Did I make the wrong choice?

[samiam]

Well it's nice to know I'm not the only one Mooo'in here. How long does it take for your Sternum to heal? JohnnyV

I'm at 9 weeks or so. I was minimally invasive, which I'll "assume" makes a difference. At 6 weeks, I was able to start sleeping on my side. Most of the pains and twinges disappeared around that time, too.

Every day is a day of improvement, with a few baby steps backward every now and then.

Good Luck!

 

[Emma]

Johnny,
Glad to hear you came through your surgery ok. I don't think you made the wrong decision at all - you made the best one you could based on the knowledge you had and you're alive and here with us now so you ovbiously decided something right!
We had no choice with our daughters mitral replacement - it was mechanical or nothing so we live with the warfarin and deal with the best way we can. We don't find it too much of a problem at all and don't really think about warfarin as too much of a big issue and hopefully we've avoided future surgeries this way, but I'm sure living with no anti-coag meds for more years would feel much the better option to some people.
Good luck with the rest of your recovery!
Love Emma
xxx

 

[JohnnyV_46]

Thanks so much to all of you for your Replies! Eric, I know your surgery will go just fine! I just remembered They gave me a Warranty card with my Valve and I pulled it out of my wallet...lol It's from Edwards Lifesciences LLC.. size 29mm Model 3000TX.

Originally after the Cardiac Catheterization I told my wife I wanted to go home and think about things for awhile. The doctor advised against of it because of the Coronary artery blockage. I'm glad I didn't now...I always sweat dentist appointments, I don't know what I'd have been like waiting for a OH surgery!

Lol, my first big surprise when I first got home, I went up the stairs to the second floor like I'd never had the surgery, just wasn't thinking. I thought my heart was going to blow right out of my chest! I do the stairs now 2 weeks later, but I take them a bit slower and usually only at Bed time.

Kind of tough around here right now, I own my own Carpet Cleaning biz (Job) and I've been having to pass on quite a bit of work/money. My regulars are understanding and said they will wait for me to get back on my feet. Normally my Son in law helps with the biz, but he's in New Orleans with his National Guard unit.

Well I'll try not to be a pest but I do enjoy internet Forums.

I almost forgot the best part! We've been worried about my wife having Mitro Valve Prolapse. She went to her Cardiologist the week after I had my surgery. He says "I should have been treating your Husband!"......lol

 

[Lynlw]

speaking of New Orleas, I was wonderring how many people there w/ mechanical valves are running out of their meds, or even mech or tissues, wading thru that water imagine how many cases of BE will come from that
it is such a shame. I don't know alot of adults w/ heart surgery, but I've been talking to a transplant coordinator in Texas and she said they got a few heart kids transferred from NO, one is a teen ager on biventricular assist device waiting for a new heart since Jan, I can't even imagine being his parents and everything they are going thru, Lyn www.caringbridge.org/nj/justinw

 

[McCln]

The choice for the mechanical valve are for many reasons. It is nice not have to worry about for many years, if possible. The regement for coumadin is easy, the foods are not. But, with care and consistacy, it can be managed well. IT takes time and accounting of meds, which can affect the INR. Mostly, it is usually the younger people, the mechanical valve is chosen, the guarentee is better for younger people. But, not all choose that route. It is a choice between patient and surgeon. That is all I have.

 

[MarkU]

JohnnyV 46

I think you made the right choice. Any choice would have been the right choice--you're still alive.

You're not on warfarin--now that's a good thing.

Cheers

No bad choices if you're still kickin'...

I'd prefer not to be on Coumadin, but it's better than having a stroke or heart attack, so in my case being on Coumadin is a good thing...

Overall, I just feel blessed that I am otherwise healthy and can still pursue an active lifestyle.

Mark

 

[Curtsmum]

My son is going to have his mitral valve replaced soon, we dont have a option like you did, been told we have to have mechanical, think its a age thing. Anyway its hard enough to deal with without making a choice, allthow i would want the best i could have for my son. Iam glad i dont have to make a choice i think that would wreck my head even more.

 

[Ambience]

Odd, I took the mechanical valve and I ask myself that same question. Originally I was going in for the Ross procedure, but right as they started shaving my chest and giving me my seditives the doctor mentioned that a tissue valve would not last as long as a mechanical one. My eyes lit up as I struggled to decide the tradeoffs and at the last minute I told them to put the clicker in me.

I can't say I regret the decision, when I'm in a small room or elevator it's a great conversation starter. People look around the room and then ask if I have a pocket watch. When I tell them it's my heart the first thing out of their mouth is "But you're so young!" To which, I haven't really thought of a great reply. I've thought about telling them it's a bomb attached to my chest, but post 9/11 I'd probably get arrested and smacked down.

I mirror everyone here when I say your choice was the best one...not much you can do about it now. Or to quote Morpheus, "What happened happened, and could not have happened any other way."

 

[Innercalm]

I have been looking at this issue since june

I have been looking at this issue since june

And my surgery is not until the 29th of this month...and I would go tissue. I'm your age with a insufficient mitral valve.

Kristi
mr

Kristi: how insufficient is your mitral valve? Who will your surgeon be? I wonder because I may go to California for evaluation.
Susan (innercalm)

 

[KristiinSD]

Answers to Innercalm

Answers to Innercalm

My mr is severe.

My surgeon is Walter Dembitsky, Sharp Memorial in San Diego

I am choosing tissue for a variety of reasons including my belief that by the time I need a replacement valve things will have changed significantly. I also forsee another sugery (not related to heart) in my near future.

Kristi