Need Advice

[Jed]

Hi Ya'll,
I need some advice and i know you smart people will be able to help me. Quick history. I am a 40 year old male who was told by cardio that i needed to have my mitrol and aortic valves replaced in the real near future. Not a emergency she just wanted to do it before i got more symptomatic. Last thursday i had a TEE. The following day i made appointments with two surgeons for a consultation/interview. I hadn't picked a surgeon yet and wanted to meet and talk with possible doctors. I was aiming for a approximate June surgery. This past Thursday my cardio called me with results of my TEE. She said that it showed that i wasn't as bad as she had origionally though from my recent Echo. She wants to wait 6 months and re-evualate it again. My question is...Should i keep my appointments with these two surgeons or reschedule them for later, closer to the surgey date? They are very busy men and i don't want to clog their schedules if not needed till later. Thanks for your help and advice, Jed

 

[Christina L]

Jed,

Of course you should keep the appointment with the surgeons - I would!

I talked with three different surgeons before my mitral valve surgery in Cleveland by Dr. Cosgrove. I talked on the phone with the other two surgeons - several times. THEY called me. They want your business to put it bluntly. Dr. Cosgrove, of course, did not call me personally - his assistant did - he's too "big", but that is why I chose him! He knows his stuff and I wanted someone who would not be surprised at anything when he opened up my chest.

Things can change in six months, also, and if I were you, I would want to be ready for whatever the future brings. I hope that you will be able to stave off surgery for a couple more years at least, but you just never know.

That is my opinion. We will see what others have to say!

Christina L.

 

[Ross]

Keep the appointments and let the SURGEONS make the decision as to whether or not it can wait.

 

[bvdr]

I agree with Ross. Keep your appointments and ask the surgeons' advice. Cardiologists tend to wait longer and sometimes it is just not the thing to do. If something needs fixing it is much better to work on a healthier heart than wait for it to really really need fixing.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Bill Hall]

Jed - I would keep at least one of the appointments. It is good to get a second opinion and those doctors will tell you at least one thing you didn't already know. I am with you about wasting those surgeons time. I think canceling one until later might be a nice thing to do.

 

[M&M]

Hi Jed, If I was you - I would keep those two appointments. You might develop symptoms - before 6 mos and the more prepared you are now the less you'll have to deal with later. I would gather as much information as possible. I can't believe how 'fast' symptoms can come on - last year at this time - I was running road races every 'weekend' and in total I completed 35 races and 6 were half marathons. I can barely do a mile on the treadmill now. I would meet each surgeon and see what they have to say - and I think you can get vastly different opinions with different surgeons.

Good Luck and welcome to the board..
Runner

 

[tobagotwo]

Generally, the thought is to wait as long as is reasonable to do the surgery, but to definitely get it done before there is permanent damage to the heart.

You're also getting more time to consider your operating venue. The surgeon is critically important, but the facility is almost as important as well.

I don't know your symptoms, but aside from some arrythmias and mild SOB, mine didn't seem all that bad. When I climbed stairs with the college co-ops, they sounded much worse than I did. I did get grey tired by the end of the day, but figured, at 51, that was aging.

I had multiple standard echoes that showed repeatable results. Mainly, they felt my aortic valve pressure was up there (72mmHG), and I was less than a centimeter, so they were kicking me back and forth to see if it was time yet. The cardio said emphatically yes, the surgeon was metz-a-metz.

When my pre-surgery cath was done and evaluated, the interventional cardiologist was quite certain it was bicuspid. Along with the other factors, they felt that was sufficient to proceed in a non-emergency mode.

My surgeon was shocked at the actual condition of my aortic valve when he opened me up. It wasn't bicuspid. He said two of the three leaflets were completely cemented together with calcium, and the other so cemented down that it could not move even slightly. He could not see how I was getting blood through it at all.

The upshot of all this is that I agree that you should visit with at least one of the surgeons for a second opinion about timing, and that you should take the time to be sure you are satisfied with the credentials of the surgeons and facilities you are considering using.

Be sure all your test results get to the surgeon(s) before your interview.

 

[dawnwit15]

Keep the dates!

Keep the dates!

Hi there
I strongly agree with most of the people who responded to you already. Keep the appointments with the surgeons. Get their professional opinion as to when you should do the surgery. I had a mitral valvuloplasty last year at Univ. of Penn and the surgeon told me it would last for 10 years. Six months later I was having symtoms again and ended up back on the table for a mitral valve replacement. Once they opened me up, they decided to do a mitral valve repair instead. This time my surgery was done at NY Presbyterian Columbia Univ. Medical Center in NY. My mitral valve measurement was 1.3 cm prior to surgery and 6.9 cm post surgery.
I see your from Maryland, I hear Johns Hopkins has a good cardiac surgical unit there. If you don't mind the travel, I recommend Dr. Mehmet Oz at NY Presb.
If your cardiologist is correct and you don't need surgery right now, it can only help to do your research and know what your options are as far as hospitals, surgeries and surgeons go---so keep those appointments!! Get 2nd and 3rd opinions! This is serious surgery so you want to know ahead of time that a 2nd or 3rd opinion concurs with your current cardiologist.
Best of luck to you.
Dawn

 

[Karlynn]

It generally seems like the cardios are the Wait And See group and the surgeons are the Let's Cut Now group. So figure somewhere in the middle. This is, of course, a broad generalization. But if the doctor said wait 6 months and let's see, my question would be Why, when you thought it was more immediate? Were things that vastly different from what you thought the TEE would show?

I'd go see both surgeons and get their opinions. And, given how suddenly some situations can deteriorate, err on the side of caution and get it done sooner rather than later. The longer your body slowly deteriorates, the harder and longer recovery will be. If the surgeons say to wait, then you have your answer.

 

[medtronic of borg]

my advise

my advise

keep them!

Med