10 years clicking and ticking

ar bee · Apr 21, 2015

10 years with a mechanical St.Judes "clicker" - heart function normal, ventricle size reduced to normal a few month post surgery, very active

==> I lead a normal life

allow me to share a few thoughts

1. I exercise regularly, always with a Polar HR monitor

2. Doing a fair bit of high altitude trekking (> 5000 meters above sea level) and a lot of mountain biking ('normal' trails, I dont do crazy downhill stuff)

3. Warfarin: The initial 2-3 years I paid a lot of attention to every leaf of cabbage I ate with no apparent stabilisation of the INR, now I avoid the most obvious K-bombs, otherwise I eat and drink what I like. INR fluctuates around 1.9 - 2.5. I have decided to live with that and my cardio is OK with it as well.

4. bleeding: NOT an issue.I do cut myself with the razor, I fall down from the mountain bike every once in a while, etc. besides getting ugly hematomas, I have never "leaked" blood by the liters as some of the unjustified horror stories are suggesting.

5. I do notice however, that wound heeling seems to take longer, but that could also be age-related ?

6. on the lighter side: I attended a TaiChi/meditation course a few years ago. During one lesson we sat in a forest trying to be as calm and quiet as possible. After the exercise the guy who sat next to me said: "hey, your watch ticked so loudly - I could barely concentrate on the meditation" - I smiled...

==> my own experience in a nutshell: be a little bit disciplined pre and post surgery, then a "clicker" is a non-issue

all the best to everybody
ar bee

ottagal · Apr 21, 2015

That is wonderful! Happy 10th! That is a milestone.

dick0236 · Apr 21, 2015

Congratulations on your milestone and I agree with your observations.

pellicle · Apr 21, 2015

Hi

congratulations

ar bee;n855472 said:
2. Doing a fair bit of high altitude trekking (> 5000 meters above sea level) and a lot of mountain biking ('normal' trails, I dont do crazy downhill stuff)

wow! I mean that's Himalaya altitudes ...

3. Warfarin: The initial 2-3 years I paid a lot of attention to every leaf of cabbage I ate with no apparent stabilisation of the INR, now I avoid the most obvious K-bombs, otherwise I eat and drink what I like. INR fluctuates around 1.9 - 2.5. I have decided to live with that and my cardio is OK with it as well.

that's about where I am too ... if it makes you feel better I read recently about StJudes that a study group in Europe (the GELIA study) found that 2 was ok:

As > 90% of INR measurements during the entire follow-up period were within the therapeutic range of INR 2.0 to 4.5, which is the lowest erratic INR ever published, we conclude that low-intensity anticoagulation with a target INR of 2.0 to 3.5 is safe for patients with SJM prostheses in the aortic position as well as the mitral position.

here's to 10 more years to ya! (raises glass)