Traveling Timeline After Heart Surgery

My cardiologist (post endocarditis/surgery/MMVR) advised me to keep as active as possible so six months post op (this Jan) I found myself up a mountain with a snowboard strapped to my feet, no problems at all and I think my travel insurance was only about 1/3 more than my non-cyborg compadres. Off to the Alps again in two weeks and I mountain bike/rock climb pretty regularly, got back into those as quickly as I possibly could once I was back on my feet and after escaping 7 long weeks in hospital.

Obviously everyone’s recovery is different but for me once I was healed and used to all the little life changes OHS brings, I just went for it and didn’t stop. I think it’s important to be careful but not wrap yourself in too much cotton wool but to find a happy medium between the reality of the individual situation, quality of life, maintaining/building cardio fitness and not letting a silly thing like open heart surgery stop you doing the things you love.

Tick, tock!!

Adam has provided helpful information here.
I travelled to Hawaii at 7 weeks post surgery and again at 12 weeks with no problems. On the first trip I could not carry or lift any luggage, but fortunately my husband was with me as my valet–although I did some pulling of luggage. I had to take pain medication to survive the trip. The worst fear was turbulence on the 5 1/2 hour plane trip, and luckily we had none.
On the second trip, I was able to share the carrying but not the lifting and didn’t need any pain medication. However, my chest was sore afterwards.

Hi Adam,
Scarcely 6 weeks after my surgery, my cardiologist allowed me to travel to the beach.
I live in a city 7,200 ft. above sea level, so this trip was a real recovery: every day I woke up for my yoga session and slept more than 8 hours along the day.
It couldn´t have been any better!
I love to share in your blog.
Yours, Patricia

I had an Aortic valve replaced by means of the artery in my groin without the surgery.on Dec 11 2013
Do the above comments on Travel apply ???

Hi,

I had OHS on Oct 9, 2013. Aortic valve replacement, & repair tricuspid valve and mitral valve. Three coronary by-passes.

My left leg is weak, I am working out on the treadmill-(one half hour at 3MPH) and one half hour on the bicycle. I am not breathing hard and would like to increase it. I do get fatigued, but feel I could do more, but I am afraid to as I know I am still healing. Is it OK to increase my workout time?
How long will it be before I get back to feeling normal? How long will it be before I am completely recovered?

Very helpful entry by Adam and great comments. Thanks! I had my open heart surgery at the end of September. My first trip outside the city I live in was for Thanksgiving at the end of November, about 9-10 weeks after surgery. The second trip was for Christmas a month later. Both were relatively easy, short distance train trips. We were very careful with the weight and lifting restrictions so I only carried small bags or pulled on carry-on size luggage but no lifting. It’s actually surprising how much you can achieve by pulling or dragging if you plan and act strategically. And don’t be afraid to ask for help! “Sorry I can’t do that, I recently had surgery….” Immediately after the Christmas trip, we went to Turkey to visit family. The 10+ hour flight (roundtrip!) so twice) was intimidating but the transfer in Amsterdam helped to stretch and get some more circulation. You have to think about little things to make sure everything goes smoothly, like Adam’s comment about not taking Dramamine (which you might not think twice about if you had not had this surgery).

Now almost four months after the surgery, I’m looking forward to future trips for business and pleasure and slightly anxious about starting to carry and lift luggage.

For Robert: My first reaction is that you should speak to your cardiologist or other doctors before increasing your exercise time and intensity. It’s great that you’re feeling eager to increase them but check with the doctors first.

Late March 2014 aortic valve replacement, now 1 June 2014 and still short of breath. Stamford, CT hospital says it takes time. This is their only comment, so real solution.
Wow, such an institution.

I had open heart surgery for valve reaseplesment in 8-13-2013 I want travel to overseas by airplane take 12 hours what recommend about that

I had exacly the same operation followed by the same problem. By now you will have discovered you have (or have had) an iron deficiency which is the likely cause of the problem.

I recently had the misfortune of having to under a pretty intense surgical procedure. I had to undergo some reconstructive surgery in order to correct a severe trauma. The whole process leading up to the surgery was traumatic for obvious reasons. I don’t want to go into too much detail but during my surgery, my team used a FAW blanket and it helped so much with my post surgical recovery. I credit my super quick recovery to the blanket. Here are some facts about the system http://www.truthaboutbairhugger.com

Hi Adam,
Seven months ago, I had a mechanical valve surgery, aortic and mitral. Thank God i’m doing fine..
Next month, end of July, i will travel to the Philippines. It is a long flight, 11 to 13 hrs. i think, any tips on what will i do during my long flight, my cardiologist told me to wear an elastic socks. Maybe anybody experienced long flight. Any suggestion will be helpful.
Thank you very much…

Thanks so much for putting together this helpful blog! I had my aortic valve replaced with a mini-sternotomy on December 19th and on March 5th my husband is going to a conference in Sydney, Australia (we live in Indiana) and I would like to join him. The recovery is going well, I am 48 and in good shape – aside from surgery, and the surgeon seemed to think that it would be ok for me to make the trip (27 hr trip) but I am not sure if I will be up to it. Has anyone attempted a trip like this after surgery?