Resuming training following angioplasty and stent

[Al Copersino]

Looking for advice post angioplasty and stent. Thanks in advance.

The procedure will be this Wednesday. The doctor’s office has said no heavy lifting for 5 days if they can insert the catheter through my wrist or 7 days if they ultimately have to go through my groin. Sounds reasonable.

Two questions.

Curious if anyone here has had the procedure and can comment on the recovery?

Second, I’ll ask the doctors too but would you think hiit workouts (maybe on the treadmill or pushing a prowler) would be ok during the 5-7 days off from lifting?

[Jeff Warner]

Looking for advice post angioplasty and stent. Thanks in advance.

The procedure will be this Wednesday. The doctor’s office has said no heavy lifting for 5 days if they can insert the catheter through my wrist or 7 days if they ultimately have to go through my groin. Sounds reasonable.

Two questions.

Curious if anyone here has had the procedure and can comment on the recovery?

Second, I’ll ask the doctors too but would you think hiit workouts (maybe on the treadmill or pushing a prowler) would be ok during the 5-7 days off from lifting?

This is an interest for me, my AFIB has started again and I'll be getting a cardio version then another Ablation. I'm trying to lift through the AFIB as much as possible.

[Al Copersino]

For anyone interested in my n=1:

The procedure: Apparently, half of my left anterior descending coronary artery was totally blocked and the other half was 70% blocked. Drug-eluding stents were inserted into both spots.

The recovery: The recovery was fine. They don’t really let you sleep during the overnight stay in the hospital, constantly waking you up to take your vital signs. And you need to be careful for a few days to make sure the radial artery (or in some people’s case, the femoral artery) has healed after they put a catheter through it to get to the heart.

But other than that, the recovery is quick and you’ll soon be doing fives again. If anything, I’ve had more energy than before the procedure now that my left ventricle is getting enough blood.

[Jason Donaldson]

But other than that, the recovery is quick and you’ll soon be doing fives again. If anything, I’ve had more energy than before the procedure now that my left ventricle is getting enough blood.

That's great to hear, Al - I'm glad you're doing better!

The constant sleep interruptions are definitely one of many reasons to get out of the hospital as quickly as possible. Did they do the DVT prevention, hug-your-calves thingummies on you, too?

[Al Copersino]

Thanks, Jason!

They did not, though they did check my right radial artery every couple of hours. They had a tight band around it; it was a relief to get the damn thing off the next morning.

Yes, overnight in the hospital isn’t fun - but the doctor said given that my situation was pretty unusual (total blockage in the main part of the left anterior descending artery; took two hours to get the stents in place) it was warranted.

But even in my case, getting back to lifting didn’t take any heroic effort.