How Soon is Too Soon?

[metaldector]

On September 26th I underwent a major heart bypass operation. From 6 AM to 1 PM I let a couple of skilled surgeons mess around in my chest doing 5 bypasses to my then stilled heart while the heart lung machine kept me alive. Yesterday I went to the surgeon and he cleared me to resume normal life. My 14 inch incision is healing well, although I will live with stainless steel wire holding my sternum together for the rest of my life. My legs are a problem as that is where they harvested veins to use for the bypass, but even they are getting better daily. Prior to the operation I told the doctors that my life style was built around scuba diving and cave diving specifically. Would this surgery stop my diving? “No way”, I was told by the surgeon. “You can be diving in December if you want too”!
So what is the question? Really, how soon is too soon? I’m thinking maybe March 2012 as my re-entry into diving not December. I’ve lost 20 pounds, my muscles have atrophied a bit, but I must say I was in good physical shape prior to the operation (except for the heart blockage) and I’m coming back strong. I’m walking a lot everyday, eating well, sleeping poorly, but happy to be here and alive.
Have any of you experienced heart surgery and if so, how long before you felt 100%? Have you modified your diving, i.e.: depth, time, gases, style?
Will your dive buddies dive with you?
Any techniques you employed to get conditioned?
I’m 64 years old, weight now 169 lbs.
Every day is a joy to be here

[deepdiverbob]

I know there are some medical professionals on here that can help you out more than I can, however, my best advice would be to a) go by how you feel, and b) Wouldn't hurt to give DAN a call and see what they have to say.

[FW]

It sounds to me like you fully understand the risks, and at the very least you should stay out until you are "waterproof" again. Personally, I would wait until I felt strong enough to haul my own gear to the water, and back. You will have a major relapse if you pull some stitching loose.

[RN]

Once you have your cardiovascular surgeon's okay, it should be okay. If you've been cleared from your lifting limitations that means your muscles should be strong enough. However, I will caution you. I have seen bypass patients come back in because they tried to lift too much and popped the sternal wire because the chest muscles weren't strong enough to counter the weight. Take it slow and increase what you lift little by little. Start off in open water with a single tank and slowly progress to doubles then into the overhead. Length of time will vary greatly between people. Sounds like you may be one of the ones that can get back in sooner, but you can only be the judge of that based on how you feel.

[metaldector]

Thanks, RN!

[CaveBuddy95]

Read Tao of Survival few months ago and there is a section about Tom Mount and his impressive recovery after open heart surgery. A great read!

Hope you get well soon.

J

[gschaut]

Side Mount?

[LCF]

You might PM debersole here on CDF; he's a cave and technical diving cardiologist. IIRC, he recommends a post-surgery treadmill, and exercise tolerance to 13 METS, before he clears his patients to go back to diving. But you should check with Doug, because my memory may be faulty.

You definitely want to wait until the sternum is fully healed (at least six weeks) and the leg incisions are clean and dry. You also want at least a couple of months to go by post-op, to be sure you aren't going to run into any problems with arrhythmias.

[Sludge]

You definitely want to wait until the sternum is fully healed (at least six weeks) and the leg incisions are clean and dry.

Yeah, I know how annoying a leaky drysuit is. I imagine leaky skin would be worse.

[TONY CHANEY]

Just wondering...how did they harvest the veins from your legs. The small incision like David Letterman's or the one that runs the entire length of the leg? If it's the longer incision wait until it heals before going back into the water. The last thing you want is to have an infection. Good advice from RN, I have seen the same at our hospital and for a while we had a few patients come back in for flap infections. Let it heal and keep it very clean. I would avoid most lateral lifting. Although I only tried side mount a couple of times, I did notice that backmount pulled more on my sternnum than side mount did. Please take care and hope to see back in the water soon.