Hi Jeff.
Wow, you're really into the cardio training. I also was an endurance athlete, doing a few marathons and two ultra marathons, but nothing like your level. The longest race I ever did was the Lake Isabella Damn Tough Run, which was about 39 miles.
I'm assuming that you've already done your due diligence in terms of valve choice and are aware that keeping up that level of activity, especially at the young age of 51, could cause you to go through a tissue valve relatively quickly. Not trying to change your mind, but just hope that you are aware of this. At age 52 I was told that I should expect to go through a tissue valve in about 10 years by two different surgeons and they were not taking into account my high activity level nor my high Lp(a) level. In a medical publication a couple of months ago it was found that elevated levels of Lp(a) correlated with much fast rates of SVD development. Hopefully your cardiologist has had your Lp(a) tested and has taken this into account in his discussions with you.
Regardless of valve choice, being so physically fit is excellent in terms of recovery from valve surgery.
Wishing you all the best in your procedure!
Frankly speaking, many articles I read on this forum about the choice of tissue or mechanical valve choosing made me question my decision.
As far as my decision-making process is concerned, nothing is too late yet, I will discuss this issue again with my professor who will perform the surgery tomorrow.
My surgery will be performed next Wednesday, as far as I have learnt from what I have read, the most important problem of mechanical aortic valve is the obligation to use blood thinners for life and also make continuous ING follow-up.
not very often, but I sometimes drink alcohol, although I have also read that green vegetables and some painkillers have different effects on warfarin.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, what happens if ı have a motorbike or bicycle accident at the on a lonely mountainside.
I also work as a captain on transoceanic sailing ships. I use a lot of mechanical equipment for my job and from time to time I fight with small or medium tissue cuts. As you can imagine, there is no 911 service that you can call immediately when you have an accident on the open sea.
I have also read a lot of information and experience in this forum regarding biological aortic valves. The most important advantages are that I will not use the blood thinner Warfarin and ı will be free from the side effects of this drug.The disadvantages are short life span of biological aortic valves, rapid deterioration due to infections caused by dental caries, The fact that I am 51 years old and at best I will have to be operated on again in 15 years.
And finally, I started to be sceptical about biological valves because of the fact that they may not withstand the blood pressure in high endurance sports, which you mentioned in your paragraph and which I had no idea about until today.
I can honestly say that I was afraid of surgery until today, but today ı learn that it turns out that the real problem is which aortic valve to choose.
Tomorrow I will ask my professor who will perform the operation, which one you would choose if you were in my place.
