I saw my cardiologist today for follow up after the last echo and to ask him questions as I can't ask too many when he does the echo.
I think things may be different in some ways over this side of the pond. He said that my valve area is approximately 1.2 (? what ? cm/sq ?) but that he goes on pressure gradient more to assess the time of when to refer a person for surgery....within the next two years or sooner for me. We'll see how the next echo goes in August.
He also told me that the minimally invasive surgery (as described by heartdoc of the New York hospital in another thread) where they go inbetween the ribs instead of cutting through the sternum, isn't new and is often how they do surgery on children. He implied that a good candidate for it is a thin person (I am). He said that the downside of this technique is that if they can't reach the valve properly and then have to do a sternumotomy (?spelling) then the whole thing is much worse. It's something for the surgeon to assess at the time I suppose.
He suggested I look up surgeons at the hospital where I'll have my valve replaced - St Georges, London. I already had so we were able to discuss that. I wouldn't know how to make a decision on who to choose though as he said they're all good and he works with all of them. He said I can have a consultation with more than one of them in order to help me decide. Of course, he can choose for me if I want.
I feel a lot better through having talked to him. I've also been watching little videos on the Cleveland Hospital website and have read 'Coping with Heart Surgery etc' by Carol Cohen and, although it sounds very ghastly, I feel better for knowing - I'm one of those people that likes things in full detail even when those details aren't nice to hear :eek2:
Anne
I think things may be different in some ways over this side of the pond. He said that my valve area is approximately 1.2 (? what ? cm/sq ?) but that he goes on pressure gradient more to assess the time of when to refer a person for surgery....within the next two years or sooner for me. We'll see how the next echo goes in August.
He also told me that the minimally invasive surgery (as described by heartdoc of the New York hospital in another thread) where they go inbetween the ribs instead of cutting through the sternum, isn't new and is often how they do surgery on children. He implied that a good candidate for it is a thin person (I am). He said that the downside of this technique is that if they can't reach the valve properly and then have to do a sternumotomy (?spelling) then the whole thing is much worse. It's something for the surgeon to assess at the time I suppose.
He suggested I look up surgeons at the hospital where I'll have my valve replaced - St Georges, London. I already had so we were able to discuss that. I wouldn't know how to make a decision on who to choose though as he said they're all good and he works with all of them. He said I can have a consultation with more than one of them in order to help me decide. Of course, he can choose for me if I want.
I feel a lot better through having talked to him. I've also been watching little videos on the Cleveland Hospital website and have read 'Coping with Heart Surgery etc' by Carol Cohen and, although it sounds very ghastly, I feel better for knowing - I'm one of those people that likes things in full detail even when those details aren't nice to hear :eek2:
Anne
prior to my OHS. I'm learning so much now :thumbup: that I probably should have know before. I didn't even know how many valves the heart had and what their purpose was.
