I'm 51, and just had a 5x coronary artery bypass graft (cabg) surgery with no prior symptoms

Triathlon Forum
21

best race report i’ve read in awhile, tom.

this is compelling, considering the recent history of your recent posts in the 100/100 thread. how this was not a fruitful period this year because of how you were feeling. now of course we know. and this, after my “get up, brush yourself off” post. and you continued to post in the 100/100 thread as you went thru this, which is pretty impressive i must say!

it’s going to be interesting to me to see how you react to this as you recover. have you had your first inklings yet about when recovery means resumption of your pre-surgery lifestyle? asked your doctor about that? ** or is your brain just in the i’m-glad-to-be-alive mode**?

My 2 cents to Tom…we should never ever ever just be happy to be alive. We’re supposed to be alive…its what we do with being alive, so after he gets over this hump, its about maximizing whatever he wants to get out of this life…sitting in the lazyboy watching Tom Brady try for another run does not cut it for those on here.

I bet Tom’s gonna be wanting more than “just being alive”…(my coach pep talk for today)

i’m with you, bro, but i think there’s an understandable interval between the time that one has his insides handled by a bunch of strangers and the time one starts to think about his next footrace. you take a guy like tom here, i don’t think there’s anyone who’d likely have a shorter interval than him. but having not (yet?!) gone thru his recent ordeal, i’d like to know how someone of his ilk mentally approaches, adjusts, heals.

22

You can get an idea of your personal risk with a coronary artery calcium scoring CT scan. These cost only about $100, they have their limitations, but if you score very low you probably don’t have much to worry about. Higher scores, well you’ll need more of a workup.

Personal note, my score was in the mild risk range (I had expected near zero) and this prompted my decision to change my diet now primarily plant based.

23

So happy you are on the road to mending that busted heart! I have to admit to tearing up reading your report; I just lost one of my best friends 2 weeks ago. He was a healthy (though non-endurance athlete) 49 yr old guy with a wife and 6yr old son. Dropped dead by a widowmaker. He didn’t have any of the classics signs either and his wife is a nurse! One of the biggest shocks of my life and a life long friend I’ll miss forever.

Heal well. Just think how powerful that heart will be when you’re back at it!

24

I had a very similar experience. I struggled for 6 weeks walking short distances and going further each day. I was on the bike at the end of 8 weeks. 12 weeks I was getting back to about 80 percent. 5 months I did a bike race. Now at almost 11 months I am racing hard on zwift and feel 95 percent. I am 65 5’9 160 pounds.

25

Best wishes for a quick and complete recovery.

26

Yes. If nothing else, I think that’s the point. Your outlook from this surgery is 100% better if you have a healthy heart with no muscles damage. But, you have to recognize the symptoms of angina before tissue damage occurs.

As dtoce (cardiologist) said in the 100/100 thread :

People should get checked if they EVER have activity limited symptoms-especially any chest pain/pressure/tightness—that gets worse with activity and better with rest.

Thanks for reporting your story, Tom, and I also wish you a speedy recovery. I’m going to discuss getting the coronary artery calcium scoring CT scan with my doc. Like Dan, I’m interested in your mental approach to recovery.

Have you been released from the hospital?

27

best race report i’ve read in awhile, tom.

it’s going to be interesting to me to see how you react to this as you recover. have you had your first inklings yet about when recovery means resumption of your pre-surgery lifestyle? asked your doctor about that? or is your brain just in the i’m-glad-to-be-alive mode?

Thanks for the kind words.

At the moment slowly walking 1000 feet is an accomplishment. I havent posted any pictures, but the vein harvesting sites in my left leg are pretty gnarly, and equally painful.

My mind was more in the rapid return mode on Saturday—everything was great, on the FastTrack to bailout, and I was more in the set-records for fastest recovery ever frame of mind. The a-flutter and Syncope events yesterday put me back in my place. So, I think I’m mostly in “glad to be alive” mode. And I don’t mean that in the trite way we usually do.

I still feel pretty fragile. Physical pain notwithstanding, my heart “over” reacts to simple activities right now. You know… Like standing up. My BP and hr spike just walking 200 feet. So, until the pain is gone and my heart responds normally to normal things, I’m not in a rush.

28

I have not been released. Scheduled for an afternoon release today if things go well this morning.

29

That’s a crazy story, but unfortunately not that rare. I had a buddy in the same exact boat, 52 years old and doing the best swims of his life, getting ready for a 100 mile WR swim. He did 100x100’s on the 1;20/115 SCY the week before his widomaker hit him on the toilet. Lucky for him, his wife found him in time and got to the ER to save his life…

This is why I tell everyone out there to got get a calcium CT scan. I do a yearly stress test, but unfortunately things like this can go unnoticed. It is kind of amazing what we are capable of with such blockages, only to find out the hard way they have been lurking. I get my scan each year now, so I have a baseline of what the buildup is, and like a PSA test, just looking for trends. Of course it would have shown you to be at very high risk, and you would have known something was really wrong, long before you were almost planted in the ground…

Insurance does not cover this test, but it is only $150, so well worth getting one just to see and know what is going on…Really glad you caught yours before the big event, would have been a very sad thread here. Much prefer this one, and it will have a happy ending some day, with you right back in the saddle again. I have two friends with quintuple bypass surgeries, and they were reborn after that. Of course a guy like you or them getting to 90+% blockage in the first place, is a huge indicator that something is wrong with your system, and other changes will also be in order going forward with all your new, unblocked pipes…

30

Tom,

Wow, crazy story and glad to hear that you are on the road to recovery. The part that really jumped out at me was how subtle the symptoms were. Please do keep us updated as you recover and hopefully make your way back to triathlon.

31

(snip) I’m going to discuss getting the coronary artery calcium scoring CT scan with my doc.

At the time of my physical last year there was a thread here on ST about swim deaths in triathlon. I discussed this with my doc and asked him what he would recommend to screen for underlying undiagnosed heart disease, and he recommended a coronary artery calcium scoring CT. Mine came back with a score of 0, which definitely helps put my mind at ease a little. While this is only one measure of heart health, it’s definitely good peace of mind and not that expensive.

32

best race report i’ve read in awhile, tom.

it’s going to be interesting to me to see how you react to this as you recover. have you had your first inklings yet about when recovery means resumption of your pre-surgery lifestyle? asked your doctor about that? or is your brain just in the i’m-glad-to-be-alive mode?

Thanks for the kind words.

At the moment slowly walking 1000 feet is an accomplishment. I havent posted any pictures, but the vein harvesting sites in my left leg are pretty gnarly, and equally painful.

My mind was more in the rapid return mode on Saturday—everything was great, on the FastTrack to bailout, and I was more in the set-records for fastest recovery ever frame of mind. The a-flutter and Syncope events yesterday put me back in my place. So, I think I’m mostly in “glad to be alive” mode. And I don’t mean that in the trite way we usually do.

I still feel pretty fragile. Physical pain notwithstanding, my heart “over” reacts to simple activities right now. You know… Like standing up. My BP and hr spike just walking 200 feet. So, until the pain is gone and my heart responds normally to normal things, I’m not in a rush.

a bunch of us have afib or aflutter. as well as i can tell, based on my own experience, the heart doesn’t appreciate the insult. the term of art for the insult is trigger. what are your triggers? stress. lack of sleep. alcohol. depends on the person, but at a certain point your heart says eff this and the finger it gives you is in the form of atrial malfunction which means you’re reduced to just, literally, trying to put one foot in front of the other. i’ve always cardioverted, which means i’ve never had to be shocked or ablated. but i’ve spent as much as 40hr in afib before returning to sinus rhythm. i can only assume that what you went thru insulted your heart, and your heart gave you the finger. but it sounds like you’re back in sinus rhythm now? which means, ba-bump, ba-bump. you can tell if you’re in sinus rhythm just by taking your pulse. if it’s regular, you’re good. if it’s all over the place, that afib. which is weird because what you’re feeling when you feel your pulse is the ventricular contraction, right? so, if the ventricles are not fibrillating, why is that beat all over the place when you’re in afib? i haven’t had that explained to me yet. perhaps someone on this thread.

33

Yes, back in sinus rhythm now. I was only in flutter for about an hour. As you say, you can feel it, and you can hear it. Normal sinus disappears into your subconscious…flutter just sound wrong in your ears, and feels wrong in your neck. I wouldn’t want to do 40 hours in afib.

Ive never had afib/flutter before. I know lots of lifelong athletes do. The docs say it’s normal after surgery and should resolve completely over the next month, as everything heals and the inflammation subsides around my heart.

34

This is scary shit!

I’m reading over this thread and realize I know nothing about any of this. To ask a really stupid question when you have these blockages is it due to cholesterol? Or is it some other kind of plaque / calcium.

Again I apologize for a really what I’m assuming is a stupid question.

Hopefully you recover quickly and what are the prospects of you being able to get back to doing triathlon or just having a very active lifestyle in general???

35

Wow! Haven’t had a chance to read it all in detail just yet, just skimmed it. I do plan sit down with it later today and really read it. This is something that really bothers me. I’m 49 and generally very healthy and active but you just never know. Similar thing happened to a friend awhile back. Everything worked out and he’s feeling back to normal now.

36

Very sorry to hear about your health issues and wishing you a speedy recovery. I for one appreciate you posting and hearing and hopefully learning something from the experience. Keep your spirits up. You will be back. And oh, yes, crazy how a little bout of syncope can just flat knock you out. Fwiw, and it sounds like you have a good grasp on your afib/aflutter, and I have talked about this before but AliveCor makes a nice device for reading your EKG at home. I have used the prior version for year just because I prefer to look at the electrical interpretation of my heart as opposed to just a number from other apps/devices when assessing recovery.

37

Thank you for sharing. Wishing you a speedy recovery

38

This started in the 100/100 thread. Thought I’d share my experiences…even though I’m very much still in to middle of them.

I’ve been running 40-60 mpw (6x frequency) continuously since last September, after taking the summer off. I spent the fall training to set a pr in the 10k. The race was on Dec 20th, I finished 3rd overall behind two 20 somethings. My intent for the race was to break 40min, but that didn’t happen. I missed by 2:30. Then I entered the 100/100, to focus on another attempt in the late spring.

A month ago, Ihappens.

Oh my goodness Tom

Your post brought me to the edge of tears

I am so VERY sorry to hear all the trouble you have had

I’ve been a big fan of yours here at ST and am sure to pay particular attention when I see a post authored by you. I’m sure I am not alone in this regard

Get well fast

In a few months I think we’ will all be reading about your new workouts

Take care

39

Wow! What a story! Thanks for telling it. Much sympathy for your situation. Sounds like you are quite the fighter. I wish you the most luck in your recovery, and continued health after this procedure.

40

Holy shitsnacks. Just, wow.

I am glad you are alive to talk about this crazy left turn of a sidequest.

My husband is a two-time open heart surgery patient, and he also went through the crazy bouts of A-fib post-op (also, like you, while in the bathroom doing bathroomly duties). The amiodarone helped instantly but it does come with some potential side effects that you need to take seriously, so please do.

Also, they sent him home with a 120-pill bottle of Oxycodone, with two refills attached. Don’t be a hero, and speak up when you need the pain management. The whole idea is that you stay ahead of the wave so you don’t hit a true 10 again, especially as to not cause undue stress on the new heart situation. I ripped his nurse a new one after she up and “forgot” about his pain meds and he was at a 10 for a full 90 minutes hours before his first A-fib bout.

Good luck with everything and keep us updated on your progress as you can.