Phil's Guestbook

Hi John - Here's a very technical article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4485610/ From which I pulled the following quote: "The prevalence of BAV stands nearly 10-fold higher in primary relatives of patients with BAV than in the general population" Here's another article that may be a little easier to understand: http://www.onlinejacc.org/content/44/1/138 There is an undisputed genetic component to BAV and there can be other, more serious complications, like associated thoracic aorta aneurysm (TAA) which shouldn't be ignored. Tell your relatives that you'd much rather they found the problem (or lack there of) with a simple echo than during their autopsy! It may sound a little harsh, but if your relatives are anything like mine, they need to be struck between the eyes with a hammer just to get their attention!

Good article and shows the need to get checked. I have BAV and know my brother and one uncle has it as well. I have known about it for a long time but none of my other family members were checked, my brother found out during another unrelated surgery when they did an echo due to having blood pressure discrepancies between his arm and legs. My mom is getting an echo in Jan., I'm hoping she doesn't have it.

It does take time to schedule the echo and get the results but the benefits are huge. If they don't have BAV, they can have peace of mind. If they do, it's time to set up monitoring with a cardiologist. My daughters were under the impression that they needed to get signed up with a cardiologist just to get the initial echo, which is wrong. Your PCP/GP can order up the echo based on family history and also review the initial results. If it turns out they DO have BAV, the they can seek out a cardiologist for the monitoring.

Thanks Bonnie - I'm home from the hospital as of last night. The mini-sternotomy and bovine-tissue valve replacement (27mm) went well with one minor wrinkle - I went into AFib the morning after the procedure. Started at 3am and lasted until almost 10am. I felt every second of that 7 hours. I can't imagine living with that condition! I never felt that uncomfortable in my life. About 40% or so develop AFib after AVR. I guess I was just one of the lucky ones. Dr. Shemin's first visit to my bedside was during my AFib and I was less that gracious, which I'm eternally sorry for. After all, the guy just saved my life less than 24 hours before that! The pros at UCLA Medical were able to get me back since this isn't their first rodeo by any means. Thanks to Dr. Shemin and all the wonderful nurses and caregivers at Ronald Regan UCLA Hospital for saving my life. God was definitely guiding me when he moved me from Buffalo, NY to LA more than 10 years ago. Dr. Shemin told my wife that he was surprised by how tight my valve was ("down to a pencil point opening"). It just reinforces that a stenotic AV gets worse in a big hurry. With all the planning it takes with insurance, work, surgery, etc., one does not have time to waste once the process begins. I'm back in the loving arms of my wife Darlene who will bring me back to full health. You also need to be a "motivated" patient. Exercise, taking the meds at the right times, deep breathing/coughing, no lifting or driving, proper diet, etc. Since I came home I haven't needed any pain meds at all and am avoiding the "oxy" at all costs. It will take another night or so kick it completely. Don't get me wrong - for right after surgery and the next 3-4 days I absolutely needed it. Recovery from the grueling open-heart surgery is best done with with this stuff but getting dependent on it is like falling off a log. Anyway - on to recovery. Many thanks to all that held me in prayer - it made all the difference. By God's glorious will, I'm alive. Many thanks also to Adam for this wonderful site and valve replacement community. It helped me in so many ways, not the least of which was finding the incredible Dr. Shemin!

Nice to hear from you and to know that you are now starting your recovery. The tough part is over, you did it! Good for you. Fully expecting A-fib. after surgery but watched a video on this site that said 94% of patients who experience A Fib after heart valve surgery recover within 6 weeks, stressing that this is temporary. I can do "temporary"

They'll put you on a regime of meds (Amiodarone, twice a day) for at least a week to help keep the heart from slipping into AFib again. Also, they'll put you on Metoprolol beta blocker daily forever. I was told that the chance of recurrence drops the farther away from the surgery day. The first week is the steepest. I'll hold you in my prayers for a successful surgery. Anything this major is scary but if you're like me, I definitely wanted the old diseased valve out. Santa will bring you a fully-functioning heart for Christmas!! Its the best gift one could get.