Which Valve do you Have?

[river-wear]

vprnet - nice post. I was also shocked and very saddened to hear about Valerie.

Bob H. (tobagotwo) makes a good point about the survey possibly being skewed by the folks who would be most likely to stick around on an ongoing basis. I was beginning to think that mechanical valves were going out of favor after reading only a few posts on this forum. I also noted some statistics in an article posted by another member that said the Cleveland Clinic used a bioprosthesis in 76% of cases in 2001. Perhaps that's because of the age distribution of the patients though.

Source (beginning of 2nd paragraph):
http://www.stretchphotography.com/avr/documents/PetterssonOnOptimalOp2002.pdf

 

[KAJ]

I am in full agreement with Ross. When I first learned I needed AVR, I wanted to avoid Coumadin. Yes, I listened to the myths rather than the facts. I looked into the Ross procedure. I found out I was not a candidate for it. I then wanted to go tissue. I already had one surgery at age 25 to correct a birth defect in my chest.

The night before my ""scheduled surgery date" my surgeon saw me for the first time. The initial consult was done over the phone due to being out of state. His exact words that night were "that is going to be a challenge."
That was certainly not what you wanted to hear from a very experienced heart surgeon. He was referring to having to work around my chest surgery. He also then suggested I go with the mechanical valve. He said I may not make it through a third surgery. He then decided to delay my surgery by one day.

Knowing what I now know, I am glad I went with mechanical. I would probably have to be on Coumadin anyway because I went into A-fib a few days after surgery. Yes, I have to go somewhere to get my INR checked but oh well. I can still remember my chest surgery. It just plain sucked. My AVR was not much better. For well over a month, I felt like I had been hit by a Mac truck.

Lord willing, I hope to never, never go through anything like it again. In my view, taking a pill every day for the rest of my life is better than having to go through another surgery. In addition, I never want to put my family through anything like it again. It was after the surgery that my wife told me about her fears with my surgery, and she is an intensive care nurse. She never let on before the surgery. She knew too much but she was trying to protect me from worry.

Been there, done that, hope to never, ever do it again.

Karl

 

[neil]

bob great post agree with you on this one,

 

[Lily]

bob great post agree with you on this one,

I keep trying to not post on this thread. And here I go. Posting on it anyway.

It is tragic and sad. And replying now seems particularly redundant in the light of Valerie's sad death.

This $64,000 valve choice question has been addressed many times on the site. I often feel there is some type of competition related to the choices. It just shouldn't be that way. It's shouldn't be "Us vs. Them."

And I think it is important to respect the diginity of the other members when they have made their choice, granting them the assumption that they have made the best choice for themselves after consultation and discussion with their excellent surgeon and based on their personal situation, including their research and possible comorbities, etcetera. While we all have our opinions, they may be just that, opinions, and not based on all the facts. Please don't be mad at me if I worded that clumsily.

And then we can all, each one of us, make the best of our decision, our choice. And we enjoy the extension of our lives and rejoice with the added time we may have with our loved ones.

I know one of many things that factored in my choice was a thread I read here in the fall of 2003 entitled "One Valve for Life?" The member who started it shared something interesting that his surgeon told him about valve choice. None of us can predict, can know what is down the line for us.

So whatever valve you have, you have already won the $64,000 question.

 

[Ross]

And as had been said, I'm trying to provoke people to think their choices over and not be so cavalier in regards to how many times they can go through with this surgery. It's not about valve choice, it's about saving lives. Why it always gets spun into a valve debate, I don't know.