Cardiac patients talk about the value of rehab

Rosetta Revis, 70, was feeling pain in her chest. After some testing, doctors determined she needed open heart surgery. 

After undergoing a mitral valve replacement, Revis felt better, but then four years later, she needed another surgery. She underwent open heart surgery again, this time for an aortic valve replacement.

Revis and others in similar situations, say the care they receive after surgery is the key to returning to optimal health. She has been doing therapy at Advocate Trinity Hospital for the past three years and has felt the difference.

“After surgery, I was told I had to do cardiac rehab for the rest of my life. My sister told me I should go to Trinity and I go there three days a week,” says Revis, of Chicago. “It was something that was very scary at first when I heard the news that this was for the rest of my life, but eventually, I had a good time coming to cardiac therapy. There are several people my own age that I work out with and we have become one happy family.”

Juanita J. Gordon, 82, had triple-bypass surgery and recovered. But she knew she was given a second chance in life and couldn’t waste it after doctors told her to go to cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation. As an older patient, she also knew she had to change the way she lived her life.

“I’m happy, I’m alive, I am eating better and I am in good spirits. It wasn’t easy, but I wanted to do anything I could to keep my heart functioning well,” says Gordon. “I guess God wasn’t done with me yet.”

Physicians urge patients not to give up on cardiac therapy after surgery.

“We educate patients on continuing their therapy in order to reach their full recovery,” says Dr. Juan Valdez, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago. “Sometimes, they will complain about pain and we encourage them to work through it. We give them a big picture of what they will accomplish if they push through and get them back to their normal functioning status.”

Click on this link, to view Revis’ story.

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