Before my operation, my cardiologist had said that she expected to send me to cardiac rehab after I’d healed somewhat. She told me that a stress test was the price of admission, so I showed up at her office yesterday, ready to do battle with the treadmill.

I made it through level 4 (16% grade, 4.2 mph); my heart rate was about 140 at that point. She must have been happy with the results, because she told me that I didn’t need to go to rehab. She also told me that I was free to exercise as hard as I want (subject to the surgeon’s weight constraints, anyway) and that I should keep walking a lot (which will be more difficult now that I’m cleared to drive!).

She’s keeping me on beta blockers because of my circumflex artery, but she doesn’t plan to do anything else unless it becomes symptomatic. And I will be doing another stress echocardiogram next year to see how the artery is doing.

My pain level is pretty low, so she wants me to start weaning myself from acetaminophen, since using it for a long time isn’t good for the liver.

Next steps: a fasting blood test to see how the pravastatin has affected my cholesterol levels, and another checkup in three months.

At this rate, I’m going to need to find something else to blog about soon!