Questions again

[kevin21]

Hello guys!!

I'm close to AVR and maybe root repair. The Cardio put me on some Coreg and Acupril to get the BP down and reduce the slight enlargement about 8 months ago. Valve is severly leaking but my EF is still good, around 60%.

My questions are:

1. Knowing the surgery is imminent (oooh) and that the wall had thickened should I try and get it done soon rather than wait on CHF (which seems like the eventual deal)?

2. Baby is due in January. I have bumped up the echo to Aug 4 (from late October) and Card. visit on 8/22. Even if he tells me on the 22nd to see some surgeons and have it scheduled is there any way I could be back on my feet by the time the baby comes?

3. How long after surgery are you pretty incapacitated? I mean, can you feed yourself and get drinks and stuff when you get home? Do you need someone to be home to help you (normally I mean)?

4. How risky is the surgery? I've had a VSD repair and an aortic stenosis repaired (on seperate occasions, one at age 6 and one at age 10) so I'm not to happy or sure I'll have the same luck as those who haven't had surgery. BTW I'm 27 almost 28.

I'll have a million more q's, most of which I continue to find answered in various posts. Thanks for you veterans' help!!

 

[Susan BAV]

Hi Kevin -

I hope you get lots of replies. Be sure and do a lot of searches and also read the VR.COMers' stories. I'll try to answer you with a bit of what my experience was: I saw three surgeons last fall, all of whom said I needed the aortic valve replaced fairly soon. My EF was really high though. I had pretty bad hypertension. Left ventricle hypertrophy. 4.5 aorta. Mitral valve was malfunctioning also. Once they did the angiogram, they said I needed the valve replaced "in weeks, not months." Then they scheduled me for surgery the next week. They weren't sure if the mitral valve would also need to be replaced. MY FEELING WAS, REPLACE THE BICUSPID AORTIC VALVE BEFORE THE REST OF MY HEART GETS WORSE. And that's all that I ended up needing done! I had the surgery in early October and I was painting my (enormous) living/dining rooms (with high ceilings) in January ! I was in the hospital for a week following the surgery and I went into a-fib the day I got home and had to be readmitted a week later for a few days to get on a heavy-duty a-fib medication. I got home a few days later and the next night we started into a local chaotic catastrophe when San Diego County was ablaze and we had to evacuate our home, which happily survived. So by about the third week, I was much better able to putter around and do things for myself. My husband still was close by and readily available though. I wasn't allowed to drive until eight weeks, and that is evidently longer than most VR.COMers. Be sure and find a terrific and highly-recommended surgeon that you really like. BEST WISHES!

 

[Gemma]

Hi Kevin,
My boyfriend Jim's 27 (26 when he had his aortic valve replaced in December). In April (a little under 4 months post-op) we had a great weekend away, mountain biking/walking up and down big mountains. I think it was around that time that Jim started to admit to feeling better than prior to surgery, rather than "about the same". He was able to walk for miles a couple of months after surgery though, and was "pottering" in his shed with various motorbike engines after a month. Also put together a new motorbike and mountain bike at some point in the first 2 months.
He didn't have the strength to slice things, or open anything which was packed in a chip-packet type packaging, or jars, for a week or two, but could get drinks for himself with no problem - if you're going to be alone for a while it may be worth getting someone to leave you some pre-prepared food or at least sliced veggies/cheese/whatever for you to make yourself a snack.
There's a bit of an ongoing debate about when it's best to have surgery in a post by davidwattsjr - I think it's called "Chest discomfort laying on back" or something along those lines. The general consensus from most is that it's best before permanent damage is done to the heart, although some cardiologists seem to wait until you're really sick to do anything. Just a bit hard to get your head round having major surgery when you're not feeling too bad!
Good luck with the decision and the new baby.
Gemma.