derekzmom
Member
My son Derek (14) will be having the Ross Procedure on Dec 11. He was born with congenital heart disease and has already had 4 heart surgeries, 3 being open heart. We have known for a long time that he has a BAV and would need it replaced eventually, the cardiologist wanting to wait until he was about 6, but my boy does things his own way 
He also has sub aortic stenosis, which has grown back for the 3rd time, he had it resected once, then the Konno, and it sneakily keeps reappearing, so he will have it resected once again when he has the Ross unless they have to do a bailout and put in a mechanical due to the placement of one of his coronaries. The one on the left is right at the top of the valve instead of being on the side. Always an interesting one, my boy is...
Needless to say Im freaking out. There was concern about the amount of scar tissue that he had last time, and that his heart was already fused to his sternum. This time, Im sure it will be worse. They are telling us 7 days in hospital, 10 - 14 days recovery at home and then back to school for half days for a week and then he should be ok to go back full time. As long as everything goes well, of course. Does this sound reasonable to anyone who has had the Ross?
I know that a mechanical valve could possibly be a better option with replacement happening later vs the pulmonary conduit being sooner, but he he is way too over handled medically (he also has Down Syndrome, had leukemia when he was 2.5, and numerous other operations/medical procedures over the years) and Id like to give him a chance at a "normal" life without having to worry about anticoags, INR's,etc...
Looking for some imput about the Ross, the surgery and the recovery time afterwards.
Allison
He also has sub aortic stenosis, which has grown back for the 3rd time, he had it resected once, then the Konno, and it sneakily keeps reappearing, so he will have it resected once again when he has the Ross unless they have to do a bailout and put in a mechanical due to the placement of one of his coronaries. The one on the left is right at the top of the valve instead of being on the side. Always an interesting one, my boy is...Needless to say Im freaking out. There was concern about the amount of scar tissue that he had last time, and that his heart was already fused to his sternum. This time, Im sure it will be worse. They are telling us 7 days in hospital, 10 - 14 days recovery at home and then back to school for half days for a week and then he should be ok to go back full time. As long as everything goes well, of course. Does this sound reasonable to anyone who has had the Ross?
I know that a mechanical valve could possibly be a better option with replacement happening later vs the pulmonary conduit being sooner, but he he is way too over handled medically (he also has Down Syndrome, had leukemia when he was 2.5, and numerous other operations/medical procedures over the years) and Id like to give him a chance at a "normal" life without having to worry about anticoags, INR's,etc...
Looking for some imput about the Ross, the surgery and the recovery time afterwards.
Allison
