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You're gonna be great! Especially if you're already active and fit. During my time in ICU, I began asking to walk extra laps. I walked out of the hospital five days after surgery the same door I walked in, and began adding distance every day. Bottom line is that your heart is going to be so much...

I'm sure a lot of the folks on the forums here will agree with me on these points. My aortic valve regurgitation was discovered in a routine end-of-year checkup by my primary care physician, who immediately sent me down the hall for an EKG. Within a week there were ultrasounds, CT scans, an...

This Tuesday will mark six months for me with the Inspiris Resilia at the recommendation of my cardiologist and surgeon. I am 38 (was 37 at the time), and had pretty much made up my mind to go mechanical after spending time on this forum. But the surgeon said – his words, mind you – "You'd be...

You're gonna do great! And if nothing else, I was so fascinated by the whole process (I'd never had so much as a broken bone before) that I let my interest and learning about the body's healing process guide me. Every day was another step. I'm now five months out and that's STILL the case! And...

They had me up and walking early on day two. I actually asked them for extra walks. Once I was up it was easy going, but sitting in the chair all day was awful. I'd slide down slowly over the course of an hour or two and lack the core strength to scoot myself back up, not to mention the pain...

I had this same thing happen about four weeks out. They call it spitting a stitch. My insurance company had cut off my at home nurses (of course), so I was relying on a doctor friend for advice. That and the internet. It cleared up on its own within a couple days. Curious how yours fared.

I'm six weeks post op and try to get a few miles in a day. Like @wakedeac I'm young (37) and was asymptomatic before the surgery; my doctor heard a murmur during a routine check up, and a month later I was under the knife. I think you'll see great progress between weeks two and four, and from...

Wow. I had no idea. I'm from Wisconsin, so that's a fun bit of trivia.

This is very much my line of thinking, too, Pat. If surgeries down the road are avoidable, that's the goal. And I'm not too intimidated by warfarin after reading so many testimonials from folks on these forums. Glad to hear you're recovering so quickly and still able to enjoy a few cold ones.

Yeah, I have another couple days of reading and research and the fine folks on this site before I make the game day decision. I believe his determining factor is my age; at 37, he predicts I'd be facing a replacement decades down the line with no choice but another OHS.

The latest: had a talk with my cardiologist this afternoon who said if it was him, he'd lean tissue, as the new tissue valves have increased longevity and he's confident the replacement I will eventually need can be done transcatheter. He's also pretty confident if I went mechanical I would need...

Thank you for sharing your experience. It's heartening that everyone has the same thing to say about life on warfarin: basically that it's no big deal.

This is very helpful information! Since you're coming up on a decade with your valve, how often do you see your cardiologist for a check-in? Yearly ultrasound? Are they ever vigilant for the presence of possible clots? Thank you!

O CANADA!!

Thanks, guys! The surgeon said that ten years ago, he would never suggest a tissue valve to someone my age, but the technology should make things easier in the future. But I've also read from some folks on here that said technology was promised them and didn't catch up in time. The thought of...

Hi, guys. This site has already helped me feel a bit better about The Big Crack, coming up in just six days. Here's my deal (and plea for advice): My cardiologist and surgeon are split on whether I had a hidden congenital defect that suddenly went haywire or if I had some mystery infection I...