Sarah's Guestbook

Hi Sarah, I read your post and thought I'd toss in my two cents worth of wisdom and experience. I am 64 year-old retired carpenter. I had surgery six weeks ago today to replace a crusty old aortic valve with a new prosthetic bio-valve. All went extremely well, mainly because I am otherwise a very healthy, active man. But to come to the point... My piece of advice is simply this: get this surgery behind you as soon as possible. Waiting until your symptoms get so bad that you're out of options is not a good strategy. Think of the stress you'll be under as that crisis comes upon you, rushing to get arrangements made for your surgery and hospitalization and providing for the care of your family. Far better to decide now to get this valve fixed and go about making all the arrangements in a calm manner. And another thing: age. You appear to be relatively young. Take advantage of your youth, as it plays an enormously important role in your post-op recovery. Every day you wait only lessons your vital energies and resistance. I was having minimal symptoms and probably could have gone on this way for another year without surgery. But faulty heart valves inevitably cause unhealthy distortions in cardiac tissues as the heart strains to compensate for a leaky valve. Not good, and not easily returned to normal, if ever. In any event, I wish you all the best. Let me know what you decide.