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He was only 4years old at the time and his body mounted a strong immune response against the valve. It went from 16 mm to 4 mm in one year. They placed a stent to give us a little more time.

My son, aged 19, has a Hancock II (porcine) in the pulmonary position. It’s worked out nicely as compared to the homograft that only lasted two years. Best wishes on your new valve.

I forwarded your video to my son. Thanks again for the tip. I never thought of doing that and none of his providers suggested it either. Makes sense though

That is a good reminder. We have had some issues with lancets and getting a large enough sample in a short amount of time. Now that my son is home from college, I can observe his technique more closely. We switched to the self contained lancets as opposed to the pen and that has helped him...

We use the Coagucheck and previously used the INRatio. I like the Coagucheck better but home INR, while convenient, is not without difficulties. Manufacturers claim that up to a 30%difference between lab and home monitor results is still considered correlated. 30% is a huge difference but...

Welcome and so sorry that you are going through this. I am not a patient but the parent of a 19 year old with 2 prosthetic valves, one of which is a mechanical valve in the mitral position. Most would suggest that you go forward with the surgery while you are healthy as there is more...

I have checked with the American College of Cardiology whom have stated that Pannus across the mitral valve cannot be excised in the cath lab. Do you know of a place where they are doing that?

Wow…you weren’t exaggerating. That is an extensive history. Have you been to several programs or do you use one specific hospital program? Also, how are you doing now?

Thank you for the resources. Here’s a rundown of his interventions keeping in mind that he was born in 2002: 2003: AV canal repair and pulmonary valve removal 2007: Mitral valve replacement with St Jude 23mm and pulmonary valve replacement with homograft 2009: pulmonary valve replaced with...

Do you mind sharing your surgical history?

My son is a 4 timer and his scar looks a lot like yours

My son is 19 with a mechanical valve. He’s had one for the past 15 years and it is a conversation starter sometimes. His doesn’t bother him and can only be heard when it’s very quiet. I do hope things improve for you as you get accustomed to this new device. I believe you’ll find that others...

Interesting that you bring up the OnX. That was supposed to be the valve they would implant back in 2018 due to the INR therapeutic range being a bit lower. For some reason they couldn’t manage to get it in place and had to revert back to a St Jude. I didn’t know there was another benefit...

Hello and thank you for responding. I am in the mid-Atlantic region of the US. My son goes to an Adult Congenital Heart clinic. His first St Jude was implanted when he was 4 years old and lasted 11 years. It was still a good size for my son but there was tissue growth impeding flood flow...

Hello folks, I‘m not actually new here but it’s been many years since I’ve been on this site. I’m the parent of a 19 year old with 2 prosthetic valves (pulmonary and mitral). He’s had 4 OHS, the most recent in 2018. I came back to this site as it has become clear that the St Jude’s mechanical...