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I'm qualified to post on this thread now. I'm a month out from my 3rd valve replacement. Tissue AVR in 2000, mech AVR in 2005 and tissue tricuspid 2024. Tissue aortic valve at 22yo was a bad recommendation, but apparently it was important to a lot of people that I be able to have babies (nobody...

That all sounds really positive - my favourite part is the peace of mind you have gained from having this knowledge about your condition. I got my mechanical aortic valve at 27yo, I've had it 19 years now and it has caused me no problems in that time. I had my tricuspid valve replaced a...

Walking is going well, I have a little treadmill which is handy because I have two rowdy staghounds who can't be trusted to be gentle with me if I go outside. I was never given an incentive spirometer, I had a bubble pep in hospital but they didn't think I'd need it for going home.

Surgery was October 1. It has been a rough ride. Being sternotomy #3 it was always going to be risky, but my surgeon was prepared for every eventuality and she got me through it. I know there were a few opinions going around about my surgeon's plan and her recommendation that I get a tissue...

Lisa, I was very heavily pressured, at 22yo, to have the tissue valve, both by my doctors and by family members who were very keen for me to have children. I was not at any point told that the valve would be under more pressure and more likely to fail if I had pregnancies. I was treated as a...

Thanks all. I've done the therapy thing on five separate occasions over the years. The last time it took me 8 months of referrals and mental health plans to actually get an appointment. There is a huge shortage of therapists where I am, most clinics have at least a three month wait if they are...

I've typed and deleted responses here about five times. I'd love to be able to set aside my emotions.

Yeah... it's like history repeating. The interventional cardiologist who is a tricuspid valve specialist and the surgeon are both of the opinion that a tissue valve is the better option. I made that decision before and regretted it for 25 years. The surgeon said she has never actually put in a...

I haven't been on here for a few months because frankly I wasn't coping with my cardiologist repeatedly telling me he was going to refer me for surgery and then repeatedly not referring me, but things are finally happening. After seven months, follow ups from my GP, repeated phone calls from...

I just called the other big-ish cardiology clinic in my town and asked about wait times and availability. I was told that they book appointments based on urgency but can't action anything without a referral from my GP. Also that they only have one doctor who can see me if I have a pacemaker. I...

Edited highlights - I'm Australian, 46yo, had two AVR surgeries in my 20s (tissue at 22yo, mech at 27yo) Ended up with heart block and a pacemaker after surgery #2 Pacemaker lead interferes with my tricuspid valve, causing a severe leak After 19 years of this the right side of my heart is...

I had a porcine aortic valve put in in 2000. I was 22yo. They told me 15-20 years. It barely lasted 5. Admittedly I had two pregnancies in that time, which are very hard on bioprosthetic valves. Presumably you won't be doing that. But it was very hard going in for the second surgery knowing what...

That was interesting :)

Yeah, the very same man who told me that a bioprosthetic aortic valve would probably last me (a then 22yo) 20 years, by which point we'd probably have less invasive surgery methods...

About 15 years ago my cardiologist proudly announced to me that warfarin would be superseded 'within 5 years'. Not so far, Dr A. Recently we had supply issues with Coumadin due to new packaging. I didn't have any trouble getting it but my GP said she had had to put a lot of her patients who...

This happens to me sometimes... I did some googling and apparently it is anxiety-related dissociation. Which tracks for me. I find that if I lie down and concentrate on deep breathing it goes away, but it used to freak me right out.

Hi all. I've been reading through all my previous posts from the past 17 years that I have been a member here and decided that another post might be a good idea. I am 46yo. I was born with a bicuspid aortic valve and had my first OHS in 2000 at 22yo. Five years later that tissue valve failed...

I'm on 95mg of metoprolol, started on half that. My resting heart rate sits around 58. I also Googled it before I took it and I was a bit freaked out. Apparently because it is fat soluble it can cause neurological issues, and is quite prone to causing hallucinations in elderly patients. I had...

I've just bought a pill box. And a pill splitter. These should improve my dose management. Testing 4-weekly was always the goal that my GPs had. Now that I know better I'll be testing once a week as soon as my meter arrives.

The blister pack is the way the Toprol comes packaged, with the days of the week on the back of the foil. There is one marked 'start here' that you take first, then if the next day is Wednesday you take the tablet marked 'Wednesday' and continue like this until you've used up the whole pack...