8 weeks Post OP - New Homograft AVR - removal of mechanical valve

[arc-weld]

Its been 8 weeks since my St. Jude's AVR was removed due to endocarditis. My new homograft is doing well - or least seems that way.

I have exceeded 1 BILLION units of Penicillin G infusion by IV so far.
A few more million units to go before the infection Dr. pulls the PIC line.:smile2::smile2:

This coming Thursday day I hope to get a heart ecco. This will give us a base line of performance of the Homograft.

Kidneys returned to normal post Gentimicimin [spelling] treatment after 6 weeks. Gent is a wicked antibiotic on the body. It works well but its side effects are harsh.

I have read that reinfection rates are elevated for those who get Endocarditis in the future. My belief was after the mechanical valve was gone, the odds of re-infection were low. This does not seem to be the case.

Anyone have data on re-infection rates of Endocarditis?

 

[Duffey]

I don't have any data, but I did want to offer my best wishes for what seems to be a successful fight against the endocarditis.:smile2:

 

[catwoman]

Good luck on licking the endocarditis and with the gentamycin. I'm not familiar with systemic use, only ophthalmic drops and injectible solution used for nebulizing small critters.

Best advice is for you to google endocarditis, valve and recurring or recurrent.

I would certainly take every precaution to avoid exposure to bacteria of any kind for a while -- use disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizers, perhaps avoid hunting or fishing (based on one google hit that I found).

 

[arc-weld]

PIC line is GONE ... .Hurray!!!! Dr. put me on Amoxicillin 500 Mg - 3 TID for 30 days just incase.
He wants to watch my blood labs before saying we have WON the battle.
Every week for the next four weeks - just to be sure its GONE.

Thursday, its off to the cardiologist for a checkup ...Its the first one post op - 9 weeks out.

As a mechanical AVR patient, I had no clue what Endocarditis could do.
Please educate yourself as the treatment is not just a few pills and all is fine.
If I would have known, I would have taken more precautions and been more careful.

Dentist type activity is not the only watch-out area.
Other type procedures need pre-mediciation treatments.
Check with your Doctor or at least look online for more information.

 

[arc-weld]

FYI... the bills are rolling in at this point - 50 pages with at least 4 items on each page.
The bill is going to way more than a AVR replacement on the first go round.
I'll let everyone know the total when all the bills are processed.

 

[Bina]

Wow, I was just reading through your story and am glad to see that you are winning the fight against the bacteria.
Best wishes moving forward and please keep us posted.

 

[sue943]

I had endocarditis, that caused my problems and I lost two valves. I am treated with kid gloves now as having had it I am high risk of getting it again, and having two mechanical valves puts me at risk. My local hospital won't even let me see a private dentist, I have to have check ups and any dental treatment at the hospital.

When I had endocarditis I was in hospital having gentamicin and benzopenicillin for about five weeks, then on oral amoxillin.

The gentamicin has caused some damage to my hearing.

 

[Mentu]

Thanks for your post. It is awful that you had to experience this type of infection after your first AVR but I, too, am very happy to hear you are on the mend. Your post should help others to realize that living with valve replacement is more complex than we often want to consider. We all need to be aware of the danger and take at least the basic precautions to try to avoid the most obvious sources of infection. Your's is a problem that can occur to any of us whether we have mechanical or tissue valves since the most common site of infection is the sewing ring not the leaflets as indicated in this article from "The Annals Thoracic Surgery (2002)".

http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/74/5/S1781

"....this is probably because the aortic annulus or the sewing ring are usually the primary sites of the infection [9] rather than the valve leaflets."

This paper concludes by reporting "low operative mortality and incidence of recurrent endocarditis....a consequence of prompt operation, aggressive excision of all infected structures, and appropriate postoperative antibiotic therapy."

Other papers also suggest that successful treatment may not leave one at a greatly elevated risk of reinfection. You might look through other papers published in journals such as

Annals of Surgery
The Annals Thoracic Surgery
The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery

and websites such as http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/disorders/valve/sbe.aspx

Larry

 

[sarahsunshine]

My step son was on gentamicin as a newborn prior to getting his first heart valve at 5 months. He had perfect hearing (we think) before that, but has had subsequent hearing loss over the next 4-5 years – he’s now fully deaf in his left ear, and has lost high frequency hearing in his right ear, but his hearing has been stable for the past 7 years. The good news is that hearing aids have evolved almost as quickly as heart surgery, and he now has a hearing aid that can help him in both ears.

I’m glad to hear that it looks like you are winning the battle. Keep up the fight. I don’t know what else you are trying, but I know that some people believe that probiotics (help repopulate your gut bacteria) help to boost your immune system. Check with your doctor if you want to try it.

 

[Gail in Ca]

My infectious disease doc told me that your risk of getting endocarditis again only goes up by a percent. Before endo risk is 1-2%. after having had it risk is 2-3%.
They certainly don't tell us about the nasty effects of the antibiotics on the organs before giving it to us, do they? I think they just want to attack it as fast and assertively as possible, to heck with the problems later on the body! I knew nothing about what gentamycin or vancomycin could do to me! Luckily for me as it turned out, those drugs didn't work on my bacteria, and I was taken off of them and given Nafcillin IV and Rifampin orally after only 14 days, when my blood cultures came back positive.