Barbara's Journal

I am a female who had the bovine aortic valve replaced 6 years ago as a result of a bi-cuspid aortic valve and stenosis, and it has functioned fine. I had the traditional surgery (open heart) where the ribs were cut. The recovery time was more from the ribs healing than from anything else I believe. They also had to repair an aneurysm caused by pressure of not having the surgery sooner. Medication, amiodorone, was really bad for me and everyone I know have issues with that drug. They had given me beta blockers which also were bad for me. Keith being healthy otherwise and being active, I would believe you will have a very successful surgery with the bovine valve especially if you go with the less invasive procdess. Connie, my understanding is that when AFIB is diagnosed right away, they can use XARELTO, but not if you have been in AFIB for awhile. This is what they told me. I hated coumadin because my mother almost bled to death on it. AFIB can be corrected by shocking the heart back into rhythm but you have to be on coumadin for a while to get the blood thinned enough prior to the cardioversion (shocking heart into rhythm). Many years prior to my valve surgery, I had tachycardia which was really bad and they did a procedure to get my electrical system back in the full loop instead of the shorter loop. This was done by running a catheter into my heart through a vein, and locating the mis-firing and using RF energy to ablate that spot. Everything perfect after that, but there are varying results based on the skill of the Dr. So I always suggest fiding the best Dr. with the most experience. If you have this issue look it up on line and talk to your Dr. Mine wasn't diagnosed for a long time because you have be be experiencing tachycardia when you see the Dr. and was only diagnosed because I went to the emergency room when it was happening. My recovery from the open heart surgery was 6 months not weeks. But everyone is different. One of the difficulties was the amiodorone, and the other was the actual healing of the ribs. If you have the TAVR, I think it is very fast recovery. I couldn't have that because of the aneurysm since the aortic root had to be replaced as well as the valve. My understanding is they can re-replace the valve with the same procedure with the same results. My suggestion is always find the BEST Dr. with the most experience and meet with him/her before you decide which Dr. and have him/her explain everything. If they are good, you will know. I loved my Dr. in LA - Sharo Raissi. Three top Dr's are at Cedar Sinai. Mechanical valves require you to be on blood thinners forever. Even with blood thinners you can still get blood clots, I know someone who did, so... my suggestion is go with as tissue valve such as bovine.