At 88, Olive Is Oldest Heart Valve Surgery Patient In United Kingdom
May 9th, 2009This is an amazzzzzzzzzing heart valve surgery success story from the Macclessfield Express in England:
A brave great-grandmother Olive Durrington recently became the UK’s oldest patient to undergo heart valve replacement surgery. Olive, 88, broke the record as she underwent a “keyhole” heart operation previously offered to younger people.
Grandmother-of-two, Olive said she was now looking forward to getting back to baking cakes and treats for the church, and shopping when the weather gets better. 
She was diagnosed with a “sticky valve” (aortic stenosis) in 2007 and it deteriorated until January, this year, when she was unable to walk across the room without becoming totally breathless.
Surgical experts told Olive she was too old to have open heart surgery because of the risks and recovery time, but she was offered a keyhole procedure – a much less intrusive operation.
Since that pioneering procedure – called transcatheter aortic valve implantation, where a tube was fed into her heart through a small hole in her groin – at Wythenshawe Hospital on February 25, she said her breathing has been “wonderful”.
Olive, whose husband Ray, a former soldier, died at 52 in the 70s, said: “I’m feeling really good actually. I’m just getting over a chest infection, but since the operation, the breathing is wonderful. It really is.”
But the brave former volunteer carer admitted: “I was scared before I went to have the operation. In fact, I was petrified, but didn’t tell the family. The consultants at Macclesfield Hospital gave me all the (medical) literature to read, which I read two or three times, and so did my daughter (Joan), and decided just to go for it.”
Her daughter Joan Durrington said: “It’s amazing. Twenty four hours after the surgery she was sitting up in bed having breakfast, and was out the day after that, walking around. She’s already started doing the washing up again!”
Olive noted in closing, “I just want to say thanks to all the doctors and nurses at Wythenshawe who looked after me. They were really first class. I really enjoyed my stay, actually.”
Keep on tickin Olive!
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| About The Author: Adam Pick is a double, heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. This unique book integrates clinical research with the personal experiences of 135 former patients to help future patients and their caregivers better understand the problems, the opportunities and the realities of heart valve surgery. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here. |
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