Jean's Posts

Hello fellow heart valve patients! It's been a few years since I've been on this site. My AVR surgery anniversary is coming up in February. It'll be 12 years since my surgery at 48 yrs old. I went in for my biannual echocardiogram in September and it showed that my right atrium was moderately enlarged and my right ventricle was severely enlarged and I have mild pulmonary hypertension. I had experienced higher blood pressures over the last 2 years and finally have the right combination of meds that have that under control now. Anyway, I wondered if anyone else had dealt with similar symptoms after having AVR surgery and what action (testing, etc) your cardiologist took to figure out the cause for the enlarged ventricle and pulmonary hypertension so that it may not progress? Hoping to hear from anyone that's experienced this, too. Thank you!

Last year on this day, my old bicuspid valve was replaced with a St. Jude mechanical heart valve and my health was improved for the long run. I thank God for inspiring those that developed the St. Jude valve and for all of the skilled and dedicated people that work in the medical field making it their vocation in life to improve others' health :) God bless you all!