Does your Mrs. have a lot of work related stress? Mine was high until I retired then it plummeted.

My wife has a chronic pain disease and takes a lot of medication that messes with her body, especially her liver and kidneys.

So sorry to hear, hope it gets better. :thumb:

Basically still doing the recuperate thing....didn't realize that true rehab is going to take a little longer than last time..

Tried doing a little extra this weekend and am paying for it this AM.

I'm surprised. My dad was up and back at it really fast. The worst thing for him was the giant cut in his groin took a bit to permanently close up. Edit - not giant in length, of course, but deep into the artery.

The first time I had this same surgery i was up and around in a week....this time it was more of a surgery than the.first.

When they went through my groin in 2007 I had to lay in the hospital for a couple days but in 2014 when they went through my wrist I was shopping an hour later.
The one a couple weeks ago was similar but it took a few hours for the drugs to wear off.



Did the itching and redness in your feet go away?

Yeah....got a couple of shots and it is better

Hospitals are for fixing, never for resting. Getting home is day 1 of rehab. Glad youre home

So, on Monday I head back for my first follow up with my Cardiologist. What I am told is at that appointment he will then refer me to the Cardiac Rehab group to start my rehab with them.

Has anyone ever done Cardiac Rehab and have some insight into what rehab programs they will probably utilize? I am sure it has a lot to do with getting my heart back in shape and will probably entail some exercises to get my strength back. In addition I am sure they will probably have a diet regimen I will need to follow as strictly as possible ( am guessing no more of the sweets that I rarely ate anyway).

But would appreciate any insight anyone can give me on what I can expect.

Mosbonian: I continue to pray for you during this recovery period.

Issues related to the heart recover very slowly and take time.

Do what they tell you. I don't know what a perfect recovery is but I had two relatives who did not follow the guidelines and did not follow the diet and did not do all the rehab and both permanently lost the ability to function normally as they had pre-0p.
I don't know what procedure you had - how serious, how little - but make yourself do the hard work. Do it. Change diet if that is required. The two people I knew were permanently at about 60% of normal for the rest of their lives. My grandfather died 4 years later and never got back to 50% of what he once was. My grandfather was a guy at 72 who would "mow the grass for old people." 90 degree temps that old man was in a hat and jeans cutting the grass of people 5 years younger than him.
Had either a double or triple done and never got back. He was already old, part of that may just be healing, may just be age, but he was stubborn and couldn't even walk a block after that. Huge life difference.
You aren't old yet. Don't do stupid old man things.

Mine was pretty serious...at one point t they considered open heart surgery but with my extenuating circumstances they decided to go with additional stents first.

I have been following the Cardiologist orders to this point....no heavy lifting....just small amounts of limited exercise....watch what I eat...make it healthy and in reasonable portions.

The real work I am told will start with the cardiac rehab and the work with the dietician. The wife has been a stickler about our meals this far...even once going by the hospital cafeteria and picking up a lunch that was recommended that day on the menu.

I am sure that I am in for some effort on my part to make valuable use of the extra time I have been granted with this surgery...

I intend to make good use of it.

Cardiac Rehab is no biggie. Just very light supervised excercise. They will gradually increase it, but it NEVER got to traditional excercise. I think I was 61 so I was one of the young guys.

I don't know what they did for you, but they told me, the next one will be full bypass and that I am not a candidate for stints. That was when I weighed 280. Got all the way to 286. 222 today. I still have things I want to do. You do too, Mosbonian.

I'm currently in rehab for balance issues. It's WAY worse than Cardio Rehab. Getting oldd ain't for sissies!

Kind of ironic I am sitting in Springfield hospital lobby waiting on the Mrs.
I consider myself very experienced on cardiac rehab as I went through it in Illinois and Branson.

Their mission is to help overcome the habits we have developed that are the two parts of the 5 that we can control.
Diet and exercise
I went a couple times a week for a couple years to the Branson West facility until I decided to buy my own equipment and do it on my schedule.
I think you will be pleasantly surprised and wish you the best

People get tired of hearing it from me but my Sole f63 treadmill is one of my favorite possessions. Half hour on it first thing every morning and I feel great. I am at 984 hours.

This was my 2nd pass at stents....the Cardiologist advised that I can buy myself 3-5 more years of good health if I follow the rehab regimen before we have to go with bypass. Otherwise if I get lazy it could happen sooner...

I am planning to make the best of those surgery and enjoy my retirement. Got a couple of trips i want to take and at least one more big trip to DisneyWorld.

Bad habits and work stress got me here to begin with....I plan to leave those in my past.

Good to hear that this won't be a daily regimen...

:thumb: Stress is a huge factor, glad to hear you are getting control of it. You have a huge advantage never having been a smoker.

If I were able to go back and give myself advice I honestly think besides 'try to be the smartest guy at what you do' and 'don't give a shit what others think' it would be you in no way shape or form need to try to bench more than your body weight.

Honest stuff but your mileage may vary.

While I need to take some responsibility for the stress in my life, there were always work factors that just enhanced the stress I was feeling.

Now that I am retired the stress is pretty much non-existant. Most of what I do these days are things I have always wanted to do that gives me satisfaction.

I had really let myself go.Attachment 128704
Now

Attachment 128705
A few years ago

64 lbs, so far. I still have things to do. Including get to know my 37 year old "new son and his family. (2 new grand babies, 4 and 8)

Congratulations on the change!

Looking so much better....

My peak weight was September of 22 when I was weighing 275lbs....my weight the other day was 203 lbs.

My goal is 193 lbs..

My goal is 200. (How tall are you?) It gets easier when you cut out soda, almost all processed food, all fast food and portion control. PLUS, I want to put off "the next one" that will be full bypass. It sounds like you made some lifestyle changes. I truly wish for the best for you. (Not overly religious, but might just sneak in a quick prayer for you)

I am 5'9"....

I pretty much stopped drinking soda 7 years ago....save for 1 8 oz can of ginger ale 2 times a week. Mostly drink unsweetened decaf tea and water....I limit my fast food intake and eat mostly home cooked. My next step is to see what I have at home that is not good for me.

And I welcome any prayers from anyone!

Wow, very impressive and congratulations! Did you use one of those new drugs like Ozempic or Zepbound?

It's been a long battle for me losing 40 ish, 1149 days logging my food and exercise on Loseit.com

For my weight lost it was just changing my eating habits and cutting out crap that was unhealthy for me. The best part was realizing that I didn't gain the weight overnight so losing it would be a long term process too.

And I keep one pair of my old jeans around to remind me that I never want to be that big again.

I never considered Ozempic...although I have heard people who have had success with it.

No drugs. I had a few deseases attack my lower GI so crapping 6-8 times a day really helps. Eating and drinking intelligently helps. Like Mosbonian said I eat predominately at home and do portion control. That affected my stomach size. I can only eat 1/2 an 8 oz steak.

On the otherside, Domer has lost even more with the carnivore diet.

I just don't understand the success of the carnivore diet.....if I tried that I would probably be gone by now.

That's why I haven't. Wierdly, his cholesterol is lower than normal. I think he lost 100lbs!

Holy shit, that had to be the shits!

Yeah, portion control and no alcohol with plenty of exercise has been my venue as well.

The no alcohol has led to me developing a sweet tooth though. I have been baking at least one if not two pies a week. :p

Depends how responsive your body is to cholesterol intake... studies have shown it doesn't impact the majority of people (up to 3 of every 4), and that it's more the saturated fat that ****s you up than just high cholesterol intake.

I am probably one of the 4 it does affect...I am at times the anomaly when it comes to things like that.

So...on the follow up visit to my Cardiologist he seems to be pleased with the drop in my BP after the surgery.

I start Cardio Rehab next Thursday in the same building as my Cardiologist office. The first 4 weeks will be at the building and if all is going well then I can do the rest of my Rehab at home and have Zoom calls with the Rehab team to measure my progress.

For the next week I am supposed to do the treadmill at home for quarter mile at my regular pace. For now, no lifting greater than 15 lbs...and, of course, watch what I eat.

You have someone to help you go to the bathroom right, don't you? It is CP after all and everyone has a johnson bigger than 15lbs by itself.