My Experience with Heart Disease

My Experience with Open Heart Surgery

by Ron La Fournie

For most of my life, exercise and heart disease lived in completely separate boxes in my mind. You either had a heart problem or you exercised. It never crossed my mind that one day I might need to learn how to be physically active with heart disease—never mind high blood pressure—let alone that it could even be done safely.

I was born with a slight heart murmur, but it never slowed me down. I exercised regularly, followed structured workout programs, and assumed my heart was just fine. As it turned out, that murmur was caused by a leaky mitral valve. One of the valves in my heart wasn’t closing properly, allowing blood to flow backward after each beat. For years, it caused no real trouble and stayed quietly in the background.

Everything changed in early 2016.

I developed a severe lung infection after having pneumonia multiple times. This one lingered for months. My energy disappeared. I stopped sleeping properly because I couldn’t breathe when lying down. I coughed constantly. Worst of all, I lost the desire to exercise—something that had never happened before. Fitness had always been part of who I was, especially as I aged. When I didn’t even want to work out, I knew something was very wrong.

When I tried to find new family doctor in May and June of 2016, many weren't taking new patients, and some were the bottom of the barrel.

One of those referred me to a respirologist (another bottom-of-the-barrel guy) who, after one brief breathing test, said I had COPD and it was incurable. Inhalers were with me for the rest of my life he said.

A month and a half later, I returned minus my chest infection but still coughing and demanded another test. When I passed it, he said it didn't matter; I still had COPD.

I couldn't get out of his office fast enough.

By this time, the murmur wasn’t quiet anymore. It was screaming. I went to the emergency dept of Foothills Hospital, and was told that without surgery, heart failure was almost imminent. My open-heart surgery took place on September 15, 2016, though the decline in my fitness had started about eight months earlier.

I was connected to a heart-lung machine. It pumps your blood and breathes for you. The surgery involved cutting through my sternum to access my heart. For six weeks, I wasn’t allowed to drive, fly, lift more than five pounds, or even open my arms wide. Picking up our small dogs was impossible. Stress on my chest was strictly forbidden. I was told, “Don’t even try open our sliding patio door.” It takes that long for the sternum to stitch back together.

Walking became my only exercise for a while. The first walk home barely reached around the block, and it wiped me out. But it was enough to begin.

Over time, consistency replaced fear. Strength returned slowly. My breathing improved. I learned patience. I learned restraint. Most importantly, I learned that recovery isn’t about rushing back—it’s about rebuilding forward.

Six months after surgery, I was lifting some weights again, running lightly, and restoring my aerobic capacity. I wasn’t finished—I was just beginning.

I learned how to exercise with heart disease. And that knowledge changed everything.