TEE next week

[DavesMom]

Hi all,

I have a 13-year old mechanical valve that has been doing really well. However, my last echo showed an "independently mobile echodensity," so lucky moi is having a TEE next week to get a better look at the little bugger.

My cardio showed me the echo images and it was weird - whatever it is looks almost like a pendulum swinging. Doc thinks it could be one of three things:

1.) Bacterial infection (endocarditis). Not likely in my case because I haven't felt feverish, sick or anything.
2.) A clot - EEEKKKKSSSS! However, it's possible because my INR was on a roller coaster for a few months.
3.) Pannus - After two surgeries I built up a lot of scar tissue and wonder if this could be the culprit. Scariest of the options, though, because it might mean another AVR. However, if I recall correctly (and I might be wrong), my cardio said pannus is not usually independently mobile.

Of course, I've taken the liberty of adding a fourth option - it's absolutely nothing. Doctors love to scare me and this is probably just another case. : ) When my cardio listened to my heart, she said the valve sounded good and she couldn't hear any leaking or anything.

Has anyone ever dealt with pannus or a clot on their valve? Did you show any symptoms? This is just weird because I feel fine. Well, at least my CT scan was good and my aneurysm is stable. : )

Appreciate any input and hope everyone is doing well.

 

[Sarah_Louise]

Hi Daves mom,

In March last year i had a build up of clots behind my knee when the surgeon seen me he thought he was doing an amputation of my right leg as it had been without full blood supply for 18 hours :O fortunatly he removed the clots and i kept my leg, i then went back to my cardiac hospital for them to check my heart and i was told my heart was fine, valve was fine and chances of it happening again where less than 1%....fast forward to beginning of April and it was like deja vu, foot and leg where stone cold, pulse less and very painful, so off to the hospital and once again back to theatre for embolectomy number two, this was on the 26th April, and by the 29th April i was being wheeled back to theatre for open heart surgery number four! which was and emergancy to change my mechanical valve back to a tissue as it was throwing off clots, severely damaged and clogged with them! Also becuase of this i suffered 3 strokes and blood clots on my lungs-which are now chronic-

Symptom wise, it was the legs that made me go to the hopital, but after my second embolectomy the 2 nights that followed i was I was very ill. I had started coughing up blood, had pains in my chest, my legs where sore, I was very breathless and not good at all. I had a nurse with me pretty much all night and when she wasn’t there a doctor was. I had arterial blood gases taken as well as more blood tests, and I was told my bloods where bad, and my arterial ones where too low. I was put on 8 litres of oxygen and even then my SAT’s weren’t brilliant, the pain team consultant and nurses where on the ward looking after me because it was at the point morphine wasn’t helping.
But the valve was clogging althroughout the 6 week period where i was okay, i never had any new symptoms, apart from before my second embolectomy i was diagnosed with a suspect upper resp tract infection, which they now think was actually down to the valve, but even then that only showed up in week 6 (3 days before embolectomy #2)

I was then transfered over to my heart hospital and needed emergancy OHS to change my mechanical valve back to a tissue one!!
All this happened while i was on injections of 20,000 units daily of tinxaparin (anticoagulant!!)
Good luck for next week,
Love Sarah xxx

 

[DavesMom]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Wow...you sure have been through a lot and I truly hope it's all behind you. I really admire your courage and attitude in the face of everything. You deserve a medal, girl! : )

Another valve replacement would be my third OHS and it's scary because I've got lots of scar tissue (my right ventricle is stuck to my sternum) that puts me at high risk for another operation. I'm lucky my aneurysms have stayed stable so far and haven't had to be repaired.

Thanks for the good wishes. I'll be glad to get the TEE over with and see what - if anything - is bobbing back and forth from my valve. : ) I'm still saying it's NOTHING.

Best wishes and take care.

 

[Roberta]

DavesMom,

Sorry I can't help you with your question but want you to know that I am thinking of you and I hoping that the TEE shows nothing and that the echo was inaccurate! My last echo showed that I had a severe patient prosthesis mismatch (which hadn't showed up in the 2 echos after my surgery). After my cardio reviewed this echo, compared it to the last and consulted with another surgeon, he deemed that it was an echo error. I hope this is the case for you!

 

[DavesMom]

Thanks for the good wishes, Roberta. Glad everything worked out for you in the end but doctors just love to scare people, don't they? : ) My doc showed me the echo images and there's definitely something there that wasn't there last year, but it could be an error. That's what I'm hoping.

The echo images also showed leakage but when the doc listened to me she said she couldn't hear any leakage and that the valve sounded good. So again, that makes me wonder about the accuracy of the echo.

Take care and thanks again.