Hello. That's a pretty interesting discovery about your leaflets fusing together. So your tissue valve decided to mimic your native valve and go bicuspid! I don't expect you're too delighted about that. It will be very interesting to see what the echo reveals. Maybe that is fairly common?
I definitely do notice my beating heart much more with my second replacement valve (9.1.17) than I remember with my first replacement valve (4.18.06). However, I did experience a lot of PVC's (benign "premature ventricular contractions" with my first valve replacement. Once I started taking magnesium, they went away. I don't think I have them at all with this new valve.
I'm sure that you have reported those sensations to your cardiologist. If he/she gives you a clean report and knows about your feelings and still says everything is a-okay, then I would probably just try to get used to that feeling. We ALL become more aware of things when we start to think about them. We listen with extra intent, we wonder if a certain sensation means something, etc.. In my experience, at some point you just have to accept the changes and direct your attention elsewhere.
As far as your nervousness goes -- I mean, we all get nervous! This is huge stuff we are all dealing with. I learned a very simple breathing technique which I use all the time to calm myself.
Imagine a triangle (or look around and try to spot one). Starting at the lower left side breathe in as you visually draw a line from the base up the left side. Exhale as you draw a line down the right side to the base. Pause your breathing as you draw the base line from the lower right point to the lower left point. Then begin again. Just do it a few times. I think it's that pause that really helps. Many times we just breathe in and out to relax ourselves, but focusing on the pause really helps me.
Good luck.
Keep us posted.
Marguerite