About five years ago, prior to my open heart surgery, I was in rehab. to build my endurance etc. for the surgery. I did not use 02 at all and get the speed up to say 2.4 with a small amount of elevation. The surgery went great, especially for a guy like me with a <24FEV. Even after the surgery I was walking all around the hospital without 02. Five days after I got home from the hospital my wife said your feet look like footballs. Three days later I was in intensive care for a week trying to get rid of all of the excess fluids. My cardiologist put me on oxygen for the first time in my life say "when I listen to your lungs it sounds like you are underneath water". Moving forward six weeks later I am in rehab. once again but this time they had me exercising but now with about 2.0-2.5 liters. I could still do the 30 minutes but it was tougher. For the next months it was a lot of long walks with a walker and oxygen bottle. My wife and I kept exercising and both do three times a week on the treadmill and three time a week in the gym doing weights...I am not using 02 when I am in the gym since I can pace myself moving from machine to machine.
However now a few years has passed and now I can barely get in 3.0 minutes on the treadmill without stopping...even with 8.0 liters running through me. I can't figure it out because my stats. don't go below 93 and when I stop the 02 jumps back up to 95-96. It's as if I'm having like fake SOB???
Any thought guys and gals...
BTW I have not smoked for 5-6 years and am not overweight.