Five weeks after TAVR and nobody has mentioned cardiac rehab. Should I be asking, or is it not for valve patients?

#1Edith R(Joined May 2026 · 12 posts)October 19, 2026, 2:10 pm

Well, I finally have the other side of this forum to report from. TAVR done in the middle of September, two nights in, home, and the breathlessness that frightened me so much is mostly gone. Thank you all for holding my hand through the waiting.

My question is about what comes next. My neighbour had a stent last year and was sent to a cardiac rehab class twice a week at the leisure centre, exercise and talks about tablets and so on. Nobody has said a word to me about anything like that. My legs are weak from a year of not doing much and I am nervous of overdoing it on my own.

Is rehab only for heart attacks and stents? Or have I fallen through a gap?

#2Diane FarrowFounder(Joined Jan 2026 · 214 posts)October 20, 2026, 10:25 am

Edith, how lovely to read the first paragraph. Your question is one I care about, because I nearly fell through the same gap. Cardiac rehab is not only for heart attacks and stents; people recovering from heart surgery or a heart procedure are among those it is designed for, and the British Heart Foundation's TAVI information says you should be invited to attend. In practice, the invitation does not always seem to arrive by itself, so asking is entirely reasonable.

I have just written up what I learned in cardiac rehab after TAVR, including the three places to ask: the valve team, your GP, and the rehab service itself in some areas. Programmes are a mixture of supervised exercise set to your own level, education on things like medicines and symptoms, and emotional support, and many services offer home based versions too if travel is difficult. Mine started with marching on the spot and ended with me walking up the hill I had been stopping halfway up for a year.

I am not a doctor, so please let the valve team or your GP decide when you are ready to start, but you have not done anything wrong by not being on a list yet. Ask.

#3frankm1952(Joined Apr 2026 · 19 posts)October 20, 2026, 5:35 pm

I had to ask too Edith. My GP did the referral in the end. Six weeks, Tuesday and Friday, and I was the youngest in the class at 74 which did my ego good.

#4TwoNightsTerry(Joined Feb 2026 · 63 posts)October 21, 2026, 9:00 am

Mine was by video call because I was not driving yet. Physio watched me through the laptop doing step ups on the bottom stair. Felt silly, worked fine.

#5Edith R(Joined May 2026 · 12 posts)October 24, 2026, 4:50 pm

Rang the valve clinic. The nurse was apologetic and said the referral should have gone at discharge, she has sent it now. Assessment on the 4th of November apparently. I asked about the walking on my own and she said little and often, flat ground, and stop if I cannot talk.

#6Marlene K(Joined Mar 2026 · 31 posts)October 31, 2026, 11:45 am

frankm1952 said:

I was the youngest in the class at 74

Frank you were not the youngest in mine. There was a man of 69 who had had a bypass and sulked through every session. Edith, go to the education talks as well as the exercise. The one on tablets finally told me why I was taking half of mine.