Jeff Lebowski
Well-known member
Greetings
On 27 March 2024, I had AVR surgery and my aortic valve was replaced with a St. Judes valve. Since then, I have been examined by different cardiologists about 5 times. All of them said that my valve works very well and there is no problem, and I have no complaints.
I already check my INR values every week with the test I do at home.
Anyway, two days ago I went to a public hospital in the city where I live to have a monthly INR laboratory test. (There are no Coumadin clinics in Turkey, you can get tested by making an appointment with a cardiologist at a public hospital. While I was there for the test, I also had echocardiography done by the doctor (he was a young cardiologist, it was the first time I was examined by him). In fact, my own cardiologist, whom I have always been examined by, told me that it would be enough to be examined every six months, but I wanted to have my echocardiogram checked again while I was there to be examined.
Normally, cardiologists perform a detailed echocardiography examination for at least 5 minutes, but this friend looked at it in a hurry in about 1 minute and said that the gradient of my mechanical aortic valve was 7 mmHg (if I do not remember wrong) and that this value was below the specified range.
Since he was not completely sure of his examination, he sent me for a computerised tomography which would show the full image of my heart valve.
I told him that I had been examined about five times by different cardiologists over the past four months and none of them had mentioned such a problem, but the young doctor insisted on the CT scan, which would expose me to a lot of radiation.
I would like to underline here that all examinations and examinations in state hospitals and university hospitals in Turkey are free of charge within the scope of social insurance, which is of course a good thing, but the worst part of this is that doctors unnecessarily refer patients to many scans and imaging examinations. Without asking the patient how many CT scans he or she has had during the year, many high-radiation X-rays are taken in series.
The fact that a young doctor wanted these tests in such an unnecessary way on a matter that he was unsure of aroused my suspicion, frankly, and I did not have that CT scan. They are using patients as test subjects!
This is the biggest problem, the doctor tells you something, you are not sure of the doctor's competence, but when you do not have the test he asks you to do, you have a doubt.
I will not change my doctor again, I think it is best to always go to the same cardiologist.
Note: I think that even the 7 mmHg measurement made by the cardiologist in question may not be accurate, and even this value is within the normal range according to the research I did on Google.
On 27 March 2024, I had AVR surgery and my aortic valve was replaced with a St. Judes valve. Since then, I have been examined by different cardiologists about 5 times. All of them said that my valve works very well and there is no problem, and I have no complaints.
I already check my INR values every week with the test I do at home.
Anyway, two days ago I went to a public hospital in the city where I live to have a monthly INR laboratory test. (There are no Coumadin clinics in Turkey, you can get tested by making an appointment with a cardiologist at a public hospital. While I was there for the test, I also had echocardiography done by the doctor (he was a young cardiologist, it was the first time I was examined by him). In fact, my own cardiologist, whom I have always been examined by, told me that it would be enough to be examined every six months, but I wanted to have my echocardiogram checked again while I was there to be examined.
Normally, cardiologists perform a detailed echocardiography examination for at least 5 minutes, but this friend looked at it in a hurry in about 1 minute and said that the gradient of my mechanical aortic valve was 7 mmHg (if I do not remember wrong) and that this value was below the specified range.
Since he was not completely sure of his examination, he sent me for a computerised tomography which would show the full image of my heart valve.
I told him that I had been examined about five times by different cardiologists over the past four months and none of them had mentioned such a problem, but the young doctor insisted on the CT scan, which would expose me to a lot of radiation.
I would like to underline here that all examinations and examinations in state hospitals and university hospitals in Turkey are free of charge within the scope of social insurance, which is of course a good thing, but the worst part of this is that doctors unnecessarily refer patients to many scans and imaging examinations. Without asking the patient how many CT scans he or she has had during the year, many high-radiation X-rays are taken in series.
The fact that a young doctor wanted these tests in such an unnecessary way on a matter that he was unsure of aroused my suspicion, frankly, and I did not have that CT scan. They are using patients as test subjects!
This is the biggest problem, the doctor tells you something, you are not sure of the doctor's competence, but when you do not have the test he asks you to do, you have a doubt.
I will not change my doctor again, I think it is best to always go to the same cardiologist.
Note: I think that even the 7 mmHg measurement made by the cardiologist in question may not be accurate, and even this value is within the normal range according to the research I did on Google.
