William's Posts

It’s taken 15 months, but I am finally starting to feel really good in my recovery. I spent the first year trying to return to top physical form as fast as I could, and I never really let my heart heal. I pushed and pushed until my heart had enough. That’s when things started to shut down. I couldn’t walk upstairs, I couldn’t help around the house, and I couldn’t be the father I want to be. I was killing myself by trying to force my heart to recover. All manner of tests confirmed that my heart was structurally fine, but it was simply overloaded. At the start of 2021, I had to make a change. I cut my cardio training in half. I added strength training to build back my body’s testosterone and re-ignite my metabolism. In just a few short weeks, I started to build muscle again, regrow hair and I finally have energy at the end of the day. I went from asking God to simply take me to being incredibly happy once again to be here with my family. 2020 was a strange year, and I will say 2021 looks to be headed in a much better direction. I hope this new vigor and enthusiasm continues. Every journey to well is different, and no two paths look the same. I am stronger for having blazed this, but I do wish it had been a bit easier. I am reminded frequently that the heart is a very interesting part of the body. In many ways there are is still so much that is unknown.

I am 5 weeks post-surgery and experiencing some worries about recovering the cardiac fitness I had prior to surgery. I have tried cycling several times since my operation, but I cannot generate half my pre-surgical power without my heart beating too rapidly. My resting heart-rate is 30 beats higher than it was just before surgery, and I am wondering if others who were very fit prior to surgery experienced the same. At 38, I am on the younger end of the typical demographic. I am finding it very hard to find stories from people my age about how quickly they were able to return to their physical peak. Hoping to start swimming again next week!