54 years..........but who's counting!

[dick0236]

My surgeon told me my valve was tested to last 50 years........I thought it would last 20 years. We were both wrong!

August 16, 1967 - August 16, 2021

Here are a few myths that, in my case, are untrue:
1. Hair loss from warfarin.......not true, still have a full head of brown hair.....but the grey is taking over.
2. Loss of manhood...........not true, but "old age" took care of that.
3. Bleed to death from a shaver scratch......I used a safety razor for many years and survived a million tiny cuts.
4. Artificial valve causes "old age syndrome".....only if you let it.
5. Can't eat or drink my favorites........bull
6. Probably a lot more myths.....but memory escapes me,... after all, I am 85

 

[Beach77]

Wow! So happy for you! You're an inspiration! Happy anniversary! Thank you for sharing your words of wisdom!

 

[Protimenow]

Dick -- apparently YOU'RE counting.

Congratulations (although, like most of us, you didn't have to do anything to maintain your valve).

Number 30 for me is coming up this week.

But, who's counting?

 

[dick0236]

Dick -- apparently YOU'RE counting........

.........Number 30 for me is coming up this week.

.Congrats on your 30 years. Like you, I post my valve b'day to show the new OHS folks that this surgery REALLY works

 

[pellicle]

Congratulations on another cake day.

I well raise a glass of Kentucky cleaning fluid in you name this evening

 

[cldlhd]

Congratulations on another cake day.

I well raise a glass of Kentucky cleaning fluid in you name this evening

Hmmm, I haven't drank any bourbon in awhile, wife is alright with that, but I could be talked into it....

 

[Chuck C]

Congratulations Dick! Thank you for all of your wisdom and inspiration for us young bucks! There are not too many places where 54 would qualify someone as a young buck, but this board is one of them!

 

[Seaton]

Clapping over here in London.
Big congratulations to you! Ever the inspiration.

 

[Lynn]

It really is inspirational for us “Newbies” (or at least this newbie) to read your posts and hear your story Dick. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, your kinda my hero.

 

[Warrick]

Congratulations!!!

 

[vitdoc]

Continued good health and congratulations.

 

[BAVD John]

Dick, congrats on the 54 years with your valve. I wish you many more years of good health. May I ask, back in 1967, what type of valve did they implant in you?

 

[Superman]

Congrats, man. That’s great to keep seeing these updates.

 

[dick0236]

May I ask, back in 1967, what type of valve did they implant in you?

It is a "ball-in-cage" design that was patterned after a patented19th-century "wine bottle cork". It is made of a metal "cage" in which a silicone-rubber "ball" floats up and down with each heartbeat. It was the first commercially available valve (1960) and was in production by the Edwards Lifesciences Co. until 2007 although I don't think it was often used by then. I doubt it would be approved by the FDA today. My understanding is there are still a lot of 40+ years old Starr-Edwards valves like mine that are still "clickin" away. The design is so simple it would be difficult for this valve to wear out........but it did have a reputation for throwing blood clots......altho the only clot causing "stroke" I ever had was due to my own mismanagement of warfarin.

 

[mknuppel]

Thanks for sharing! Congratulations!

 

[Pete81]

Wauw! Congratulations and thanks for being an inspiration! I don’t know how it was for you back then at 31 but I took it pretty hard at 35. Badly In need for some perspective and surgeons and doctors can simply not give that the way you do by sharing this with us. Good stuff, thanks!

 

[bece13]

Congratulations!!! I wish you to get another 54 years out of that valve...

 

[Luckyguy17]

Wow Dick, 54 years of valve service, absolutely fabulous durability, lucky you eh!

Your date of August 16, 1967 is very memorable here as well, as i had a summer job at Expo 67.
Thinking back, the Supremes may have been performing that night.
It was a very long time ago.

 

[BillDaThrill]

Amazing! Keep on ticking (does that design 'tick'?)! What a great example, congrats Dick!

 

[dick0236]

......... Keep on ticking (does that design 'tick'?)!

I'm sure it did "tick" after being implanted......but I nor anyone around me hear it anymore. I think our cat does notice the "soft click"......but she doesn't complain.