Cardiac surgery recovery

I'd be extremely interested to read the experiences of swimmers who climbed back into swimming after undergoing cardiac surgery. My mitral valve was successfully repaired in early July. I'm waiting for the scabs to heal before I can return to swimming. In the meantime, I've been speed walking every day and have started to ramp up weight lifting now that weight restrictions have been lifted (no pun intended). It would be interesting to hear the experiences of others who've been down this road (and the road beyond). Also, is anyone aware of any good articles on this subject? Thanks.