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Age 56, opted for a tissue valve during OHS last month. 2 separate surgeons characterized it as "based on present technology, you can expect to get 10-15 years from this valve and 10 from the next one, both with TAVR. However, the likelyhood that we'll still be using the same tech 20 years...

Fair point. Apologies to all for getting us so far off topic.

" I understand the Senate, giving small population states equal representation, " Why? Why are arbitrary lines drawn on a map meaningful as a way to determine representation? It's a notion smuggled in with the heritage of landholding as the primary political unit. It's also a time function -...

" but if the founding fathers knew this was what would happen I am pretty sure they may have put some addiotnal restrictions and safe guards in place. " Not so sure about this. Even given the mythology that the FF's were hugely enlightened personalities, they still restricted eligibility to...

No patent on exhausted, resigned indifference, so go for it.

You're correct, and we have no way of knowing how much of their misunderstanding was them nurturing their deliberate ignorance. Nonetheless, I'm out of compassion. A better person wouldn't be, but I'm not that person right now.

At this point, it's hard to care.

I've pretty much bailed out on this thread, but wanted to dip back in for some observations. The market is beginning to make its preferences known. - Kaiser Family Foundation study has indicated that major insurers are ending waivers on out-of-pocket Covid treatments. - I need to be somewhat...

Well done. Congratulations. "250 pound opponents newly minted blue belts who might will put a knee on my chest and [because they just learned it], yes, that can happen in BJJ. lol" FIFY

Closing the loop on this so the info is out there if anyone wants it. Areas that received enough interactions that a tattoo would be disturbed, or may present skin of less than optimal suitability for tattoos in the future: - sternum for everyone doing OHS - high belly right below the rib...

Thanks to all for your good wishes. Surgery has been completed and I'm back home. Surgery was somewhat uneventful. They used a 27 mm porcine valve [edit: Correction - it was a bovine valve], indicating that the size would make it likely that I can use TAVR for the (probably) 2 subsequent...

Did you not see Blade?

Ran across this: DEFINE_ME I'm pretty weak on some basic bio, but I think the article seems to indicate that you could possibly use T-cell reaction to target imutable portions of SARS, thereby not needing a perfect match to be effective for the variants. Like lots of difficult problems, it...

Thanks to all. Was talking w/ my wife today and realized that at this point, I have more anxiety about the shoulder replacement, whenever it happens, than I do about the valve replacement.

Some updates/thoughts. Surgery is Monday, and I wanted to comment on the Bio/Mechanical valve decision. Up until earlier this week, I was 100% sold on mechanical, on the grounds that I'm 56 and fewer surgeries during a lifetime is better than more surgeries. Things have changed a bit, and I'm...

Country-wide, employers only pick up about 2/3rds of an employee's health care premiums, so some of the costs will trickle down. My guess is that the modern legal environment will mean that private insurance companies won't charge higher rates for non-vaxxers, they'll offer discounts for...

My crackpot theory? It's like tugging on the thread of a sweater. Once you acknowledge that you have a responsibility to care for people who aren't like you, who are suffering from circumstances not under their control, so much of the rest of a particular political philosophy (and personal...

Alternately, if you really want to see people get big mad, start calling anti-vaxxers "pro-choice" and pro-vaxxers "pro-life".

On the rare occassions that I've been involved w/ F2F discussions like this, I've found that a useful phrase is "What would it take to change your mind?" ie, what kind of evidence, or who would you need to hear from, or what experience would you have that might change your mind? It's a...

FWIW, if you're in a MM state, you can get effective CBD gummies for pain control w/o the addition of THC. There's *some* data that THC interacts badly w/ warfarin, but it's a touch thin/contradictory. I hate being groggy from meds, and the CBD seems to control pain w/o any sense of being...