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Canada has a ridiculous amount of 'hidden taxes'. Compare the cost of vehicles or fuel to that of the US. My test strips cost double what I would pay 20 miles across the border. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canadian-car-buyers-blocked-from-cheaper-u-s-prices-1.2435299

Great news, cldlhd. What had initially caused your left ventricle to increase a bit in size?

Canadian health care is tax funded and not free by any means. And on top of very high taxes, in BC there is a government based monthly medical services plan fee (I pay around $70/mo, families pay much more).

Great news Anne.

Excellent news Julien. You are making great progress. You have a valve with a great track record.

How were you able to have this verified? In the case of surgical error, where the sutures come loose (as noted in another patient), I can only imagine that an exposed, relatively fresh wound could be a breeding ground for bacteria.

Thanks for the recommendations, Anthony. I have followed your blog since undergoing AVR myself last year. Is it possible your BE was caused by the sutures coming loose (thereby infecting the surgical area)? I have heard of another case of someone locally who also received an OnX aortic valve...

Good choice...once I got my head around needing surgery, mechanical was the only option for me.

The recovery is an active process. As I slowly started pushing against the discomfort, I started seeing improvements.

I spent the night with a woman last week...she thought the ticking was my watch...

The subject of hypertrophy is complex and ill understood (particularly by the medical community). Different types of training for instance produce different types of hypertrophy. As an extension, I think it is safe to say that the mechanisms of a failing heart also produce a different effect...

The context I've most often seen for heart remodellng are the changes in response to pathology (as opposed to healthy adaption to exercise). A regurgitating aortic valve that causes a blood volume overload that dilates the left ventricular. Or ventricular hypertrophy from a pressure overload...

Harriet, I had a boat load of medications post surgery that I went home with (Lasix, Ace Inhibitor, Beta Blocker, Warfarin). I'm only taking Warfarin now (if I don't have fish oil I take around 3mg/day). You are in about the most challenging phase...you have to keep on fighting, and know that...

In the week before surgery...150 over around 65 (not resting)...high pulse pressure. The first time I had noticed something awry, my diastolic was in the 30s suddenly. People said they had never felt a stronger pulse. Before I was running into issues, non resting 130 over 80. In the month...

That's fantastic Harriet. The pleural effusions will be gone and your recovery will be in high gear.

Heres my take post op...stationery bike with some intervals. I skipped the cardio rehab. Weight training for your legs asap. Consider taurine, carnitine, arginine, d ribose supplementation.

Good start and I agree w the direction. As mentioned, I got the on-x ascending aortic valve prosthesis.

Congratulations Harriet! As you gather more information, your surgeons' logic will become more clear.

I had a new found restraint when I was evicting a tenant from my rental condo the other week.

"The data suggest that careful control of the INR, already known to limit the risk of warfarin-related ICH (intracerebral hemorrhage), may also limit its severity." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15111374