TM - I feel like we're friends now. Why not e-mail Bob Scott, Kona Course record holder in two age groups and ask him about this? He's a gentleman, and has been through the same thing. I'll send you a pm.

---

John H. Post, III, MD
Orthopedic Surgeon
Charlottesville, VA

Asprin + Plavix -> Please don't crash.

Did your doc put ya on a beta-blocker... i know a bunch of athletes that don't like'um, but, well... its your heart.

Aspirin forever, Plavix for the next year or so(for right now anyway).

I'm on Beta blocker for now, but hopefully thats temporary for the first month while my heart recovers, we'll see.
John, I stumbled upon your blog and tried to post with a few questions for ya, didn't get a PM from ya. I'll try back.

Is this a bare metal stent or drug coated? If bare metal, you're at higher risk for clotting early on compared to drug coated stents as the intimal cellular layer infiltrates and coats the surface of the metal. Bare metal stents are pretty well infiltrated/covered by new intimal cells after a few months, then the risk of thrombus decreases.

Drug eluting stents have a better record during the early phase, but, when the drug begins to "wear off or wear out", the inevitable infiltration/coating process will begin in earnest. It's at this "infiltration" stage that they are more likely to stimulate platelet activation, with the possible thrombus formation...that's why there have been reports of "late thrombus" formation with drug eluting stents.

So, as long as you make it through the infiltration/coating stage of either type without an incident, you're probably OK to proceed pretty much as you want, knowing that you must avoid dehydration, keep to your at least mild anti-coagulant routine (which may be as simple as an 81 grain aspirin or two every day) as directed by your sports-minded Cardiologist, and listen to your body.

Just remember that this disease is a process, not an event, like breaking a bone. You have a pre-disposition for atherosclerosis, so, you must change all the contributing factors that you can, compared to what you were doing before the incident. Also, realize that Cardiovascular fitness does not equate to Cardiovascular health. If the stress to your body to obtain the greatest C-V fitness is detrimental to your C-V health, you have a choice to make....but, you need to work with a sports-minded cardiologist to determine what is best for you.

Best of wishes to you in your recovery!

---

Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

thanks titan, I did receive a drug-eluding stent. One of my best friends assisted in Cordis's development of the first drug-eluding stent. My father happens to be a cardiologist too. When i was getting my angiogram and the Doc said i was getting a stent, i requested a specific stent, i don't think he'd had that request before. Plan to obey my cardiologist to the letter, hopefully all will go well. thanks for the advice.

Ah! You're surrounded by people that are in the know! So, I guess I didn't tell you anything you didn't know. Hopefully, some success stories will begin to come in that will put your mind further at ease. Again, Best Wishes in your recovery...

---

Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

T.M. - Perhaps the following may be of some help to you. I am not the same caliber of athlete as you are, but I have been active in many sports on a fairly high level over the years. I am 52 yrs. old and had a Medtronic stent implanted after an 80% blocked Cx artery was found. Being asymptomatic, thankfully it was not found as a result of any major cardiac event, however, it obviously could have caused a problem and needed to be addressed. As with you, all other arteries are normal. I am taking aspirin and Plavix to avoid restenosis, but am concerned about late stent thrombosis due to the medicated stent. I am contemplating accepting an offer to have another heart cath down the road since I am participating in a clinical trial with Medtronic. I have to weigh the risk of the cath vs. to know for certain the condition of the lesion. Anyway, I had the opportunity of discussing my situation with Dr.Gordon Blackburn, MD, he is the Program Director of Cardiac Rehabilitation, Section of Preventive Cardiology and a Staff Member of the Cardiology Department, The Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is certified as a Preventive/Rehabilitative Exercise Program Director by the American College of Sports Medicine. His specialty interests include cardiac rehabilitation, exercise physiology, cardiovascular risk factor modification and graded exercise testing. Dr. Blackburn and I spent about an hour discussing the future of my active lifestyle and he gave me a great deal of assurance about my athletic future. The psychological impact on anyone having experieced a cardiac event can be be biggest obstacle to overcome. We discussed the importance of dealing with this aspect of recovery in order to calm the mind and gain confidence in addtion to monitoring my physical condition. In my case I have been given the ok to do whatever I choose without restrictions. I hope my story has been of some help to you. Best regards, Harry

Let me say that you are totally hardcore. Best of luck to you.

---

-All You Haters Suck My Balls-

thanks harryinaspen, that does help. I have a close friend who works for J&J and helped develop the first drug eluding stent for cordis. He then went on as a stent rep for all of san francisco. He's got numbers you would not believe, seen thousands of stent placements. He said the risk of late thrombosis is very low, which is why you have to keep taking your drugs. My local cardiologist mentioned the only people they've seen come back with problems are those that stopped taking their plavix. I think the FDA trials had plavix being used only for the first 3 months, in europe i think its just the first few weeks, but the norm is plavix for an entire year, which is great.

Although its early, i may take the same option as you in a year, and get another angiogram just so i know. Hopefully your correct about the psycological part being the hardest part. The odds are in our favor. thanks again for the reply!