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R

Regord

Hello forum. To introduce myself, my name is Roger and my wife Val and I live in the UK.

My wife is 64 yrs old and is suffering from severe mitral regurgitation and needs a mitral valve repair/replacement. She is now struggling to breath due to the pressure on her lungs and requires oxygen. Her general state of health is also very poor which means the risk of not survivng surgery or suffering post-operative complications is estimated to be 20-25%. However the alternative of not having the surgery is that her heart will fail in less than 2 years, probably a lot less. She also suffers from severe and chronic rheumatoid arthritis and lives with constant, daily pain. I add this because any further long term suffering caused by this procedure would be intolerable.

To help her make a decision regarding having the surgery or not is somewhat dependant on the potential benefit of the valve replacement weighed against the significant risks. We wonder if anyone here could relate their experiences of this procedure, particularly in cases where they were suffering severe symptoms prior to surgery and could describe the level of improvement gained and in what time scale.

We would be really grateful for any help you may be able to provide. Thank you in anticipation.


Roger
 
I am a Brit and was in a pretty poor state prior to my double valve replacements. I have seen part of my medical records since and it wasn't thought that I would have survived a general anaesthetic - but that was more than three years ago. My mitral valve was completely shot, totally useless, my aortic valve was moderately severe so they replaced the two together to save a second operation shortly after the first - assuming I survived the first!

The difference is amazing, well worth the risk. I see no reason why I won't live to old age now, I am currently 60.

As your wife has arthritis I would think she is better with a tissue valve as she probably takes pain medication which might not work well with warfarin.

I was under Mr Smith at St George's (Tooting, London) and cannot say a word against him or his skill.
 
I just want to welcome you Regord to this amazing family.
Give it some time and I'm sure you'll get support from those who know.

The Doctors also gave me two years if I didn't have replacement surgery, but I was 45 when I got the surgery.

Good Luck and Best Wishes
 
Hello from Yorkshire Roger, all open heart surgery has it's quantified risks, those given to Val are higher than most. The odds are between 5/1 and 4/1 on a positive outcome if she has surgery. If you do nothing the odds are 1/1 she will die soon. I'd go for surgery.:)
Should it all go wrong, all you would be doing is bringing the inevitable forward by a year or so.
Should it all work out well you'll have a healthier happy wife with years ahead of her.

My mantra is think positive, be stoic, be mentally strong.

Welcome to VR.com. It's a mine of experience and information. :)
 
It's not easy, but it's a given that if she doesn't have the operation, she likely won't be around too much longer. For her, it's a quality of life issue. I have to side for fight for life.
Granted it's going to really knock the wind out of her sails and recovery takes a long time, about a year or soo, but that's much better then sleeping in the dirt.
 
Welcome to VR. Sorry for the circumstances but glad you found us. I'm sure it's a tough decision, but from your post it sounds like the chances for life are better with the surgery than without. I'd go with the odds and take the chance, and I'm not a gambler by nature. Best wishes and good luck with the decision.
 
Hi Roger! I am sorry your wife is going through this. My mom was also 64 at the time of her mitral valve replacement. She was very, very bad at the time of her surgery. Very symptomatic-sob, bad. Her cardio gave her a 50/50 shot at making it through the surgery, but her surgeon thank God was more optimistic. She has many health issues also, and before replacement she could barely walk across the street, she was so short of breath. That was over three years ago. She is much better today. She does have a pacemaker, and is on many heart meds. BUT-she can out walk me in a shopping mall-amazing. I would say-go for the surgery. Without it-my mom would have died, no question about it. She did have bumps in the road-heart failure, infection after surgery, kidney issues-but she is here and I am grateful. I would say it took a year or more for her to recover, but many here recover way faster than that. Best wishes to you and your wife-Deb
 
Roger,

Welcome. Good to see you pop on here after visiting us on Chat.

As you will probably see from the replies, most of us here lean toward doing something instead of NOTHING AT ALL. You and your wife already know the eventual outcome from staying the same. Because of her condition, there will be risk involved and she might not come out on the other side any better (or maybe worse). She might not even survive, but at least you both gave it a shot.

It will probably not be an easy decision either way, and I would not want to sit here and tell you which decision to make. You both will have to weigh the pros and cons and make the eventual decision together. Once made, you must find peace no matter what the outcome.

May God Bless,

Danny
 
Thanks to all who have replied to this post. You have give much food for thought.
I may get back to individuals privately if that's ok
Kind regards

Roger
 
gadgetman said:
It will probably not be an easy decision either way, and I would not want to sit here and tell you which decision to make. You both will have to weigh the pros and cons and make the eventual decision together. Once made, you must find peace no matter what the outcome.

May God Bless,
Click to expand...

I too welcome you to this great forum where information and experience abound. I will agree with the above sentiment. Like your wife, I too was given just two years if choosing to do nothing only to find after surgery that it was nothing short of a miracle that I even made it to Hospital. While I am much younger than your wife (46) and have no other health issues, many who were on my floor were 60's and beyond with other health issues unrelated to heart. Recovery for them took much longer; was a little more painful yet I'm sure with time they too will look back as having made the proper choice.

I wish the best for you and your wife. Your support is paramount to her recovery.

-Alistair
 
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