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See below for my response to a similar question asked in 2019. Hope this helps! "My daughter has an On-X mitral valve and was told there was no problem with an MRI due to the valve. However, she has abandoned pacemaker wires/leads from that surgery (they originally thought she would need a...

I just wanted to share an interesting elevated INR experience in case it could prove helpful for others. On June 21, my 19 year old daughter who has an On-X mitral valve became very sick with a gastrointestinal virus. Interestingly, we know the exact virus because her sister had been very ill...

Jackie, a quick thought popped into my head when I read your situation. I would ask your cardiologist to do complete blood work and specifically check your reticulocyte count to see if there is evidence of hemolytic anemia, which could possibly be causing your symptoms. What you are...

Hemolysis is uncommon after mitral valve repair, but when it does occur, there is speculation that the regurgitant jet striking the annuloplasty ring might be the mechanism by which the hemolysis occurs. While there are many medical journal articles that discuss this, I'll just include links to...

Your blood results are exactly what she experienced. The surgeon did not use an annuloplasty ring when he performed her mitral valve repair. Apparently, I believe the use of the ring is implicated in blood shearing, so the fact that she developed hemolytic anemia in the absence of any such...

If I recall correctly from 2011, I'm pretty sure I remember the hematologist telling me that taking iron won't really address the issue. My daughter ended up having regular transfusions (every 3-7 days) for a couple of months until she achieved what was termed a state of 'compensated hemolytic...

In 2011 my 6 year old daughter had a mitral valve repair done, and as a result of the repair, developed hemolytic anemia. The repair actually caused the shearing of her red blood cells which led to the anemia. You mentioned your lactate hydrogenase was 1660; my daughter's got as high as 2410...

Initially, the idea of my child being on warfarin for the rest of her life terrified me, but she's been on it for eight years now and I can honestly tell you that apart from a few confusing fluctuations in her INR over the years, the only time I ever really think about warfarin is when she takes...

I'm the mom @pellicle mentioned above. My youngest daughter is 17 now, and she received a mechanical mitral valve when she was 9 years old. Like your daughter, she had her first OHS shortly after birth. My daughter has never participated in any contact sports, but she also never expressed any...

If you are looking at Mass General, I would recommend Duke Cameron. He was formerly at Johns Hopkins, where he performed my daughter's mitral valve repair when she was six years old and then her mitral valve replacement surgery when she was nine. In addition to being a very fine surgeon, he...

The lovenox does not have to be a belly injection; it can also be given in the thigh or even the arm, I believe. Several years ago, my daughter had to bridge with lovenox twice a day for several weeks, and I gave her the shot in her thigh, alternating thighs each time. It is known to be a...

I have been helped a great deal by this forum since my daughter received her mechanical valve seven years ago when she was nine years old. But to be honest, if this thread had been the first one I read, I don't know if I would have ever returned. Whatever happened to civility and the ability...

My daughter received a mitral valve replacement when she was nine years old. Six weeks post-op I noticed what looked like a large whitehead at the top of her incision site. I was worried about MRSA, so I took her to the pediatrician who lanced it and had it cultured. Thankfully, it was negative...

Thanks for the info, pellicle. I always call in her results to clinic, so the nurse gave the following advice, with which I concurred: The day she tested 4.4, I reduced her wafarin from 6 mg to 1 mg. I reduced the next night's dose from 6 mg to 5mg. I will keep tonight's dose at the usual 5 mg...

I am currently dealing with this exact issue with my daughter. For several years she had been taking warfarin manufactured by Taro, and our pharmacy recently switched brands to Teva. My daughter's range for her On-x mitral valve is 2.5-3.5 (though her cardiologist prefers she stay in the 2.5-3.0...

Indeed, though I test my daughter at home weekly, I call in her results to her clinic. One of the nurses who ran the clinic several years ago told me that a large numbers of patients fail to test regularly, and they'd even had one patient had an INR of 18 and suffered no ill effects from it.

Hi, Mark, I'm from Maryland as well, and my now 16 year old daughter had her second and third OHS at Johns Hopkins (mitral valve repair in 2011 and mitral valve replacement in 2014). You might know her surgeon who has since left Hopkins. I know pediatric cardiac surgery is separate from adult...

Hi, Lynn, I'm mom to a 16 year old daughter born with a congenital heart defect, resulting in three open-heart surgeries (3 weeks of age, 6 years, and 9 years). She has been on warfarin since she received a mechanical mitral valve at the age of 9. I had heard so many horror stories about...

Newarrior, I've read a number of your posts, and it seems that you tend to hyperfocus on your woes, miseries, and sorrows. Such a tendency can often be a form of excessive self-indulgence which can only be destructive. It becomes a sort of gnawing worm from which there is no relief. In all...

Indeed, Pellicle's perspective is spot on. My mother, who passed away in 2015, was a heavy smoker for 40 years, and finally quit cold turkey back in the early 1990s. I have her entire medical file from the time she was in her early twenties until she was in her 70s, which gives me an unusually...