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Between then and now I became more self-aware that I was having some of those symptoms.\u00a0\u00a0 Fatigue, well I\u2019m not a spring chicken and getting old sucks.\u00a0\u00a0 Shortness of breath, well yeah when I\u2019m climbing a steep hill on my bike and \u2026I\u2019m no spring chicken.\u00a0\u00a0 Now for chest pain, I cracked my sternum in 2004 in an MTB crash and I was chalking that slowly growing discomfort up to being visited by the ghost of bike injuries past.\u00a0\u00a0 (Which is a thing\u2026when you are not a spring chicken.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In late September, I had that follow up round of testing with my Cardiologist and things had continued to degrade. I was not completely surprised when he told me it was time to take care of this. Failing to take action now could result in permeant damage to my heart beyond the valve and put me at escalating risk of an \u201cunscheduled\u201d cardiac event in the next 1-5 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On \u00a0November 11th<\/sup>, I had open heart surgery to replace my aortic valve (with an bovine valve #prostethitic_heart_valves). \u00a0I had already had a cardiac caterer procedure and no other work was needed such as stints or bypasses.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I spent five days in the hospital and I am now recovering at home. Currently I’m in the \u201csucks to be me\u201d level recovery at home which should glide slope into \u201cdoes not suck as bad to be me\u201d recovery for a total of two to three months.\u00a0 If all goes well, I\u2019m expected to be able to resume normal life (to include mountain biking) around mid-February.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n After the initial diagnosis back in March, I made a serious commitment at eating healthier and getting fit beyond just mountain biking. I feel like I was pretty close to the fittest and healthiest I could possible be going into the surgery. I was working on the premise that the \u201cStronger In\u2026Stronger Out\u201d mantra would apply for my recovery.\u00a0 Between all of my fitness recording devices (fitness watch, heart-rate monitor, Peloton) I have a good set of baseline metrics of where I was at pre-surgery to geek out on as I work my way back to where I was and beyond. Right now the focus is on letting the heart fully heal. The big stick in this recovery tent is going to be my sternum healing up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I had to give my primary doctor a huge Thank You.\u00a0\u00a0 I know myself well enough (now) to realize that if she had not sent me to that cardiologist, I would have continued to press on with my life and chalking up those sneaky symptoms to just having a tough time staying in shape as I age. I think we as mountain bikers are often limit pushers. We push ourselves to be fitter, faster, more skilled, or at any number of aspects of the sport that we love. I think along with that goes a bit of just suck it up mentality and push on through. I recommend that as your vintage starts getting interesting, you should not assume that fatigue, shortness of breath of just generally having a tougher time being able to do what you used to do is related to just the date on your birth certificate. It would be better to be on the safe side with a check up, because it is always better to out on the dirt than be under the dirt!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The knee is all better by the way. #AfterMarketHeartParts<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/20170615_164922.jpg?resize=840%2C560\")
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