Had St. Judes AVR 3-years ago. Things have gone well since the surgery...I feel 10-years younger. 
I had surgery to repair aortic coarctation in 1963 when I was 10-years old at University of Minnesota hospital. Surgeons were some of the pioneers of OHS...Varco and Lillehei. Quite a traumatic experience. I figured I was all set after the surgery...only to hear that my valve would have to be replaced sometime in the next few years. It ended up being 40-years.
I did pretty well for 40-years...doing pretty much anything I wanted to do. But...starting in 2002...I started to have serious troubles. Was tired and becoming short of breath. Medication controlled the symptoms for a year...but by 2003 I was in bad shape. Couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, had severe abdominal pain and couldn't hardly walk across the room. I knew the time had come.
The surgery and recovery were uneventful. An odd coincidence...my surgeon had trained with Dr. Varco at U of Minnesota. Within a matter of weeks...it was obvious that my cardiac function was greatly improved. By 6 to 8 weeks...I was better than I had been in years. I continue to marvel every day over the miracle this surgery has brought to me. One regret is that I did not discover this forum until about a year ago...it would have been helpful to me prior to surgery. But...better late than never.
I had surgery to repair aortic coarctation in 1963 when I was 10-years old at University of Minnesota hospital. Surgeons were some of the pioneers of OHS...Varco and Lillehei. Quite a traumatic experience.
I figured I was all set after the surgery...only to hear that my valve would have to be replaced sometime in the next few years. It ended up being 40-years. I did pretty well for 40-years...doing pretty much anything I wanted to do. But...starting in 2002...I started to have serious troubles. Was tired and becoming short of breath. Medication controlled the symptoms for a year...but by 2003 I was in bad shape. Couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, had severe abdominal pain and couldn't hardly walk across the room. I knew the time had come.
The surgery and recovery were uneventful. An odd coincidence...my surgeon had trained with Dr. Varco at U of Minnesota. Within a matter of weeks...it was obvious that my cardiac function was greatly improved. By 6 to 8 weeks...I was better than I had been in years. I continue to marvel every day over the miracle this surgery has brought to me. One regret is that I did not discover this forum until about a year ago...it would have been helpful to me prior to surgery. But...better late than never.
