I will be having surgery in exactly one week on Monday the 14th.
The doctor came into the room and very quickly said he would fix the aortic aneurysm along with the aortic valve. Knowing his qualifications this was pretty much enough for me to decide to go with this doctor over the other one. I just felt like the other doctor didn't have my best interests at heart since he was basically dooming me to a second surgery some-odd years down the road. We talked for a few minutes and when I told him I had dropped off the CT video, he left to go view it while I got an EKG and talked to the doctor's PA for a bit.
When Dr. Reardon came back from viewing my CT he told me I definitely had a bicuspid valve. He said it was a Siever's Zero bicuspid valve. So while the radiologist couldn't say for sure this doctor is so experienced with what he does he could definitely tell from the imaging. His office usually uses the St. Jude's valve, but he said I could choose the On-X if I wanted. He also said that theoretically you could use a lower dosage of Warfarin with the St. Jude's also, but that it hadn't been tested specifically for that purpose, whereas the On-X had. He said it was tested that way because the valve makers needed a reason to differentiate themselves in the valve market. So now I don't know which valve to choose. LOL He also said he would be installing an atrial clip preventatively. I found this study on prophylactic use of the clip https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10....4296?doi=10.1161/CIRCINTERVENTIONS.124.014296 that says it significantly reduces risk of stroke, but the difference seems to only be 3.6%? 86% vs 89.6%. Has anyone else had this done even though the don't have atrial fibrillation yet?
They drew my pre-surgery labs, and set up an appointment for tomorrow for a Carotid echo and another chest Xray. They gave me the special soap to use the night before and morning of surgery and this is actually happening!
The doctor came into the room and very quickly said he would fix the aortic aneurysm along with the aortic valve. Knowing his qualifications this was pretty much enough for me to decide to go with this doctor over the other one. I just felt like the other doctor didn't have my best interests at heart since he was basically dooming me to a second surgery some-odd years down the road. We talked for a few minutes and when I told him I had dropped off the CT video, he left to go view it while I got an EKG and talked to the doctor's PA for a bit.
When Dr. Reardon came back from viewing my CT he told me I definitely had a bicuspid valve. He said it was a Siever's Zero bicuspid valve. So while the radiologist couldn't say for sure this doctor is so experienced with what he does he could definitely tell from the imaging. His office usually uses the St. Jude's valve, but he said I could choose the On-X if I wanted. He also said that theoretically you could use a lower dosage of Warfarin with the St. Jude's also, but that it hadn't been tested specifically for that purpose, whereas the On-X had. He said it was tested that way because the valve makers needed a reason to differentiate themselves in the valve market. So now I don't know which valve to choose. LOL He also said he would be installing an atrial clip preventatively. I found this study on prophylactic use of the clip https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10....4296?doi=10.1161/CIRCINTERVENTIONS.124.014296 that says it significantly reduces risk of stroke, but the difference seems to only be 3.6%? 86% vs 89.6%. Has anyone else had this done even though the don't have atrial fibrillation yet?
They drew my pre-surgery labs, and set up an appointment for tomorrow for a Carotid echo and another chest Xray. They gave me the special soap to use the night before and morning of surgery and this is actually happening!
I feel bad for him. He said he would feel better if I stayed the night even though he is mostly sleeping. So here I sit. I am exhausted but don't want to bug the nurse for a pillow and blanket....
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In the end it was a good walk all right.
