Hi Tim,
I just want to respond to tour comment about getting back to weight training. As a serious, lifelong weight and bodyweight trainer, including through the weekend before my heart attack and emergency quintuple bypass surgery at age 67, and as a former gymnast and wrestler, I want to give you some insight about my own experience.
I had no symptoms if coronary artery disease until I experienced the heart attack, and I had been doing a combination of bodyweight training (handstand pushups, pullups, dive bomber pushups, pistols) and weight training (dumbbell presses, weighted dips, deadlifts-all with serious weight). If I wasn't the oldest guy at the gym, it was close, and I was accorded the treatment that senior citizens sometimes get, including being addressed by the younger guys as sir, to which I always responded that I was neither an officer nor my father and didn't warrant that title.
The quintuple bypass surgery apparently went fine, but I contracted inhalation pneumonia right after the surgery and and a c diff superbug infection from all of the antibiotics I was being administered in an effort to save my life. When I awoke and fully regained my mental faculties, I was stunned to learn that I had been in a medically induced coma for two weeks and had basically missed the month of February. I also was so weak that I couldn't lift a knife or fork, let alone walk, and was fed by others for another week before being transferred to a rehab hospital.
At rehab, I learned that somewhere along the line, I had lost the ability to lift my right arm much above waist level due, apparently, to "hypoxia of unknown origin." Well, I wasn't going to let that defeat me. I was determined to get back to weight training eventually, albeit at a lower heart healthier bodyweight than previously.
After another three weeks in the rehab hospital (having previously spent three weeks in acute care(, I went home. During that time, I had relearned how to walk and was again fully able to feed myself. In fact, the rehab people thought that I had made remarkable progress, but I knew that I wasn't even close to being done.
When I finally got home, I began rehab on an outpatient basis, which eventually included what for me was baby weight training. I graduated rehab around the same time I was cleared by my thoracic surgeon and cardiologist to return to work and resume normal gym activities (around twelve weeks post-surgery). I returned to the gym.
In the beginning, I couldn't do a single pushup or pullup (having been a pullup champion in high school). Very gradually, trained myself to do both and, eventually, the ability and strength to do handstand pushups. My lifting also improved dramatically in the first tear after my surgery, but it really took off in my second year post-surgery. I am now pound for pound at least as strong as I was pre-heart attack and I am now pushing 70 years of age. I'm doing everything I did before and out-lifting many of the young guys, all the while mindful of my health history and maintaining a steady regimen of walking, cycling and healthy eating.
The point is that I made it back and you can and will come back as well. There are even websites out there for post-heart attack endurance and strength athletes that can give you inspiration during your recovery. Join our club, brother. There's a whole group of us that will be pulling for you and knowing that you can make it. Recognize, though, that it will take time, but don't get discouraged. As one of my favorite movie characters said, "what one man can do, another can do." Keep repeating that and envisioning what you intend to accomplish as you rehab.
Best of luck, brother. I'm off to the gym.
Ira
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Ira Reid
Hoboken NJ
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-30-2019 14:56
From: Craig Ellis
Subject: Ready for battle in 2020
Hi Tim,
You'll do great. Fear of the unknown is always the hardest part. The more you know the less scary it will be.
I noticed you said you're already looking forward to get back to weight training in 3 months. I'm sure they have told you that this is when you "should" be able to start back up again but just one word of caution. You are going to heal at your own pace. I read all the pamphlets and brochures about recovery and was so very disappointed that I was not feeling back up to doing things the brochure said I would be able to do at 3 months. Even at 6 months. I stopped comparing my recovery to everyone else and discovered that I am unique in many ways and my body's healing process one of those ways that makes me unique. While getting support from others is so very important, I personally got tired of seeing all the pictures and stories of people that were "doing great" while I still felt horrible. They were not inspiring to me at all. Those stories and pictures were like a slap in the face to me. For me, when I stopped comparing myself to others, I became more accepting of where I was that hour ... that day ... that week.
All this to say .... do not get discouraged. On those down days, just do what you're supposed to do and know that tomorrow is a new day in the hope that you'll be just a little bit better.
Stay strong brother. You got this.
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Craig Ellis
Bremerton WA
Original Message:
Sent: 12-27-2019 16:37
From: Tim Purgacz
Subject: Ready for battle in 2020
Hi all
44yo extremely fit male from Adelaide, South Australia (played semi professional basketball and was still playing at a high level until a few months ago) 6'1 180lbs. 5 weeks ago I had an episode of Atrial Fibrillation out of nowhere .. 8 hours at 180 and had to be cardioverted via paddles in ER
Follow up scans revealed PFO hole in heart (common) and bicuspid aortic valve (not so good) but unfortunately the valve has led to a 5.6cm ascending aortic aneurysm which requires fairly immediate open heart surgery .. initial consult is Jan 6th surgery I assume pretty soon after
I have a 1 and 3 year old and am very scared for what all this means as it's a lot to process in the last week or so
Hoping to find positive words and understanding community
On Sotalol Beta Blockers whilst I wait for more news .. had Angio / CT Xmas Eve
Obv aneurysm will need to be fixed and Bicuspid valve was slightly leaky and may need repair or replace .. concerned re those options and metal valve / warfarin etc
Will do some more reading of the site but if anyone has been through similar let me know
Tim
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Tim Purgacz
IT Analyst
Australia
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