Gail in Ca
Well-known member
Welcome!
I'll try to answer some of your questions as well. I didn't know I was to avoid much cranberry juice until a few years after my surgery when I saw it mentioned on a bulletin board at the Coumadin clinic. I don't drink it now because I really don't like it that much anyway.
I needed my 1st mechanical valve replaced after 8.5yrs due to bacterial endocarditis that affected the tissue around the valve, and I had leaks around it from the bacterial invasion. My scar from 3 surgeries is noticeable but I wear whatever I feel like. I think many of us go thru a phase when the scar is new and you don't want to show it off. But in time, I read up to 2 yrs, the scar will be what it will be and you just go about your life. Who cares what people think?
I wore a bikini about 8 mos after my surgery and a little kid asked about it. I told her what it was from and she was satisfied.
About the noise, I play in an orchestra and have asked the guy next to me if he hears my valve, even in soft passages, and he said he hasn't.
I always hear it in quiet situations, but it seems only my cardiologist and my husband can hear it.
Don't worry, eventually you will feel like yourself again, and the warfarin just becomes another pill to take daily!
I'll try to answer some of your questions as well. I didn't know I was to avoid much cranberry juice until a few years after my surgery when I saw it mentioned on a bulletin board at the Coumadin clinic. I don't drink it now because I really don't like it that much anyway.
I needed my 1st mechanical valve replaced after 8.5yrs due to bacterial endocarditis that affected the tissue around the valve, and I had leaks around it from the bacterial invasion. My scar from 3 surgeries is noticeable but I wear whatever I feel like. I think many of us go thru a phase when the scar is new and you don't want to show it off. But in time, I read up to 2 yrs, the scar will be what it will be and you just go about your life. Who cares what people think?
I wore a bikini about 8 mos after my surgery and a little kid asked about it. I told her what it was from and she was satisfied.
About the noise, I play in an orchestra and have asked the guy next to me if he hears my valve, even in soft passages, and he said he hasn't.
I always hear it in quiet situations, but it seems only my cardiologist and my husband can hear it.
Don't worry, eventually you will feel like yourself again, and the warfarin just becomes another pill to take daily!
