How long till your next follow up?

[Warrick]

Hi I had an echo last week that was 12 months since my pre-surgery diagnosis and 10 1/2 months since surgery.

I'm told everything looks good and they would see me again in 5 years time, seemed a bit long to me

at 39 yrs I don't have any other issues apart from the BAV now being in a jar on the wall unit
(cardiologist is going to do a referral back to the surgeon to get my wires out as they irritate me daily yay!!)

What are others experiences?

 

[pellicle]

well I guess we are all different (in demeanour as well as condition)

I consider myself "prudent" (though others may not) and I went along yearly for checkups at the first year, then 2 years and then nearly 5 years. Each time the results (echo cardiograms and a couple of CT scans) showed that my artery condition compared to just before surgery (and at the arch just above where the graft was) had not changed. My major measuements were all good and so considering that I'm 52 (not 72) I don't think that I need to go in more often than I am.

So I'll present again in 5 years unless something "feels wrong" to me.

I consider that without obvious reasons to show cause that if everything is "going fine" then going more frequently is just over servicing and may actually make me habituated into the medical system so that I become a "chronic patient" (where chronic comes from chonos meaning time).

Considering that this is pretty much what I did in 1992 where by 1999 I'd stopped going to checkups (each time was showing no change) and didn't front to a checkup again till 2010, which I did because I felt that my heart "pulse" was feeling more .... soggy than it should. Turned out I was 100% correct that the valve was becoming incompetent and also they discovered the aneurysm.

Myself I believe that you have to die of something ... ahlzimers isn't an appealing option. Burst aortic artery while skiing or trecking or hunting would be my choice

 

[epstns]

Warrick - I think a lot has to do with your age. I'm quite a bit older (almost 69), and I see my cardio twice a year. One visit we do an echo, then the next is simply an office consult. I have a tissue valve, so that may also play a role in follow up planning.

If you're not confident to go that long, just make an interim appointment for an office visit, just to be checked over.

 

[Agian]

5 yearly? That is so cool. I'm sick of these echos. Going in makes me anxious. I just want to get on with my life.

 

[almost_hectic]

Hi I had an echo last week that was 12 months since my pre-surgery diagnosis and 10 1/2 months since surgery.

I'm told everything looks good and they would see me again in 5 years time, seemed a bit long to me

at 39 yrs I don't have any other issues apart from the BAV now being in a jar on the wall unit
(cardiologist is going to do a referral back to the surgeon to get my wires out as they irritate me daily yay!!)

What are others experiences?

Do you really have your valve in a jar?!

 

[honeybunny]

This post is a good reminder for me to follow up with both the cardio and surgeon for appointments if needed. I know the surgeon will need to see me because I am in a clinical trial for a new type of tissue valve, and I believe the protocol requires an echo at 1 year (had one at six months).

 

[Rachel]

Congrats on a great echo report!!!!
​
I go in every year for an echo and every other year for a MRI with contrast dye....and I'm super comfortable with that...then again I have a tissue valve and the doctor's visits keep me humble and grounded to my reality.

Failure is less of an option with a mechanical valve - plus you're not even a year out from surgery, so you might feel differently about your follow-ups in a few years. I remember feeling extremely nervous for the first couple years after surgery, I'm more relaxed now. But as Steve mentioned - you can always make an interim office visit appointment.

I'd also like to know if you have your valve in a jar!

 

[Warrick]

Do you really have your valve in a jar?!

Yes i do, it was sitting in my room in a specimen jar when I came out of ICU I guess to prove they did something while they were in there haha

looks like half an oyster or something, sentimental value only haha,

I think at this stage I want it burried or cremated with me so I''m all there

thanks

 

[almost_hectic]

Yes i do, it was sitting in my room in a specimen jar when I came out of ICU I guess to prove they did something while they were in there haha

looks like half an oyster or something, sentimental value only haha,

I think at this stage I want it burried or cremated with me so I''m all there

thanks

Holy cow! I wouldn't ever have thought that would be possible these days. Regulations over medical waste or something like that kind of red tape would be my assumption. Kinda cool though, morbid, but sort of fascinating to look at and think about I guess.

 

[Agian]

Yes i do, it was sitting in my room in a specimen jar when I came out of ICU I guess to prove they did something while they were in there haha

looks like half an oyster or something, sentimental value only haha,

I think at this stage I want it burried or cremated with me so I''m all there

thanks

OMFG! That's crazy.

 

[Warrick]

Holy cow! I wouldn't ever have thought that would be possible these days. Regulations over medical waste or something like that kind of red tape would be my assumption. Kinda cool though, morbid, but sort of fascinating to look at and think about I guess.

Reminds me a bit of my grandmum actually, she had insects, animal foetues and gross stuff preserved in pickling jars when I was a kid.

Must be ok here in NZ since it is your "property", they even wrote "patient only" on the lid.. maybe someone was collecting them haha, I never had the chance to keep my tonsils which I had out a 11 so I was already missing bits

a few years back a guy was trying to auction his amputated foot on www.trademe.co.nz , he had it in the freezer... made the national news and was promptly shutdown

 

[pellicle]

Must be ok here in NZ since it is your "property", they even wrote "patient only" on the lid.. maybe someone was collecting them haha, I never had the chance to keep my tonsils which I had out a 11 so I was already missing bits

somehow it reminds me of collecting bottle caps for recycling ... earn a few bucks that way ;-)

 

[Agian]

Hey Warrick, have you seen those insects encased in plastic? You might want to do the same with your valve, or use it as an eye patch.

 

[Agian]

Frisbee, paper weight, door stop, book mark. You get the idea.