Heart valve replacement surgery

[THC]

Originally Posted by Krash

First of all, the anxiety leading up to the surgery is worse than the actual operation itself…at least for me it was…

I went through valve repair surgery 3 years ago. I was born with a defective valve (mitral valve prolapse). I felt great but it progressed to the point where I had severe leakage and regurgitation. My heart was also functioning in a compensated state, and that’s why I felt like I was in great shape.

My cardiologist told me it needs to be dealt with now or it could get to the point where my heart would begin to function in an “uncompensated” state and one of my chambers could significantly increase in size (forget which one, maybe lower left). If that were to happen, they could fix the valve, but they couldn’t do much to undo the damage it caused. I would basically live the rest of my life a “train wreck.” Those were his exact words.

He also said you don’t want to be somewhere in the middle of the country and suddenly require an emergency valve repair surgery. He said “those never go well.”

But after he explained all that to me, he said I should have the operation in the next 6 months. So, it was urgent, but apparently not so urgent that it needed to be done that week. But he kept emphasizing that now is the time to have the operation while you’re still in great shape.

This was in August and I scheduled the operation for October. He recommended the Cleveland Clinic, but I didn’t want to travel. So I had it at the University of Florida, and he was fine with that.

I had the operation on a Monday. I was in recovery by that evening, and I walked out of the hospital on Friday morning. Two or three weeks later, I was riding my bike around the neighborhood again. I feel great. The surgery was a success.

BTW, I was 58 at the time…


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Thanks Krash.. this is very calming

[Krash]

Originally Posted by THC

Thanks Krash.. this is very calming

Sure, I re-read what I wrote. I think I was actually riding my bike around the neighborhood closer to 3 or 4 weeks after I got out of the hospital and not 2 to 3 weeks.

Either way, if you’re going into an operation like this in a great shape, you’ll be fine.

Nowadays, it’s nice that they operate pro-actively and not reactively. Not too long ago, they’d wait for you to become a “train wreck” and then operate on you.


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