Andrzej's Journal

Fidel Martínez Ruiz  Hey Andrés, I had some keloid scar and following the advice of Luz, my wife, I aplied rosehip oil over the scar every day and this helped a lot in healing.

Susan Lynn  Andrzej - Sorry to hear about your complications and lengthy hospital stay.   But, hopefully, in the last 4 years, you've had a renewed lease on life and enthusiasm for what's ahead.  A scar is a difficult downside, but a small price to pay for our repaired hearts! Hope you're able to get some relief with additional time and treatment. 

Robert Miller  I am not sure I understand your situation.

* You had mitral valve issue 4.5 years ago.
* You didn't do anything about it
* 5 years later or so (probably just around now) you had a heart attack, didn't say anything about the heart attack but went in for mitral valve surgery and had a stent placed?
* Or you are still thinking about mitral valve surgery since you said" git it done as soon as possible". 

Andrzej Edelman  Hi Robert, let me clear things up, . In 2017 I was diagnosed with severe mitral valve regurgitation, I was told by a surgeon that I had about 5 years so do not leave having the operation for long. I did leave it and on the 25th October 2021 I had a heart attack, this resulted in me having a stent fitted. The cardiologist then informed me that if I didn’t have my mitral valve replaced ASAP I would only have between 3 to 5 months to live. I didn’t believe that but decided to have the operation. I had my valve replacement scheduled for the 29th November 2021( my birthday), unfortunately I had to be opened up again on the same day as I had a serious bleed that needed to be fixed. I stayed in hospital for 25 days and got home just before Xmas. 4 years on I am doing very well except for the keloid scar making up at least one third of my sternum scar my comment about having it done as soon as possible is for anyone thinking about having surgery to have it done ASAP hopefully this clears up any confusion 

Fidel Martínez Ruiz  Hello Andrés: I´m in the same situation than you. I have my mitral valve replaced 2 years ago with a bovine valve and I´m 77 years old. I go to gym several times a week and hiking on the mountains once a week. The cardiologist advice is to keep the heart rate between 105 and 110 bpm for 1 hour while training. For me it´s very difficult to keep this rate and only achieve to be into that range for 5 or 10 minutes. I think that this is quite enough. Nobody has told me what is the scientific reason to this figures, I think that are derived from the cardiac stress tests which I did after surgery. I measure the pulse with a sport wristwatch. Greetings Keep in contact!.

Andrzej Edelman  I am keeping my heart rate in check also with a sports watch, I try and keep it below 120bpm when out riding my e-bike, I am able to keep going with a throttle without pedaling and when my heart rate drops only then do I start pedaling again. Regrettably I am not able to keep using the Rose hip oil on my Keloid scar, It gave me a severe rash so I will keep trying other methods, but thanks for the suggestion, keep well