It's hard to tell who will need a pacer after surgery and who won't..(heck my son needed his after a cath) but the majority of people don't need permanent pacers after Aortic valve surgery, if that helps. Are you also having a CABG like Steve needed?
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It's hard to tell who will need a pacer after surgery and who won't..(heck my son needed his after a cath) but the majority of people don't need permanent pacers after Aortic valve surgery, if that helps. Are you also having a CABG like Steve needed?
bdryer - My surgeon cited all the statistics, and IIRC is is perhaps as high as 20-30% of aortic valve patients end up with pacemakers. In my case, we could have put up with the afib for a while to see how things sort out, but the long pauses scared me too much to want to risk it. Try watching yourself "flat-line" some time for perspective. One of the major variables is the nerve bundle that runs near the aortic valve. If all is well and that tissue is relatively unaffected in surgery, then your odds of having a significant distuption needing the pacer are reduced. If, as in my case, the valve is badly calcified for a long time, surrounding tissue may be more likely to be affected in surgery.
When I came out of the OR, my heart rate was all over the scale - from the low 40's to way over 160, just laying there in bed. They administered the beta blocker to limit the upper end of my scale, then that apparently caused the crash so low rates with the related long pauses. Too scary to do anything but ask for the pacer and get on with it. Might have sorted out, might not.
When I came out of the OR, my heart rate was all over the scale - from the low 40's to way over 160, just laying there in bed. They administered the beta blocker to limit the upper end of my scale, then that apparently caused the crash so low rates with the related long pauses. Too scary to do anything but ask for the pacer and get on with it. Might have sorted out, might not.
Hi Steve. I'm glad your doing better and are enjoying being at home. I also got a pacemaker post AVR though a Medtronics. They tell me I'm 98 percent dependent on the pacemaker, so I'm glad to have one.
Well, Chris, I don't know how dependent I am on the pacemaker, but emotionally it us a great relief to know it is there. My mother had afib for several years prior to her death (from cancer) and it surely allowed her a much better quality of life than she would have had without it. I'll just have to wait and see if it adds any new restricions to my lifestyle (exercise limits, etc.) but I am ready to accept, live and enjoy the new life I have ahead of me.
PetraS
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Great attitude, Steve.
Sometimes the state of our mind is more important that the medication prescriebed to us.
Sometimes the state of our mind is more important that the medication prescriebed to us.
Good to see you and know that you are getting along well, Steve!
Stay well & take time to smell the roses!!!
Stay well & take time to smell the roses!!!
