New to Group . . . looking for support
My husband underwent quad bypass back on Sept 2. He is doing well, considering he had a major heart attack back in July and walked around for 2 months with 5 blocked stents before they finally did the surgery. He is just 47 yrs old and had no known risk factors. They have finally allowed him back to work full time (starting today). He does grounds/field maintenance for a private college and they put a lifetime weight lift limit of 50 lbs. Is that normal? My husband was very active/athletic - an avid sportsman, soccer and even hockey player. We are both still in shock at hearing that he has this very aggressive coronary artery disease. We could sure use some uplifting and encouraging stories. Can't help but worry all the time these days. Will life ever get back to "normal?"
Hello, I just joined the group this past month also and this particular group is very quiet. I can only speak from being a bypass patient 7 weeks ago and having heart disease diagnosed 3 years ago (at 49) after a massive heart attack, with stenting. I did have numerous risk factors and heritary hypercholesterolemia. I can't really answer a lot of your questions, especially in regard to the lifetime 50 lb lifting requirement. I haven't heard of it, but I don't know the extent of your husband's heart damage, and it also depends on if the damage was to the front of his heart, in the left ventricle. That is the area that does the most work of the heart. I think his years of being fit and active, having no risk factors should count as something in getting back to feeling good again. Did he go to cardiac rehab? I guess it also depends on how his total cholesterol, LDH, HDL, Triglycerides and Homocysteine levels are in his blood. Could he have inherited somehow a familial hyperlipid problem? Many a quad bypass who is young, can do well with diet, exercise, the medications, and some people are into supplements for the heart. Has he had any chest pain or angina since his bypass? My stented areas are separate from my bypassed areas and I have a blocked artery also at the back of the heart, and I have not been told yet about permanent restrictions. Has he asked his cardiologist the questions that he has? I wanted to answer you right away and offer support anytime as I know this diagnosis takes time for acceptance. If you don't find what you are looking for here, you might want to try one of the other bypass support groups that tend to be more active. Need help, let me know.. Lor My husband underwent quad bypass back on Sept 2. He is doing well, considering he had a major heart attack back in July and walked around for 2 months with 5 blocked stents before they finally did the surgery. He is just 47 yrs old and had no known risk factors. They have finally allowed him back to work full time (starting today). He does grounds/field maintenance for a private college and they put a lifetime weight lift limit of 50 lbs. Is that normal? My husband was very active/athletic - an avid sportsman, soccer and even hockey player. We are both still in shock at hearing that he has this very aggressive coronary artery disease. We could sure use some uplifting and encouraging stories. Can't help but worry all the time these days. Will life ever get back to "normal?" "The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.": Elizabeth Cady Stanton Biography - Reformer, Writer, Lecturer, 1815-1902
Hi Maria, I've been getting some input here on longer term restrictions and the 50 lb restriction is pretty common, due to the possibility of pulling out the wires. I think there are some general restrictions on any major tugging and pulling also. Others can also comment on that. I haven't received the go ahead for beyond 10 lbs yet, due to a poor healing incision. So many of your hubby's symptoms are typically passed off by many, gastric symptoms, pain in the shoulder, back, nausea, overwinded, etc. I know I put off getting tested, despite my family history, while I put up with gastro reflux disease. I do have it, but it was masking symptoms of my heart also. You were so on top of things to realize that he needed help and getting him to go. Men must have a more difficult time facing and accepting that there might be something wrong. Women, on the other hand, have very confusing symptoms based on their particular anatomy. The heart has no nerve supply, so the pain is usually referred elsewhere. Stress was my biggest problem with triggering my heart attack at the time and my problems this fall leading up to my bypass. It's very insidious, and a person must find other ways of dealing with it. I found I had to quit my job, because my life wasn't worth the type of job stress I had been dealing with for 3 years. Anxiety medication is needed by many of us. I have something to take for that also. Depression is very common for most people sometime after the bypass. Many need to go on antidepressants for a time. Even sleeping can be disrupted for a period of time. Sounds dreary, doesn't it? But, it doesn't have to be, because like anything else, any other problem in life, it's all in attitude and most people recover and get back to their normal life. You'll hear a lot of success stories. Lor Thanks for the response. My husband's total cholesterol was never that high to begin with (~180). After his heart attack, we drastically changed our diets and with meds his LDL was just 46 and his HDL was 43. They've dropped his lipitor down and we're waiting on the next set of results. They have suggested that he has narrow arteries. He had 3 blockages, one that was 100% back in July and another was 90%. Thinking back, he now realizes that he's probably had issues for a long time. He never liked to sleep on his back - had a hard time breathing. His indigestion seemed to get worse and worse over the past few years and even when he was younger and actively playing hockey and soccer, he would run out of gas and get leg cramps. He always blamed his sore shoulder on a dislocation he suffered playing hockey back 5-6 years ago. He never really got angina or heavy chest pain. I heard him vomiting in the night after he had complained about his shoulder and heavy chest all day. I printed out the symptoms of a heart attack for him from the AHA - then he let me drive him to the ER. After they inserted 5 stents they sent him home, holding off on opening the other artery. He could only work part-time and had to take it easy. I knew he wasn't right - tired all of the time. When he returned to the hopsital in Sept to get the other artery opened with a stent, they discovered that the 5 orignal stents had occluded and that he had been walking around with a fully blocked artery all summer! He had no angina or real shortness of breath. That's what makes me the most nervous. They ended up doing emergency bypass after he suffered another heart attack in the hospital (post-angiogram). He did go through rehab after the surgery and they even let him bench press 50 lbs. He had an echo 2 weeks ago - and the OK to return to work just came in the mail on Sat. That was the first anyone has told him about the weight restriction. We will ask the doc but next appointment isn't for a while and I hate to be a pest. This is all new to me - support group thing but it is something that I think I really need. Any suggestions for other ones would be greatly appreciated. I think my husband's biggest risk factor (other than his old diet) is that he does not handle stress well - he gets very anxious. Both of us are now on anti-anxiety meds but I have to be very careful with what I say to him - or what I say or ask the doctor when he is around. He is having a hard time accepting that he is not as healthy as he always thought he was. Again, thanks for your help . . . Maria "The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.": Elizabeth Cady Stanton Biography - Reformer, Writer, Lecturer, 1815-1902
Maria, Sounds like you had some bad experiences on the internet. I'm all for increasing my knowledge and I have been reading about supplements that can help, which for me, I'm willing to try..however, whatever you read anywhere..you take what you need and have faith in and leave the rest. I'm glad to hear your husband is now in a job with less stress. That's a very important change. I was in a supervisory type position also. A lot of these jobs are pretty thankless and stressful...no matter how much money you make. I hung on so long, because the money was there. Finally, it hit me that I was killing myself and didn't want to live that way, taking work home on weeknights and weekends. I have not regretted that decision once. As a nurse/case manager in the home care field, I sure saw a lot of people at our age with some very tough disease processes, that I wouldn't want to change my heart disease for! So glad you seem to feel less stressed and fearful. Lor Lor, thanks for research. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing something. He will have to modify his work a bit but luckily he has a great employer. His stress level has decreased significantly since working at the college - he loves his job. I'm sure things would've progressed sooner had he stayed in his supervisory role in manufacturing. Bob - thanks for your success story. I'm impressed! Despite all of this, my husband has said from the start and continues to state that he is glad that he is the one that is ill and not one of our sons. His situation could also be so much worse . . .he is lucky to be alive. There are many others who live with similar or worse health issues every day. It is nice to hear good news though. I find that the internet can be very unnerving. Since this whole situation started, I find myself confused by alternative treatments, horror stories, etc. I finally decided to get away from them and look for a support group - where feedback is more positiveand helpful. Maria
mts I had bypass surgery 3 years ago and had a good report from my last echo/stress test in October, 2005. It takes a long time to get over the surgery but it does eventually get better. Time is still that great healer. He may have some problems long term but he is very young and strong so maybe he will overcome most of the side effects. I am 63 now and was 60 when I had the bypass, I did not have symptoms just an abnormal ekg that led to the bypass surgery. I did have a heart attack 11 years earlier and at that time I was a heavy smoker and I did quit after the heart attack. The coronary artery disease is progressive and diet and exercise can slow its progress so he needs to be sure he eats right and gets enough exercise. We are all different and I think the building of plaque in our arteries is also different in each of us. I had 6 blockages two over 90% and the others over 50% and they used three sections of my leg vein and a mammary artery to bypass all six with 4 bypasses. I was not overweight and had been hiking up to 5 miles every 2 or 3 days at over 6,000 feet in the mountains in New Mexico the month before the bypass. Heart disease can be a silent killer so he is very lucky they found his and with statin drugs and all the new things coming out, he should be able to live a long time with the disease. At least that is what I am counting on. Ann