Day 2

Today it was a pleasure to have woken up after my 1st decent sleep after 2 weeks. I woke up many times due to the discomfort in my chest and a particular muscle that caused a lot of pain under my right ribcage.

I found out that I had quite a lot of bruising around my stomach and around the sides for some reason. I couldn't see it but my partner definitely could.

So today was my first proper walk outside. The cardio handbook says for the first week, do a 5min walk, 2nd week was 10mins and so on. At the six week point you are supposed to be able to do a 30min walk, briskly for part of it, raise your heart rate to the point of being slightly out of breath but still able to hold a conversation.

Off I went with my partner and we took a stroll down by the river. It was lovely to be outside in nature. The smells, the sights, it was just lovely. It was a gentle walk, a little down the road, I speeded up and all the while taking as deep a breath as possible (thats what the handbook says) but thats not easy when your chest has been ripped open!! So with a little pain, I took some breaths as deep as i dare and it was ok. Got a bit breathless whilst walking at a brisk pace, and that is completely normal and stopped once or twice to view the river and to see if we could spot any wildlife. 

We turned around and set back off for home. Brisk pace, but the last part was a nice slow walk. Its a typical warm up, warm down exercise routine. I have done it thousands of times in the Army, so am well versed with the idea.

When I got back home, it was then apparent that I had been out almost 30mins!! So I was now doing exercise at the six week point on my first walk!! Thats perhaps stupid, but I felt absolutely fine. These exercises are generic, so the handbook suggestions are  probably perfect for people in their 70's+ but thats not me. Always been fairly fit before my heart attack, never been on medication before, and rarely ever went to the doctors, so I am thinking that I am going to respond quickly and effectively than other people. To be honest, after my walk, I felt really good. It was so good to be out and walking in the fresh air and I had no issues with aches pains or anything else. Looking forward to tomorrow......

Day 3

Off I went for a walk! Same route, ensuring I included a brisk walk, perhaps a tiny bit faster and a warm down at the end. This walking is easy! Still breathing deep as best I could which is crucial to filling your lungs back up and expanding them to what they were before the operation. Please read the section called Bypass as I mention the surgeons collapsing lungs by hand.

Day 4 - 14

I have inclluded several days into one article due to the fact that the walking is the same every day! So for these days I will mentioned that the first week I was walking steadily and changed my route a little to include a slight incline which was about quarter of a mile long. A brisk pace all the way ensured I raised my heart rate, got slightly out of breath but during and at the end I could still hold a conversation with someone. Considering I had smoked for 40 years and had a bypass, this was pretty remarkable and its such a good feel factor to be able to do that without worrying about whether I was going to keel over or have a heart attack, its invigorating and gives you great confidence. This recovery was going well and I was enjoying being outside for a walk. The rest of the time at home, I am just sat around, watching TV or using my computer but nothing else. No lifting, pushing or pulling anything. Sometimes you feel useless when others are running about doing things, and I like to help but I can't. So the daily walk is important to me. The recovery is going well and I feel the walking is a bit too easy.

Day 15 - 21

Day 15 and I have decided to extend my route for a week and see how I get on.

So I am now going further, 30-40min walk but at a bit of a faster pace. Warming up with a slow walk for a couple of hundred yards and then up my incline at a brisker pace, across country at a fairly brisk pace and then back onto the road to warm down before getting home. This is working well for me. My deep breathing is becoming easier and now without any pain involved which is a bonus and my chest is starting to heal. The scar down my sternum is cleaner and looks like a nice clean scar.