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Still getting stronger each day and voice slowly coming back. I find sleeping is still hard and I get uncomfortable during the night and wide awake by 5am. Pain levels have dropped, its more of an uncomfortable feeling rather than an intense sharp pain. Finding it tough with knowing I'm gonna...

Best of luck tomorrow! I'm positive you'll not have the same infection issues as me so you should be home in no time!

As Mark said you'll not be allowed to drive for 24 hours afterwards. Some people handle it better than others. I've had 3, 2 needed to be cut short as I couldn't handle the end part (goes further down) the 3rd one I was heavily sedated when my doctor was telling me the bad news I thought he was...

Mine is the breathe in device and you watch the ball go up. I try to do it a few times throughout the day and it gets better each day but lots of room for improvement. My voice still hasn't fully came back so I find talking tiresome and lose my voice easily. I sound like someone who smoked 60 a...

Hey, Based in the UK. When I had my transoesophageal echocardiogram I was already admitted into hospital. My hospital only seemed to do them one day a week unless they had an emergency patient. The different in the chest echocardiogram and transoesophageal echocardiogram is pretty big from my...

Yup! Gave me that on the first day and I couldn’t do it at all. Day 3 and I can do it much better so that’s a good sign at least.

Hey. It’s a kick in the balls to be told I’ll need to stay here 6 weeks. Today is day 3 after surgery and was able to walk about the ward today. Yesterday was tough, I had some delirium which felt crazy. I was convinced everyone wasn’t real including me. Nurses calmed me down and I was...

Operation went well, in a lot of pain though. They found previously live infection on the heart valve so I now need to stay in 6 weeks for antibiotics again to play it safe. Not ideal at all. Christmas in hospital.

From the other side. Still out of it a day later.

Thank you Mark! I'll post an update after surgery! 🙌

Had a chat with my surgeon today. He said he would try to repair the valve first if he thinks it's possible (I don't think it will be and neither did my cardiologist). If he's unsuccessful he will replace it with the on-x valve which again I was surprised about as I was expecting st jude valve...

Just another thought that has been on my mind. I have been reading online around life expectancy with heart valve replacement and I keep seeing 12-15 years post surgery. This doesn't seem to make much sense to me as there are people who have had a mechanical valve for 20/30 years (even longer...

Hi Gail, This is what I try to tell myself, no point thinking what if it was caught sooner as it may have had no impact on the damage to the valve. It was actually the dead vegetation that broke off the valve that caused the hole, so it really did feel like a matter of time before it was going...

It's not routinely used here it seems. I believe some people will be advised to have antibiotics for me it was only after I had endocarditis which seems odd. My infection didn't come from the dentist as I didn't see them or have any issues around the time I was unwell and before I become unwell...

I have my surgery on the 23rd :eek: I will make sure to post an update when I'm not too high on pain relief. This time next week it will be over and recover starts. Thank you to everyone who have messaged me! It has helped me relax and I'm sure I will be reading this forum non stop for the...

I wasn't even given the option for this but after reading into it I think mechanical is best option in order to avoid future OHS. I'm sure you're happy to have it now especially if warfarin isn't worth worrying about. I will need to invest in one of those testing machines, I know I will worry...

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear you're doing well now. I think its hard for me to picture myself in the first weeks depending on others to cook, clean and basically things I have taken for granted. I hope to make a quick recovery but won't push myself over my limits.

When I rang my dentist to explain what had happened about the endocarditis and needing to take amoxicillin she pushed back and started to claim I didn't need to do that and it wasn't fair that dentist get the blame for infection. I honesty couldn't believe it, she quickly changed her mind when I...

I will play it safe and get this for any shenanigans

Hi Andy, Thanks for the reply! Always good to see someone who's been through the NHS talk about their experience. I have been in hospital a total of 9 1/2 weeks this year and COUNTING 😭. (7 weeks in August and the last 2 1/2 weeks) Ear plugs have been the best thing I have taken into hospital...