I began my cardiac rehab in early January. Honestly, I was actually looking forward to this next step in my recovery after completing my cardiac assessment. I felt that putting forth an effort to strengthen my heart through cardio exercising was something I should have been doing throughout my life. I was also comfortable taking on the challenge’s cardiac rehab presented knowing that I was being constantly monitored, and if anything did happen I was surrounded by those who knew how to respond to an event should one occur.
When you arrive to your session you are given a monitor with leads that you apply to your chest and torso so your heart can be monitored during your exercise period. I was asked numerous questions, sometimes exhaustively. Your assigned nurse or technician ask if you have taken your medication, did you take your blood pressure, did you take your blood oxygen, what is your weight, how do you feel, etc. All good questions that in a way set you up for success in your home monitoring.
I started by rehab on the stationary bike. The time allotted for this was approximately 25 minutes in total. My max heart rate for monitoring was set at 134 beats per minute. For reference, athletes have a much higher rate. As I progressed in my rehab through January I began to exceed the 134 limit and I could see on the monitoring screen that my rate color changed from blue green to red indicating that I was to be notified to slow down. I got used to my name being called out several times a week because I deliberately tried to go above the 134 beats per minute heart rate limit.
My second machine choice was the treadmill. I never really exceeded the limit of 134 for my heart rate on this machine. I think I did get close a couple of times. I mostly used this machine to regulate my heart rate at a more constant value. I also used this machine to do a cool down.
On many occasions the nurse or technician would try to get me to do some bench exercises and stretches. I really didn’t want to do any of these in my early sessions. I just wanted to focus on the heart rate and the machines.
Around the beginning of February, I meet with a registered dietitian to discuss heart healthy eating and what my diet should look like. We discussed all of the food groups and what moderation of certain foods should be. She brought up milk and that a lower fat content milk is what I should transition to. At this point I told her that I drink A2 milk. She said she had not heard of this milk and I explained the difference between A2 milk and common A1 milk. She was very interested in learning more. If you are interested in the A2 milk, here is a link of a study from the American Society for Nutrition that will help in your understanding: https://jn.nutrition.org/article/S0022-3166(22)00140-7/fulltext There are other, less scientific websites you can look for as well. We also discussed meats, fruits and vegetables. Once again, the Mediterranean Diet was featured in our discussion. What was interesting was that she did not mention that the totality of the diet as I had previously learned about right after coming home from the hospital. She did not discuss the other parts of the diet that include lifestyle and activity.
She also noted that I should work to increase my protein intake and had several recommendations of manufacturers’ and certain formula ingredients to look for. I noted that I like the Ensure brand and she said they have a good 30g product. I added Ensure Max Protein to my daily intake to make sure I was getting enough protein. I decided to drink one in the morning and one in the evening which would give me 60 grams in a day during my remaining cardiac rehab sessions. After setting up this routine I began to feel an improvement in my cardio routine and outcome.
I will say that meeting with a registered dietitian was a new experience for me and it was educational. I am glad that this was part of my cardiac rehab.
The next week I was working out on the stationary bike and the dietitian came over to me to let me know she did some research on the A2 milk and noted that she may recommend this milk to some of her patients who say they have a lactose issue with milk. She said it might not be a lactose issue, but it might be a protein issue. She was interested in learning more about protein possibly helping with more dairy options for her patients. I felt like I actually might have helped with making someone’s life a little better just by enjoying a nice glass of milk with fresh baked cookies. More on this later.
Now back to my stationary bike exercise, and yes, I am getting ready to exceed that 134 beats per minute heart rate limit. I am looking forward to getting my warning notice.
“If you have ever experience cardiac rehab, or any other impactful rehab due to your medical condition, please share your thoughts in the comments box or by email.”