Resuming rowing after bypass surgery

[IkeHasson]

I'm 65 yo and had a triple bypass five weeks ago. Does anyone have any advice or experience on at what stage I could resume light training ?

[Citroen]

You should ask your cardiologist.

[strider]

Your cardiologist will tell you to exercise ONLY as tolerated.
No chest pain, no shortness of breath.

You likely need to be able to walk strongly first, and see how you tolerate steps and stairs.
I first tried my Model A C2 at about 6 weeks post CABG. Being unable to pull faster than about 3:40 split time told me I was not ready.
I built up my capacity and heart rate capability over a few more months, and then resumed the erg more easily. I walked on a treadmill with and without a weight vest, and worked on step-ups with weights eventually. Then got back on the erg when I was stronger and had a better max heart rate. It took time, but I got there.

Dr. Richard Flanigan, a cardiologist and Masters Oarsman, personally suggested to me, via e-mail, if any difficulty, to use my nitro spray before a row, and after if needed. I never used it before. But a few times I did have some minor discomfort on the erg, and I did not hesitate to back off and use the nitro spray. And continued with my erg workout.

All this was great, as a year or two later, I was able to resume some basketball, and at 6 years, rowing on the water, and took up volleyball.
My max heart rate climbed those 6 years, going from about 100 a month after surgery, to over 180 playing basketball 6 years later.
I trained very carefully, used a heart rate monitor always.

I also eat an extreme heart healthy diet, with almost no fat, no salt. Even 1/4 of an avocado has given me 3 hours of strong chest pain.
I posted links to significant research I uncovered on WebMD, and they eventually posted a short article on my amazing recovery.
But left out details.

Now 12 years later, I had an actual small heart attack two weeks ago. But not while rowing.
I can still push the erg a bit, three weeks ago, cranking the split time down to 1:38. Careful on long pieces, my best is a mere 8:50 for 2K.
But my cardiologist said I would be dead within three years of surgery, so I am doing well, not pushing daisies.

Also, heart rate recovery is important. Safest, your heart rate should come down at least 12 beats the first minute after backing off, and 30 beats after 2 minutes. More is better, less is risky.

This is all from my own personal experience in my own recovery. The cardiologist said my heart rate should not get over 130.

[grahamcawood]

In 2015 I started getting the occasional feeling of weakness in my daily sculling outings. I decided to do erg sessions only, 30 minutes daily, to a similar perceived level of exhaustion. Best splits were 2.03, with near monthly jumps to about 2.15 (No! - I'm male). This would drop over the next few weeks. After 6 months of this I showed my doctor a graph of the splits. This led to 5* bypass surgery within a month. 9 partial blockages, and 2 complete! Perhaps due to inherited 'factor 5 leiden' , a clotting problem.
After 2 1/2 weeks I was back on the erg again, at 3 .05 split.Pulling to the knees only to reduce pull on the sternum for a few weeks. Over 4 months split dropped to 2.08. Best split to date was a recent 2.04 - inspired by the heroic action of James Shaw Jnr. in the waffle house attack.
I do 25 spm. 2 breaths per stroke, 1:1 in:out, relaxed bent back, layback at the catch, heels on 20mm blocks. I'm 70.
Thank you C2,and my 'B' erg!

[sekitori]

Your cardiologist will tell you to exercise ONLY as tolerated.
No chest pain, no shortness of breath.

Undoubtedly correct. But as Citroen has stated, those words should come directly from a cardiologist and not a post in a discussion group. As has often been mentioned, the source of specific medical advice should always be a qualified health professional. This forum, no matter how well intentioned contributors may be and no matter how well their personal experiences may relate to yours, is not the place to seek that advice.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with other people stating their success overcoming health problems in a forum like this. Their stories can be inspiring and the advice they contain may be valid, but they still can't begin to take the place of medical counseling regarding your personal situation.

[RobFJ]

8 weeks post CABG X5 surgery and I finally took a chance and got back on the C2 Rowing erg 4 days ago.
I tried 5 minutes the first day. Planned for 10 and did 15 minutes the second day and, these last 2 days, I did 30 minutes without pain or difficulty.
I'm keeping it around 3:20 on a 500m split which is plenty for now. Pre-surgery, a daily workout for me was 1 to 1 1/2 hours at a pace of around 2:40 and 24-26 stroke/min.. (Yeah. I'm a slowpoke but I'm kinda short so I don't get the range some people might out of each stroke!)
On a few other forums I've found for recovering cardiac patients, people are verbally (electronically?) ripping me a new one for wanting to test my limits and move forward "so soon." Everybody says "wait 12 weeks." What magical thing is going to happen in exactly another four weeks that isn't already in process right now?

Background-wise I should mention that, other than what I now know to have been silent angina for probably a decade or more, my surgery was my only cardiac "episode." I had nine partial blockages, several of them over 80%. My family physician, on seeing the angiogram results, said he'd never seen this much damage in a person who was able to stand up. In any case, with a two week window between the angiogram and my surgery date, I still rowed on 4 or 5 days including each of the three days immediately prior to my surgery.

The cardiologist who finally found the issue (my only reported symptom previously had been exhaustion and mild chest pain on exertion) said the time I spent on the rower plus taking low dose aspirin every day for about two years prior (not on doctor's advice but the advice of a friend who is a Phd with experience in nephrology and capillary function) was the thing that kept me from having a major coronary event but also the thing that kept them from finding anything wrong on traditional stress tests. I had plenty of those in 10 years and always at my request. Two months before my surgery, I was asking my doctor if he thought of me as a hypochondriac. Two months later, I was on the operating table.

So here's my situation. I can't see my any of my doctors in person due to the COVID-19 situation so they can only go by what I tell them on the phone and their own past practice to judge what I can and can't do safely. It's also hard to take their advice about "doing nothing but walking" seriously since they did not know me or anything about my lifestyle before meeting me in the operating room and took a lot of pressure and self-advocacy to find the problem the first place. I'm in the awkward position of having been fairly close to asymptomatic prior to an urgent surgery and now find myself at the point where I feel pretty much the way I felt before. I get tired easily and run out of breath if I push too hard.

I know it's still early but I'm wondering what I can expect in future. A return to the status quo isn't enough; especially in light of the fact that I now look like the first victim in a B horror movie from the neck down. At 62, this is the first time I've ever been in a hospital for more than a few hours. I'm hoping institutional Jello isn't going to be the biggest change in my life as a result.

Pardon the rant (I just got off the C2 so I'm a bit pumped!).
Comments and thoughts are welcome.