As you may know, I was told a year ago that my 32-yr old Mitral mechanical valve was going south. I was even shoved out the door by my local cardiologist & sent to Houston in June/2007 to have the surgery done but once there, I refused to have the operation basically, I "chickened" out! 
This would have been my 4th OHS.
So the doctors put me on a higher dose of Lasix, from 40mg per day to 160mg a day to be taken along w/all my other meds. The cardio here has monitored me very closely, doing an ECHO every six months & seeing me every 2 or 3 months. And considering all, I have been doing okay & I am still able to do the normal things around the house; still able to go out, do my shopping, go out to dinner, etc. I cannot however, do any strenous exercising or other strenous chores & I've been very careful w/that & have followed my doctor's orders!
Well, right before Bill & I left for our vacation a few weeks ago, I had to go get a folder from my cardiologist that he wanted me to take w/me in case something were to happen while on vacation. While there, I just said, "maybe when we come back from our trip, we can talk about doing that 4th OHS" to which he replied, "honey, the doctors don't want to operate on you!" I was dumfounded! I just said, "so, what will I do?" And he just looked at me & kind of shrugged his shoulders & said, "we'll see!"
So today, I have to go get the results on an ECHO he did in his office last Monday & I plan to talk to him in depth about this. Also, when his tech was doing the ECHO, she kept grimacing & shaking her head. I didn't say anything but it left me worried & wondering if things haven't gotten worse!
Anyway, just thought I'd run that by you all. I will let you know what he says to me today. Thanks for listening!
This would have been my 4th OHS.So the doctors put me on a higher dose of Lasix, from 40mg per day to 160mg a day to be taken along w/all my other meds. The cardio here has monitored me very closely, doing an ECHO every six months & seeing me every 2 or 3 months. And considering all, I have been doing okay & I am still able to do the normal things around the house; still able to go out, do my shopping, go out to dinner, etc. I cannot however, do any strenous exercising or other strenous chores & I've been very careful w/that & have followed my doctor's orders!
Well, right before Bill & I left for our vacation a few weeks ago, I had to go get a folder from my cardiologist that he wanted me to take w/me in case something were to happen while on vacation. While there, I just said, "maybe when we come back from our trip, we can talk about doing that 4th OHS" to which he replied, "honey, the doctors don't want to operate on you!" I was dumfounded! I just said, "so, what will I do?" And he just looked at me & kind of shrugged his shoulders & said, "we'll see!"
So today, I have to go get the results on an ECHO he did in his office last Monday & I plan to talk to him in depth about this. Also, when his tech was doing the ECHO, she kept grimacing & shaking her head. I didn't say anything but it left me worried & wondering if things haven't gotten worse!
Anyway, just thought I'd run that by you all. I will let you know what he says to me today. Thanks for listening!
