Search results

57 years! I'll take it! That will get me to 93! His actual words were that the valve would probably last forever, but the general thinking is 25 years, due to complications such as pannus or leaks around the sewing ring. Of course some people need one within a few years and skew the...

I rejoined this site after many years away (I was Lisa in Katy then, but I don't live in Katy anymore) and finally see some more names I recognize - Cooker and RobThatsMe! Glad you both are well. I'm 26 years out and have had zero issues. I remember when I asked before my surgery how long the...

I work for a large hospital system that does many, many transplants every year. One of the transplants they do is CAR-T, an extremely expensive, potentially lifesaving infusion, for people with certain types of cancer who have already been through chemo and/or radiation, and bone marrow...

https://myheart.net/articles/transcatheter-mitral-valve-in-ring-procedure-tmvir/ Have you seen this article? Looks like they've been doing the procedure for at least 6 years. I'd find a surgeon who has done several of them and get another opinion on whether or not the clinical study is right...

Since the mitral valve is inside the heart, they have to make an incision into the left atrium to get to it with OHS. They sew it closed once the new valve is in place. I'm not understanding why that would be needed for TMVR. Don't they go directly through the vein that it will be placed in?

Are you saying the surgeon has never done a TMVR or hasn't done one with this particular valve? If the former, I'd find a different surgeon. If the latter, I'd just make sure the surgeon had done at least a few with that valve.

I had endocarditis with rheumatic fever in 1976. Until about 1986, I took prophylactic antibiotics daily because that's how they treated patients who'd had rheumatic fever. Then the thinking changed and I stopped. Since then, I've taken antibiotics every single time I've gone to the dentist...

Now that you mention it, it may have been for 3 months. It was about 10-15 years ago, so I don't remember exactly! I do have auto-immune issues, knew that from Rheumatic Fever, which is what damaged my heart, and I've had others since then. I hope it zaps it this time and you don't get it...

I've never had any issues with it, but never need to take it for long. I think it was 10 days the first time I took it and when I have recurrences, I take it until the symptoms go away, usually no more than 3-5 days.

It may be the same, but with the mitral valve, you'll feel it more on the left side because that's where it's located. When mine was still bad, I couldn't lie on my left side at all because it caused pressure on my already enlarged heart and the valve would struggle to keep up.

Mitral valve?

I agree. When I was about 30, I signed up for a dental HMO through my job. I'd never had any issues so figured "free" dental care would be fine. I went to the dentist for a routine cleaning and he said I had significant periodontal disease and needed extra cleaning, periodontal scaling, and...

In most cases, it wouldn't be insurance money because insurance companies typically pay for two cleanings a year. Extra would be money out of your pocket. I go twice a year. My dentist has never suggested otherwise.

That's kind of interesting. Are you eating a lot more soy/tofu than you did before? People always think about leafy greens and vegetables when they think about Vitamin K, but even though spinach has a lot of Vitamin K, it's measured per 100 g, and that's over 3 cups, so most people don't eat...

I've never noticed that any food affects my INR much and I eat lots of vegetables of all kinds. I don't eat kale because I think it tastes like dried leaves, but I do eat plenty of spinach. The one thing that does affect my INR is alcohol. I typically average fewer than 1 drink a week, but if...

Glad for the good news, though cancer is scary even if it's a "good" cancer. Praying for clear margins and no need for radiation or chemo. The short answer to the low INR is that Lovenox doesn't affect the INR, nor does Heparin or the newer anticoagulants. As far as I know, Warfarin is the...

Eva, how did the biopsy go? Keeping my fingers crossed for a negative result.

Makes me wonder if this was related to my recurrences, but then again, as mentioned earlier, I'm prone to autoimmune issues so hard to say. Colchicine wasn't even on the market yet in 1998, so Vioxx was my miracle drug that got me off Prednisone, even though it was later removed from the market.

I have/had a few different autoimmune issues so am prone to others.

Yes, it's definitely one of those meds, like Warfarin, that you have to weigh the benefits and risks. Other than that 9 month period, I was also on it when I had Rheumatic Fever for about 3-4 months and I've been on the Medrol packs a handful of times for bronchitis. I had a pretty significant...