Nancy
Well-known member
Hi Harmony-
Love the name. Let me chat with you a little about my husband and what valve surgery and other chest surgeries meant to him.
Joe developed rheumatic fever as a teenager. As a result of that he had valve damage. When this happened (in the mid 1940s), he was told by his old cardiologist to live life to the fullest because he wouldn't live past 50.
There wasn't anything that could be done at that time to correct bad valves. People just died.
So Joe DID go on and lived his life to the fullest. He was a superb athlete in spite of having a very loud murmur, played basketball, football, baseball and ran track.
He held down very responsible jobs.
When he was in his mid 40s, he was playing basketball with his nephew, and passed out. His aortic valve had become stenotic and would no longer close properly, flooding his heart with blood. You see, heart valves are like check valves in plumbing. They keep the blood going in the right direction, then they close off so there is no backflow. When the valves don't close briefly, the blood rushes back into the heart and makes it pump very, very hard to get that blood out.
Because of this, the heart muscle gets enlarged, and when it gets too enlarged it no longer works well, and causes all kinds of symptoms, even death.
So valve problems are basically a plumbing problem.
But I digress.
After Joe passed out, he saw his cardiologist and found out that now there was a fix for heart valve problems and that he could live out a normal lifespan. He went ahead with his aortic heart valve replacement and after the initial recovery did marvelously well.
After many years, the rheumatic fever damage continued to attack his valves, and he had a mitral valve replacement. He then had another valve surgery to close a small leak in the sewing cuff around the mitral valve replacement. Both the aortic and first mitral valve surgeries were through the sternum.
His third surgery was done using the Heart Port method through his side. That worked wonderfully.
He did extremely well after all of his heart surgeries, even the ones that were done when he was in his 60s.
Along the way, he also had two lung surgeries, which he said were worse than heart surgery.
And he had many, many other very serious medical problems.
Joe was the most fearless person I have ever known. He didn't care what they did to him. He told me that in his mind, he didn't have a choice. He had to get the problems fixed or he would die.
And darn it, he was SO right!
He lived to a normal life span of 75 years old, with the longest list of serious medical problems I ever saw. It was 4 pages long in a very small font. It was so long that no one could take down a history, I had to present this list to them.
So, what I am saying is this surgery is an absolute miracle.
Sure you will be sore for a while, yes, it's scary. But it beats the alternative. Death will happen if the plumbing does not get repaired.
There isn't any other way at this time. Surgery is the only thing that will take care of it.
I thank God every day that Joe had his surgeries and was with me for as long as he was. I learned a lot from him.
And by the way, he did not die of valve problems. His very, very old mechanical valve and his newer streamlined mitral mechanical valve were still ticking away until he took his last breath.
Wishing you all the best in whatever you decide. God Bless.
Love the name. Let me chat with you a little about my husband and what valve surgery and other chest surgeries meant to him.
Joe developed rheumatic fever as a teenager. As a result of that he had valve damage. When this happened (in the mid 1940s), he was told by his old cardiologist to live life to the fullest because he wouldn't live past 50.
There wasn't anything that could be done at that time to correct bad valves. People just died.
So Joe DID go on and lived his life to the fullest. He was a superb athlete in spite of having a very loud murmur, played basketball, football, baseball and ran track.
He held down very responsible jobs.
When he was in his mid 40s, he was playing basketball with his nephew, and passed out. His aortic valve had become stenotic and would no longer close properly, flooding his heart with blood. You see, heart valves are like check valves in plumbing. They keep the blood going in the right direction, then they close off so there is no backflow. When the valves don't close briefly, the blood rushes back into the heart and makes it pump very, very hard to get that blood out.
Because of this, the heart muscle gets enlarged, and when it gets too enlarged it no longer works well, and causes all kinds of symptoms, even death.
So valve problems are basically a plumbing problem.
But I digress.
After Joe passed out, he saw his cardiologist and found out that now there was a fix for heart valve problems and that he could live out a normal lifespan. He went ahead with his aortic heart valve replacement and after the initial recovery did marvelously well.
After many years, the rheumatic fever damage continued to attack his valves, and he had a mitral valve replacement. He then had another valve surgery to close a small leak in the sewing cuff around the mitral valve replacement. Both the aortic and first mitral valve surgeries were through the sternum.
His third surgery was done using the Heart Port method through his side. That worked wonderfully.
He did extremely well after all of his heart surgeries, even the ones that were done when he was in his 60s.
Along the way, he also had two lung surgeries, which he said were worse than heart surgery.
And he had many, many other very serious medical problems.
Joe was the most fearless person I have ever known. He didn't care what they did to him. He told me that in his mind, he didn't have a choice. He had to get the problems fixed or he would die.
And darn it, he was SO right!
He lived to a normal life span of 75 years old, with the longest list of serious medical problems I ever saw. It was 4 pages long in a very small font. It was so long that no one could take down a history, I had to present this list to them.
So, what I am saying is this surgery is an absolute miracle.
Sure you will be sore for a while, yes, it's scary. But it beats the alternative. Death will happen if the plumbing does not get repaired.
There isn't any other way at this time. Surgery is the only thing that will take care of it.
I thank God every day that Joe had his surgeries and was with me for as long as he was. I learned a lot from him.
And by the way, he did not die of valve problems. His very, very old mechanical valve and his newer streamlined mitral mechanical valve were still ticking away until he took his last breath.
Wishing you all the best in whatever you decide. God Bless.
