Cardiac Rehab for the Win

As many of you already know, I suffered a widowmaker heart attack about 5 weeks ago. I thought I was in pretty good health at 51 years old. Apparently not so much! Yikes. Anyhow, before the docs released me from the hospital, they highly recommended I participate in cardiac rehab. Of course, I was ready to go home, so I would have agreed to ANYTHING to get myself out of there. It was cardiac rehab for the win, I guess.

I really didn’t even know what cardiac rehab was, but I assumed it had something to do with exercise and lifestyle changes. Anytime the word ‘rehab’ is bandied about, it certainly includes lifestyle changes, right?

As it stands, I’ve just completed my first two weeks of cardiac rehab and they most certainly had something to do with exercise. That’s pretty much all I did during week 1 – exercise, exercise and more exercise.

My particular rehab program is set at 3 times per week for a total of 12 weeks. I might just be a beast by the end of it! Might being the operative word 🙂

So, how DOES cardiac rehab actually work? I can’t say for certain that all programs work the same, but I’d say they are pretty similar in nature.

Cardiac Rehab – The Prelim Visit

I’ll call this one a preliminary visit. I was there to do what they call a 6 minute walk test. According to Medical News Today, the test is basically to measure exercise tolerance and fitness in an individual. The test can be used for a variety of health issues, including heart disease and lung disease, just to name a few.

I was hooked up to a few monitors and took a 6 minute walk down the hallway. I managed my walk without having to sit down and rest or anything of the sort. Some people certainly don’t. I walked 407m (I was actually walking slowly and not at my normal pace), and a score of 400-700 is what’s considered normal for a healthy adult. 4 weeks post widowmaker heart attack – doesn’t seem too horrible to me!

Day One of Cardiac Rehab

I went back on Monday for my first ‘official’ rehab day! They took my weight, pulse and BP and then hooked me up to a small EKG type machine – only had 3 electrodes. NOT a nurse here – so I’m writing in my very own Lori language.

They walked me over to the big treadmill by the window and asked how I felt about giving 25 minutes a try. Ummmm??? I didn’t do cardio BEFORE my heart attack and now they’re wanting me to walk on that beast for 25 minutes? What?? I was certain my life vest was going to explode, shock me and that would be the end. In my mind, there was simply NO WAY I’d be able to walk that long. I literally just did the 6 minute walk a few days before…shouldn’t this be increasing gradually? What the hell were these people trying to do to me? Rehab my ass! Grrr!!

Needless to say – I was wrong! I walked on the treadmill for 25 minutes with ease and felt absolutely no shortness of breath or tiredness as I went along. My MPH setting was at about 2.5. The highest my BP got was 122/74, which is still pretty darn good if I do say so myself. Again, not a nurse, but…they said it was good, too!

Day Two

The next visit was the following Wednesday and they upped my treadmill time to 30 minutes, with a MPH of 2.7. They’re not messing around, it seems. I again did that with ease and maintained a similar BP as to what I’d done the previous Monday. BP was around 120/71 with a pulse of around 88. Seems like my ole’ ticker is tolerating this well, so far. Yay me 🙂

Day Three

By my last visit of week one on Thursday, I was up to 35 minutes, wearing my earbuds and jamming out to my favorite country music on Spotify 🙂 I maintained the same MPH this time around and my BP and pulse continued to stay in the same range.

Day Four

I returned the following Monday to complete the 4th day of rehab. As I expected, I did a 40 minute rotation on the treadmill and upped my speed to 2.8 MPH. Definitely not running, but walking at a nice little pace. Again, my BP and pulse were trending at a pretty good rate.

This time around, however, we did a little light weight training after the treadmill workout. I started with the 5 pounders and basically did some lunges, curls and rows. Nothing too insane – just a little added to the initial workout.

Day Five

Day five was almost identical to day four in terms of time and numbers. The only difference is that the dietician showed up this time around and talked with me the ENTIRE 40 minutes I was walking on the treadmill.

Considering I was chatting with her and answering questions, I still maintained a good BP and pulse the entire time.

As I had the previous visit, light weight training followed my 40 minutes of treadmill time.

Day Six

Well, I might have been a little too sure of myself! Today was the first day I actually felt it. My cardiac rehab jailers…errr…trainers upped me to 3.0 MPH for the 40-minute duration on the treadmill. I actually felt perfectly decent throughout the workout; it wasn’t until I got off the treadmill and started the weight training that I felt it kicking in.

After our weight training session, my pulse had increased to 118, which is still within range, but the trainers had me sit down for a few seconds to bring my heart rate back down. Truth is it was back at 82 within like 10 seconds. Still okay, I guess!

Dietician

My own experience thus far indicates that the dietician’s role is to discuss your eating habits with you and find out your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to eating healthy. Whether you like it or not, eating healthy IS important at all times, but IS even more important once you’ve had a heart attack or other cardiac event. Today’s Dietician offers an in-depth look at the role of dieticians in cardiac rehab.

My dietician asked some probing questions about my eating habits, talked about the importance of a low sodium diet and how I could increase things like dietary fiber. She printed off some pertinent documentation on things I should be doing at home to make changes to help me succeed in my cardiac rehab journey!

Why is it Cardiac Rehab for the Win Exactly?

For me, it’s pretty simple! I’m taking FULL advantage of literally EVERYTHING I’m offered that could help me live a longer and healthier life.

Interestingly enough, I’ve heard from some of the doctors and medical professionals on my own team that a lot of folks simply don’t take advantage of these cardiac rehab programs when they’re offered.

I mean, 30 quick seconds of research shows how many significant benefits there actually are to attending a cardiac rehab program. The folks over at Good Rx have a full list of the benefits of cardiac rehab. If you happen to be on the fence, take a look and make the right choice. Hint…the answer is to GO to cardiac rehab.

I’m quite curious to see where I’ll be at the end of the 12 week program. I wonder if I’ll be jogging on that treadmill? I wonder if I’ll be lifting weights that are a little heavier than I am right now? Regardless, two weeks in and I’m already feeling 100% better than I did both before and immediately after my heart attack.

Ya know -when I first started this blog it was meant to be about my besties and I, our adventures and fun stuff like food, travel, cocktails, decor, fashion and the like. I’m still going to be blogging about ALL of that, but I can’t NOT include a few references to health since it’s such a big part of my life right now. Because, in my wackadoo world, it’s definitely cardiac rehab for the win!