New member /Decision Time

[Gail in Ca]

If my 2nd avr had been my 1st, the cardiologist and surgeon would've recommended the Ross procedure. But, alas, it was my 2nd, and the cardiologist didn't want me to undergo a 3rd avr, so I had mechanical at 47. I'm with Dave in Spain that my life with porcine was so normal and wonderful that I didn't even think about having a different valve much, only when contemplating the scar, which was minimal. But I got just 11 years with it. Now, after the mechanical, my scar is inches longer and somewhat wider at the top, but I am past caring about people seeing it. I'm kind of proud that I have been thru 2 surgeries and have resumed my life.
I think I will only stop hearing the clicking at night when I have started to lose my hearing in old age.
Or maybe I should sit directly in front of the trumpets in the wind band I perform with and it will happen sooner, Ha Ha!!! So, it all comes down to whether or not you want to deal with a 2nd surgery later, ( and it is harder facing it than you would think, and I am good at handling stress and pain). I think I am a bit more depressed now when thinking about this mechanical valve, but what choice did I have? My every day life has returned to the way it was, exercising, walking the dog, gardening, taking trips,cooking cleaning etc, but I always have this nagging feeling that I am not the same and never will be.
Gail

 

[gary48]

Nagging Feeling

Nagging Feeling

Forget about it----I e-mail o couple of people who have run marathons with artificial valves.....keep exercising!!!!

 

[ddarsch]

Gail - Correct Decision

Gail - Correct Decision

Gail:

I have had some of the thoughts that you have shared . . . about not being the same, and never to be so, but everytime I look at my scar in the mirror, I think about the other option (and I prefer to be here with my son and my wife.)

 

[Zipper#5]

It gets better!

It gets better!

Gail, I know how you feel about not being the same. Four years ago this month I was in Home Depot looking at lighting with my brother when I dropped like a rock onto the concrete floor. The electrical circutry in my heart completely blocked. Here I am now with a dual pacemaker and a replaced aortic valve, which needs replacement again, that will be my fifth open heart surgery for me. But dispite all that I feel good and remember that each day is a gift. So we have a few mechanical and articifial devices in us-they keep us going. I tell people-I've been dead and it ain't no fun. I'm back playing golf, and getting back into bike riding. I went a period of depression, and thought life would never be the same. Once I accepted that it wouldn't, I realized that change isn't always so bad. So I can't do everything like before, but at 45 it's ok. I just do it differently now. Hang in there!

 

[Zipper#5]

Scars

Scars

P.S. You should see my scars-One of my surgeries I had 180 stitches! Open heart surgery has come such a long way! My last surgery scar is half what the previous one was. I never used to wear low cut blouses until last year when I met another adult female the same scar. She never let it stand in her way. I liked her attitude.

 

[Rain]

Proud of who we are.

Proud of who we are.

I still wear the same clothes I always have. And most of them show my scar. It's now part of me and I'm not ashamed of it.

Life is forever changed with a mechanical valve.... but I think it is now matter what valve you choose.