Date for surgery

[JulienDu]

In the ward with a sore bum and chest. Valve ticking almost feels like thumping. There was slight complications where I lost more blood than average.

Hey I'd rather have sore bum for this reason than for other reasons haha

Congratulations ! Let us know how you recover

 

[zee112]

Just a quick update to let you guys know that I've been discharged from the hospital after 6 days . I'm having another appointment in two days time at the hospital for an inr check, and five days time to review the progress of my scars .

 

[JulienDu]

Just a quick update to let you guys know that I've been discharged from the hospital after 6 days . I'm having another appointment in two days time at the hospital for an inr check, and five days time to review the progress of my scars .

Perfect, you must be happy. Good that they insist on seeing you to check you scar. What kind of Terminator are you ? A St Jude, Onyx, Carbomedic or ATS ?

 

[zee112]

I was told by a cardiologist who did a ward round that a 'St Jude's composite valve' was used which is a valve and graft in one. Not sure if that means the valve piece is a regent? The valve size was 27mm. Don't even know how big they get :Face-Plain:.

 

[JulienDu]

Should be a Regent and 27 seems to be a nice big valve if you look at their chart : https://professional.sjm.com/product...ent#tech-specs

St Jude will normally send you a Card with the identification of the valve on it and some additional informations.

 

[honeybunny]

Welcome to the other side! Hope you're resting comfortably. Just take it a day at a time.

 

[zee112]

Thank you all for your warm messages Now begins the healing and INR management!

 

[epstns]

Yes, do be sure to heal well! Kidding aside, don't panic if it takes a while to stabilize your INR. I'm not currently taking warfarin (having a tissue valve) but I did take it for the first 3 months post-op as preventive medicine, and it took all of those first 3 months to stabilize my INR. Most patients can get it set sooner, but I had lots of complications early on. So, don't panic.

You will get a lot of advice about how to properly recover from valve surgery. One of the best ideas is to "listen" to your body and don't panic if things seem to be going slowly. My recovery went very slowly for the first few months, but soon enough I was flying along the recovery path and having a great time of it.

Welcome to "The other side of the mountain." Come on back and keep us posted. Ask all the questions you want. No matter what is happening, somebody here has probably been there already and will be happy to share their experience.

 

[harrietW]

Zee112 so nice to hear you are doing well and welcome to the otherside. As l am sure you have found plenty of rest is really the key to a successful recovery. Congratulations l look forward to reading more Xx

 

[harrietW]

Zee112 so nice to hear you are doing well and welcome to the otherside. As l am sure you have found plenty of rest is really the key to a successful recovery. Congratulations l look forward to reading more Xx

 

[harrietW]

Zee112 so nice to hear you are doing well and welcome to the otherside. As l am sure you have found plenty of rest is really the key to a successful recovery. Congratulations l look forward to reading more Xx

 

[harrietW]

Zee112 so nice to hear you are doing well and welcome to the otherside. As l am sure you have found plenty of rest is really the key to a successful recovery. Congratulations l look forward to reading more Xx

 

[zee112]

The only thing that does concern me, Is how prominent my heart beat now is. I can see the depth of the heartbeat if that makes sense? And were anyone's heartbeats faster post op and slowed down eventually?

 

[pellicle]

Hi

The only thing that does concern me, Is how prominent my heart beat now is. I can see the depth of the heartbeat if that makes sense? And were anyone's heartbeats faster post op and slowed down eventually?

mine was regularly 90's just sitting around and would occasionally go up to 120.

some posts (and threads) where I (and others) discuss it and solutions.

http://www.valvereplacement.org/for...11-2-years-and-frustrated?p=857160#post857160

http://www.valvereplacement.org/for...-heart-resting-heart-rate?p=859774#post859774

give it time, you've just had a massive injury, it will heal and be better, but it takes time.

My resting rate is now about 63

 

[JulienDu]

The only thing that does concern me, Is how prominent my heart beat now is. I can see the depth of the heartbeat if that makes sense? And were anyone's heartbeats faster post op and slowed down eventually?

Oh Yeah man no worry, mine was super fast, it was crazy. It will go back to normal. Doc were much more worry about a slow HR after OHS than a fast one. I did not do anything special to fix that. As Pellicle said, you have had a mass injury so your whole body is working hard to fix that.

Once your HR goes back to normal you might feel some sort of palpitations too. I had that, it did worry me a bit, but it was nothing and now it is gone. Cardio told me it is an adaptation of the heart and even a normal person has palpitations, it is just that with a mech valve you notice it more.

 

[harrietW]

Very very loud mine is drives me insane even at 3.5 mths post of. Although mine is very loud my BP is very low .. but then it goes on a run and becomes very spiratic racing stopping starting .. at night it gets soooo loud it is distracting to the TV and many night keeps me awake.
I wore a Holter monitor last week which was pretty uneventful but will get the result of that on Thursday.
They tell me it quiets down ... Waiting

 

[Paleowoman]

Mine was very loud post surgery. It was explained to me that it's because of the new valve as the old bicuspid stenotic one doesn't close nice and sharply like the new one so we hear the difference, plus the heart adjusts to it. It also takes the brain a while to get used to a new noise in the body. The noise of the heart beat gets less as we get used to it. A baby takes several months to get used to his or her own body's sounds - I've no idea how they know that, but a doctor told me that.

Mind you, the murmur from my new valve is exceptionally loud - it was described to me as a "stonking loud murmur" by a doctor ! It is a flow murmur though, just loud.