bypass surgury, going on 3 years

[Coykendall]

I had a triple bypass (LAD, 80% blocked) 2.5 years ago. It took nearly a year to a year and a half to fully recover from teh actual surgury and during that recovery period, I returned to normal activites. I'm now 51 yrs old, fit and off meds except for 10g of lipitor every 2nd day and 25mgs of metoporlol per day. BP is 110/60ish...

The question I have: how hard can a person with stitched up arteries and pseudo vein arteries actually push themselves? I stay fit with body weight exercise (chins ups, push ups, etc), run hills, cross country ski (skate style, so it's extra taxing on the heart/lungs) about 6 -14kms per day in winter and sometimes after skiing, sometimes hours later, I get a pain in my chest, but it's not heart pain (have never had any heart pain, angina, etc); more like pain at the point where the mammary was incised...I can actually put my finger on teh pain point and if I push on it, the pain ceases...so...does anyone have a protocol that states how much physical exertion can be expended post CABG and not blow those babies apart?!?!!

[ed34]

The only real way to 'blow those babies apart' is to develop very high blood pressure and take no measures to lower it over a long period of time. Exercising doesn't strain the vessels, the blood just flows faster through the vessels and pressure is equalised by the body to prevent overload. I wish I could do the level of exercise you can achieve, but I was unfortunate in my bypass failed after 3 months. The arteries/veins you mention will have completely healed at the site of grafting about two years ago. So theres no stitching to worry about. Your mammary artery wont be causing the pain, It could be muscular or nerve. This is reinforced by the pain ceasing if you increase the exercise. If it was the mammary artery or the area it was removed from, the pain would continue. That also all healed up two years ago. The sternum and chest muscles are the time takers with healing. The blood vessels heal up very quick. Keep up the good work.