Notice Happy 4th of July forum friends!

[UncleCliffy'sDaddy]

Sorry to hear it. Crap, heart surgery. Heed the advice more than a couple doctors have given me, there's not an ailment known that exercise will make worse. It can only help. Somebody in here encouraged you to fish more and I whole heartedly concur with the one caveat that you tell us all about it because I love to fish but am physically prevented from doing it.

If you find a cure for A-Fib please let me know, I've got A-Fib nearly all the time. It was 106 when I first got up this morning. I think it was 102 when I measured it yesterday afternoon. In my case my blood pressure goes low from a medicine to control the A-Fib but then the A-Fib goes high from a medicine to raise my blood pressure which goes really low, sometimes into the 60s during dialysis. It's a balancing act for me. I wonder how harmful that kind of mild A-Fib is.

From what my electrophysiologist says, AFib is NOT life threatening.....or at least the mild kind. I have it so bad that I tend to question the accuracy of that statement. Bad AFib does tend to stretch the upper chambers of your heart (permanently). The meds only work so far. And pacemakers open up a whole ‘nother can of worms, so I get the “balancing act” thing. Welcome to my life for the last 8 months.....

 

[riverman]

From what my electrophysiologist says, AFib is NOT life threatening.....or at least the mild kind. I have it so bad that I tend to question the accuracy of that statement. Bad AFib does tend to stretch the upper chambers of your heart (permanently). The meds only work so far. And pacemakers open up a whole ‘nother can of worms, so I get the “balancing act” thing. Welcome to my life for the last 8 months.....

This is what I learned too....my heart murmer is mild compared to some....I have literature from the heart doctor about living with afib and many do...it's not a death sentence but it's no fun having a ping pong match in your chest all day long either....mine is gone now since last Wednesday and I can now hike my miles and break a sweat...I've maintained pretty good physical shape over the last two years....steady at 168 lbs....before that when I was drinking I was 203 lbs...too heavy for my frame...feel better. I've always hiked and fished and played ping pong and badminton...etc...there's not much more I can give up diet wise that I haven't already but I'm now off coffee for the last 6 days...not sure if I'll keep that up. I think I'll have a better quality of life moving ahead now...

 

[Lanny]

Looks like Baghdad during shock and awe.

 

[Lanny]

This is what I learned too....my heart murmer is mild compared to some....I have literature from the heart doctor about living with afib and many do...it's not a death sentence but it's no fun having a ping pong match in your chest all day long either....mine is gone now since last Wednesday and I can now hike my miles and break a sweat...I've maintained pretty good physical shape over the last two years....steady at 168 lbs....before that when I was drinking I was 203 lbs...too heavy for my frame...feel better. I've always hiked and fished and played ping pong and badminton...etc...there's not much more I can give up diet wise that I haven't already but I'm now off coffee for the last 6 days...not sure if I'll keep that up. I think I'll have a better quality of life moving ahead now...

You mention heart murmur which I also have. Doctors and nurses tell me they can easily detect it.
I'm also thinking heart murmurs really occur during gestation which makes me wonder why I wasn't told about it until I was in my 50s. I also wonder just how serious that could be.

When I was in the peak of health, I weighed 180 and worked out probably more than most people know of. Then, my health started going South and I shot up to about 240. Wound up in intensive care pretty much out of it for 3 1/2 weeks and lost a lot of weight. Couldn't eat VA hospital food without throwing up. Finally the doctors told my wife to feed me anything, even food not medically approved, just so I'd get something down. My wife started bringing me the best damned homemade milkshakes in the world. Pretty soon I was eating regular food from outside. Went from 220 up to 230. Now, through some unknown reason I'm down to a low of 205 and feel better. Should weigh 165 or 170. Don't know if I can ever get there but I'll spend my life trying.