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Just a quick update. I'm still kickin', and got out to play competitive indoor beach volleyball with the 20-somethings and 30-somethings 12 times this winter! :-) That's a lot more than in the previous 2 winters, mostly because my right shoulder (injured in a bicycle fall) has largely recovered...

First: I'm guessing that several of you noticed that there's a new cartoon film that swiped my long-time handle "Norm of the North"!! I'm getting WAY too many notifications from Twitter when people get confused and mention normofthenorth (me) when they either mean #NormOfTheNorth or @NormOfNorth...

And I have a similar continuing surprises with my Medtronic pig valve, 3+ years after my AVR. The good news in my case (and maybe in yours, too) is that I was still playing all-out competitive volleyball with LOTS of that natural-valve stenosis, so I can be pretty sure that my pressure-gradients...

Greg, that's not funny! ;-)

Tori, most experienced HVR surgeons have lots of stories about super-active patients whose AVs were so deteriorated the surgeons marveled that they survived the trip to the hospital. My fancy and experienced surgeon told me (maybe pre-op) about a woman who'd scheduled her AVR for the day after a...

The ATS is famous for being quiet. And there are some lively threads here debating its other characteristics vs those of the On-X. One of the threads has a title like "the truth is out there". It's a fine valve. (They both are.)

My contact-sports-with-Coumadin experience was with downhill skiing (a week at Whistler), not ice hockey. It's all on my long blog, search for "Norm's Story So Far. . ." and you'll find it. Tissue valve, on a moderate INR (2.5-ish?) for 3 months, had a scheduled ski trip in there. (I was also on...

And I passed my 2-year valviversary a month ago. Still with the hyper-competitive volleyball twice a week (though more like 1x/week during these holidays). So far, I'm way more concerned about my "trick" right knee than my heart valve. In fact, with my somewhat erratic ball-handling skills, I...

It isn't clear to me exactly where a typical VR.org person -- e.g., a BAVer like me -- fits into this study. Is a (congenitally) Bicuspid Aortic Valve considered CHD = Congenital Heart Disease/Defect? I don't think we'd be considered CHDers by the authors of the study. If we were, we'd mostly be...

+1 to ElectLive's post from me, too. And before we leave the statistics debate, I think the truth is much simpler than has emerged so far, with some truth on both sides. Here goes: If there's a 4% annual chance of something happening, all else equal, the statistical EXPECTATION is that a...

We've had a number of people strongly regret their valve choice post-op, and in both directions. A very small minority for sure. Most of us are so relieved to have a solid working valve, and have mostly made peace with our decision, that the downsides of either choice doesn't drive us nuts. A...

I'm with Guyswell: If seeing a cardiologist 2x/yr instead of once will make you feel less CRAAAZY, it's a bargain for you and for the medical system, whether or not there's a good cardiological reason for it. (There apparently isn't.) Other than that, I'd say find a hobby (or job) that you're...

Oh the joys of having some serious symptoms before the HVR! It took me about a year post-op to feel better than I did pre-op -- mostly because I felt so good pre-op.

I had a blood infection a few months ago (not BE, thank heaven!), and the Docs wanted me to go on Cipro (ciprofloxacin) antibiotic, which tested well against the culture. (I assume you're talking about Cipro, since I couldn't find a "ciprio" drug with a quick Google search.) I refused and went...

I was on Warfarin and Metoprolol (2 x 12.5 mg/d? twice that? My "Norm's Story..." post remembers, me Not So Much) for 3 months post-AVR. The Warfarin was initially to keep me safe from clots from my MV repair, then I had a couple of bouts of AFib, and both drugs are indicated for that. At 3...

It's been a while since I've updated this "blog", mostly because there hasn't been much exciting news. I did get a blood infection (1 or 2 months ago, from a UTI) that made me nervous about BE, which I posted about elsewhere on this site. My cold-weather competitive volleyball obsession gave...

Two quick responses: 1) Re Guyswell's I don't think that's strictly true, at least within the age range we're talking about (59, 69 and even 79). What is true is that "co-morbidities" -- other health conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure or arrhythmias or CHD etc. -- many of which are...

There was a study done at Duke or maybe UNC that estimated that something like 40% of OHS patients felt that they had experienced some significant mental impairment, aka "pump-head". My info indicates that most of it is due to drugs rather than the bypass. In my long "Norm's Story. . ."...

Congrats, Thanks, WOW, and Keep on Keepin' On!

I'm with lionheart and lyn and most of the others. I was only on Coumadin for 3 months post-AVR (tissue) because of my MV repair (and maybe the "tuck" on my Aortic Root). During that period (~8 weeks post-op) I spent a week downhill skiing in Whistler. Before I went, I asked my GP, my surgeon...