Originally Posted by pdlamb

Welcome to the club. Sorry you're here. Glad you're still here. :/



Some of this sounds familiar. My wife was convinced I'd had a stroke. Fortunately for me, one of the cardiologists she know saw her crying in the ED hallway and said, "Let me take a look." 99% LAD blockage, fixed in 6 minutes with a stent. Took me longer to recover, though.



I took me a couple weeks of physical therapy; one week to get my balance back, and another week to get my wife comfortable with my balance. I got (and still get) lightheaded when I stand up; I've only gone down once, a mostly controlled collapse that she saw, unfortunately. My cardiologist cut out one BP med and cut the other one in half shortly after that. After PT, I went into three times a week cardiac rehab, and with the approval of rehab nurses and my cardiologist got back on the bike about two weeks after that. 50 mile ride two days before MI and I was a little tired, slow 7 mile ride a month later exhausted me. But it was a sweet ride, just being back on a (moving) bike!

I was on an anticoagulant for a year, part of standard of care. Drop a spoon on your foot and you get a welt the size of a baseball. Boy, I'm glad to be off it even two years later! Do what the doctor tells you -- there are standard protocols to minimize overall risks that a good doc will follow.

I doubt you lost 10 pounds of muscle in 17 days, but it may be possible. My weight loss was part fluid (no salt in sight!), a bit of fat, perhaps some muscle, but I certainly lost coordination. Ask your doctor for a prescription to cardiac rehab. Mine got me moving on a treadmill and hand crank (not sure what they call it), then added stationary bike, rowing machine, elliptical, and finally free weights. And it's free (with medical insurance, assuming you've met your deductible).