Cardiac Rehab

Two weeks after I came home I had a follow up appointment with my cardiologist, Dr. Holmberg. He is from Omaha, but comes to the hospital in Atlantic several times a month, so that is where I went to see him. He ordered an echo cardiogram which they were able to do there. The results were good. The fluid around my heart was gone and my heart function was back to almost normal.

I also had my first cardiac rehab that day. Several days earlier I had come in to visit with Peggy, the head nurse of cardiac rehab. She went over what happened, what medications I'm taking etc etc. She also gave me some educational material about cholesterol and heart health. My cholesterol was too high (240), it should be under 200. So she talked about what foods I should and should not eat. She gave a DVD "Take a Load off Your Heart", which was a cardiologist and a man who had to have by pass surgery speaking about heart health. That was very informative. The doctors told me I do not have heart disease, so some of that didn't apply to my case, but I did learn a lot on how to keep my heart healthy. Basically it's just eat a healthy, well balanced diet, get plenty of exercise, and learn how to handle stress. Stress is really bad for your heart.

When I came to do rehab the first thing they did was put a heart monitor on me and take my blood pressure. My blood pressure was always very low like 90 over 60. They wanted me to drink a lot, because just the extra fluid can raise blood pressure.Then once everything was hooked up and I showed up on their computer I started with stretches to warm up. That first day I didn't do much. Walked about 5 minutes on the treadmill, rested, then on the Nustep, rested, then on the bicycle. For the first two weeks I was not allowed to use my arms on the Nustep and the bicycle. That was orders from Dr. Holmberg and was because of the dissection. Usually that just applies for those who had open heart surgery.

I had 36 sessions of cardiac rehab - Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Slowly they increased my exercise until I was spending 45 minutes. I was on the treadmill 20 minutes (1 mile), Nustep 15 minutes and on the treadmill again for 10 minutes (1/2 mile). The rehab helped me so much. I was scared to do anything at first. Working out at cardiac rehab with a heart monitor on and knowing that everything was fine gave me the confidence I needed. The nurses were great and I made some good friends there. I was not allowed to drive for 4 weeks, so Irene took me where I needed to go. I often took some of the children with me. They enjoyed it and the people there enjoyed having the children there. How often is a mother with a 4 week old baby at cardiac rehab?! All the other people were elderly.

By the time I was done in early November I was fully recovered. Those three months the drs. told me it would take to recover were not as long as they sounded when I was flat on my back. Praise the Lord for healing! I still dealt some with anxiety, but that gradually got better too.

Peggy Perkins, head nurse in cardiac rehab.


Nu step... you pedal with your feet and the things you hold onto with your hands go back and forth