I've also found that opening my mouth can help focus the sound. It's a nice trick, if you can find someone with sensitive hearing who appears to already be annoyed by the constant ticking.
Ticking Time Bomb
- Thread starter Protimenow
- Start date
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gerrychuck
Well-known member
Okay, now we're really getting somewhere; "101 ways to have fun with your mechanical valve"! By the way, dick0236, you and your 1.5 billion beat valve are now officially my new heroes
Gee - That makes me feel underprivileged in having a bovine tissue valve. It just goes "Moo" and causes me to take a wide path around hamburger joints.
clfhangr
Well-known member
Ticking time bomb they are. I had my first aortic valve replaced in 2005 and that thing was the noisiest thing that either I or my wife had ever heard. She moved out of the bedroom for a while so she could sleep. Elevators were always fun as well as working with people in a close environment. They always gave me an odd look.
Now here is the best thing that I can remember. I had to have a total root replacement last May and the newer valves are more efficient and don't sound anything like the old ones. So here I am waking up in the cicu looking up into the bright light above me and the first thing I notice is. "Oh crap I'm not ticking anymore". Wow was that a feeling. I just knew I had bought it on that one. LOL
Now here is the best thing that I can remember. I had to have a total root replacement last May and the newer valves are more efficient and don't sound anything like the old ones. So here I am waking up in the cicu looking up into the bright light above me and the first thing I notice is. "Oh crap I'm not ticking anymore". Wow was that a feeling. I just knew I had bought it on that one. LOL
clfhangr
Well-known member
As to durability of a valve they are stress tested to 150 years or at least that is what my cardiologist told me. My first cardiologist did give me a life time warranty on my first valve though. He said if it failed it was end of lifetime. He was such a card.
I've also mentioned lifetime warranty, myself. That is kind of in line with 'eyes examined while you wait' or 'dental services while you wait,' or things like that.
Of course, these things seem to be designed so that OTHER body systems fail before the valve does. (If they weren't improving these things, can you imagine 'recycling' these valves, after a person dies, into other people?)
Of course, these things seem to be designed so that OTHER body systems fail before the valve does. (If they weren't improving these things, can you imagine 'recycling' these valves, after a person dies, into other people?)
Ovie
Well-known member
I rarely hear mine, but others seem to hear it often. When I do hear it, i actually find it to be calming.
If it fails it fails, all you can do is go with the flow.
If it fails it fails, all you can do is go with the flow.
Yeah -- One of the guys who used to be around here always said he didn't worry about hearing the ticking of his valve. He would worry when it stopped ticking.
I had a similar "Oh, Crap!" moment when I was in the CICU after my valve replacement, as I watched my own monitor go "flat-line." It went down, and about 10-15 seconds later, I was unconscious. I woke up to see a crowd of docs and techs all around me. Apparently my heart felt insulted, so it just stopped - many times, for up to 20 seconds at a crack. I now have a pacemaker to keep it behaving.
I had a similar "Oh, Crap!" moment when I was in the CICU after my valve replacement, as I watched my own monitor go "flat-line." It went down, and about 10-15 seconds later, I was unconscious. I woke up to see a crowd of docs and techs all around me. Apparently my heart felt insulted, so it just stopped - many times, for up to 20 seconds at a crack. I now have a pacemaker to keep it behaving.
