@imccray, @amandaburnett- I can't say enough from my experience with Cardiac Rehab.
I had been regularly working out in a gym (Fitness Over Fifty) on a regular basis back prior to my heart attack in 2014 and was still working.
I had not the slightest signal that a HA was coming and that day I had just finished my regular workout and returned home to grab a quick bite before retuning back to my office. After getting cleaned up my wife had put out a lunch for me and as I was about to sit down a bit of dizziness then flushness came over me and decided to take a seat in the LR. My wife followd me in and knew something was up and asked was I alright. I said as crazy as this sounds I believe I was having a HA. In the end I had a stent placed in my LAD and was literally leaving the hospital a day later.
I started up Cardiac Rehab about 2 weeks later and because I was accustomed to much of the equipement they had it was relatively easy to get started.
The interns and other help made me feel very welcome! Several weeks earlier I wouldn't have given much thought of jumping on a Eliptical Trainer and going all out for 30 minutes getting my heart rate up to 160 and now I found myself very concerned if I might have another HA. Everyone wears a monitor and has a intern assigned to them. That monitor really helped me because after going through what I had I realized just the slightest little pain would cause me concern, but the intern was right there to assure me that things were fine. I was going 3x a week and began to see the regulars during those times and many of them became friends as we shared our stories together. They also had a Nutrictionist on site that we each met with to go over what our current diet was and how we could make changes that would really make a difference. The Nutrictionist recommended a book called Good Food, Great Medicene written by a Cardiologist and his sister internist Miles Hassell MD and Mea Hassell. A Mediterranean Diet & Lifestyle Guide for heart disease, stroke,type 2 diabetes and weight loss that is my go to book for wisdom and great recipes. (Available on Amazon). I highly recommend Cardio Rehab! It will give you the confidence we all need after going through what we have and hopefully spur each of us on to new diciplines that will add many more years of good health for us.
Jim @thankful