Hello, and welcome to a wonderful place to find information and share your experience with a unique group of folks who have gone, are going, or plan to go on the same journey as you. That being said...as with all things in life... the answer is "it depends!" It depends on you. Your individual life-style. Your personal way of dealing and healing. Being active before is the best possible advantage you have on your side. But if you don't listen to your doctors, your body and do too much too soon you could delay your healing process. Since everything depends on your individual circumstance it's difficult to say with authority "Oh yeah... you'll be back lifting heavy things and racing in no time." How was that for dodging your question? In reality, your outcome truly does depend on you. But I can say with authority (I had a septal myectomy/papillary myectomy last summer) that being active enabled me to resume daily life activities much sooner than some. The lifting part takes time. You can't for 6 weeks or so. You have to let your sternum heal. Then you can progressively include more, but listen to your body. You won't want too sometimes because you know how you were, but you won't be able to for some time. It's okay. I was a big time hiker in our local mountains (They are literally all on fire right now) I walked, I did swing/ballroom classes for hours each week...all of which were taken from me by the HCM. A year out I'm walking and doing smaller hikes and grateful for the blessing of have had the best possible care by the Mayo Clinic. Everyone's journey is different. Everyone reacts differently to this massive, invasive surgery. But once you realize you survived, you endured, you came out the other side of a challenging ordeal...you will know you're pretty special. Your scar will be a source of comfort and a reminder of how strong you are. As far as the Metoprolol, that's an easy answer: It depends! Ha! It's true. So I was on 50mg in the hospital. Decreased to 37.5mg twice a day. Four weeks ago Dr. Ommen lowered it to 25mg twice a day in the hopes that some of my symptoms would dissipate. So even a year later, some tweaking may be necessary, but not everyone and not every time. You're in good company here. Feel free to reach out. I secretly stalked this group for several months before I got the courage to ask people about what to expect. It's been a great source of information and I was so grateful to those who took time to answer my questions. Some questions were dumb ones too...like about wearing a bra or foot ware choices...But hey. If you don't know and don't ask then you won't know, you know? 🙂
Best wishes to you. The Mayo is the finest institution on the planet. But I'm a tiny bit biased. They really know what they are doing and you are in the most capable hands and capable place you could be. This is not a surgery that you would want done just anywhere. You need a Center of Excellence. And they are!