Looking for cardiac athletes. I belong to a couple online groups of athletes who all have had some sort of heart surgery. Bypass, stent, pacemaker, valve replacement, or aneurysm. They are mostly runners, but many cycle, ski, climb mountains, play team sports, etc. We wrote a book about our experiences. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any swimmers who have come back to competition after heart surgery.
www.amazon.com/.../1500159638
I had a mechanical aortic valve replacement 25 years ago and continued to do road and track races and shot put. I only recently got more serious about swimming and wonder whether there are any others.
Update to this thread:
I got a mechanical aortic valve back in December 2000. No problems and no restrictions since that time.
About ten days ago I started developing some shortness of breath and some other symptoms and went to see my cardiologist this morning.
Long story short, the electrical signals that fire my heart muscles have become "confused" due to my missing tissue valve and missing every other beat, so it won't beat faster than about 38 bpm.
I'm scheduled to get a pacemaker implanted this coming Friday. Doc says that I have to stay out of the water for two weeks to let the incision heal, and only breaststroke & kicking for another two weeks. After that NO restrictions.
It kind of screws up my summer long course season, but still hope to be at Indy for the spring Nationals in May 2018.
Update to this thread:
I got a mechanical aortic valve back in December 2000. No problems and no restrictions since that time.
About ten days ago I started developing some shortness of breath and some other symptoms and went to see my cardiologist this morning.
Long story short, the electrical signals that fire my heart muscles have become "confused" due to my missing tissue valve and missing every other beat, so it won't beat faster than about 38 bpm.
I'm scheduled to get a pacemaker implanted this coming Friday. Doc says that I have to stay out of the water for two weeks to let the incision heal, and only breaststroke & kicking for another two weeks. After that NO restrictions.
It kind of screws up my summer long course season, but still hope to be at Indy for the spring Nationals in May 2018.
