[Trombone-l] Playing after bypass

[Willard (Bill) Riley]

Excellent question! I can only relate my own experience in reply...

I underwent triple bypass surgery in Montreal in September 2004, in a 
teaching hospital whose policy was to discharge surgical patients ASAP 
in hopes of minimizing the rate of "community-" (i.e., "hospital-") 
acquired infection. The drill I underwent before discharge did not 
include respiratory therapy but, suspecting that this would be on the 
agenda of followup home visits, I gave it some thought ahead of time.

  * My first decision was to not ask for advice from anyone lacking
    direct experience. I would simply start in as gently as I could and
    stop immediately whenever I began feeling pain.
      o I still believe this is a valid approach EXCEPT for HERNIA
        REPAIR. I've done that, too, and when asked why I didn't just
        get along with a truss, owned up to my surgeon that I played
        trumpet. I thereupon received very precise instructions about
        how long I was to not even touch a brass instrument, I followed
        those orders scrupulously and never had a bit of trouble afterwards.
  * A day or two after my discharge, I dug out a soprano (treble)
    recorder and started relearning some of the early music licks and
    literature I used to play in my student days.
  * After a week or ten days of this, I found the alto recorder and
    expanded my efforts into territory that required me to breath more
    deeply. Still not much pressure.
  * About a week later, out came the tenor recorder. It's not terribly
    good but it's loud and takes a lot of wind, encouraging me to expand
    my lungs even more.
  * The old King 2B came next, requiring slightly more wind pressure in
    the middle register. I gradually extended my range upwards, stopping
    for the day whenever increasing wind pressure brought on a twinge of
    pain.
  * At that point, a friend lent me his F-Bb bass trombone for a couple
    of weeks. Not only much more lung capacity required to fill the
    lower register, but also more strength in the arms just to hold it
    and lug it around. Still on leave from my day job, I volunteered to
    fill in on bass trombone in the students' jazz band at Concordia
    University, rehearsing twice a week in preparation for a concert
    early in December.
  * That was when another friend lent me a full-size Bb tuba, which I
    also got to play for a few numbers in the jazz band concert.

By January, I was ready to go back to work. Could have played all day 
every day, too, if I had enough gigs.

I hope we get some other responses to Henry's question, as well. After 
all, each one of us is different in so many other ways, it stands to 
reason we won't all have the same experience recovering from major surgery.

My best wishes to you, Henry,

Bill

Willard (Bill) Riley
bill.riley at primus.ca
home 450.458-0993 / cell. 514-229-6952
Suggest a meeting: www.doodle.com/bill.riley.music.mtl

On 2/16/2017 12:29, Henry Kavett wrote:
> Does anyone have experience in returning to trombone playing after heart bypass operation?  I am 12 weeks post-op.
> Thanks
>
>
>
>
> Henry Kavett
> kavett at gmail.com
> (908) 419-9007 CELL
>
> internetCONTROL
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