David's Journal

Jason Hyrup  Awesome David. Nice to see your recovery is going so well. It makes my upcoming surgery less scary. Not......still freaking out, but your recovery is nice to hear.

Pamela Gregory  Glad to hear things are progressing. Walking is hard at first but definitely gets better quickly and really helps recovery.

David Tavarez  Thank you so much, Donna, Richard, Marie, Pamela, and Grace! During my first week back at home, I have been focusing on breathing exercises and pain management, and I have been feeling comfortable, as long as I take naps and have plenty of rest. I hope all of you are doing well!!

Pamela Gregory  Great! So glad to hear it went well! Also sending more prayers for an uneventful recovery 🙏❤️‍🩹

Leona Resch  Woohoo David!! Wonderful news!!! Welcome to recovery!!’ Bet you saw Girardi and team this morning! Have they got you up in a chair yet? That was the best feeling for me !! Try to get some rest although I know that’s hard with all the nighttime checks! Every day will get a little better! Keep in touch and Let us know how you progress !  👏👏👍👍

Amy Berger  Yay!!! It gets easier each day - I wouldn’t want to have to do the ICU over again but after the first few days I was truly amazed how little pain I felt and how good I felt! Congrats!!

Heidi Donohue  yipee!! David glad it went well cant wait TO hear about your recovery and what kind of valve you had. 

Danny Mahoney  Awesome!  The ICU was the toughest part for me.  Keep pushing forward and you'll feel better before you know it.

David Tavarez  Sending more love and good wishes all around!! The doctors will get me to walk today, and my drainage tube is coming off. Dr Grardi and his team never cease to amaze me.

Leona Resch  Yep! You are right on target David! I remember walking there and I felt so good doing it! You’ll feel so much better without all tubes! I found all the nurses and attendings and residents were incredible. The care was top notch! Bet you go to a regular room  soon!! Yay for you’! you are doing great!! 👏👏👏👍

David Tavarez  Thank you so very much for all your kindness, solidarity, prayers, and positive vibrations. Leona, I am thinking about you as I walk around the step-down unit. Adam, thanks for the sign!! Greg, Donna, Erin and Pamela, I treasure your prayers and love. Thisd is like meeting many, many friends on short notice. I hope each of you are doing well, and I will be writing more notes later—thank you!

Leona Resch  Great news David!! Happy to hear you are walking around d on the step down unit . Wishing you continued progress and hopefully you can go home soon!!👍🙏

Danielle Elizabeth  I had a BAV, which was repaired, and an aneurysm 4.5-4.6 cm that was replaced with a graft back in May. My second choice if the valve wasn’t repairable was a mechanical valve. I likely would have gone with a St. Jude. My valve was repaired fortunately so I didn’t need to make that decision at this time. Questions I would have in 15-20 years when I might need a mechanical valve are mostly, how does long term use of anticoagulants affect my other organs and hepatic function. How often will I need to check INRs. How will it affect future surgeries? On a side note, I’d recommend checking with your primary care physician to ask if you need any other routine appointments prior to open heart surgery, such as a colonoscopy, dermatology, etc. because when you start anticoagulants, it might take a while to get the dosage and INRs in a therapeutic range, meaning any other procedures would be pushed back for quite some time. You can also message the surgeon to see if there is an anticoagulant guide for patients. There is a ton to research and many options fortunately. Wishing you the best of luck. 

David Tavarez  Thank you, Danielle, this is all very useful! I am having dental surgery before my operation, for the reasons you mentioned. It sounds like you had a lengthy recovery time, I hope you are feeling 100% now!

Danielle Elizabeth  Thanks, yes I had a few common physiological setback with my lungs. Then depression somewhat kicked in from the slow recovery, but medications are doing wonders. I wish I’d started antidepressants before the surgery. My energy is recovered and I was able to snowboard twice this week and only experienced minor sternum pain! The mind is an amazing thing, I’ve forgotten the hardest parts of surgery and recovery. Glad you’re getting the dental work done prior to your surgery date. The risk of endocarditis is worrisome. If you have a chance, go for a few jogs prior to surgery. It was nice in cardiac rehab knowing what my baseline was before surgery. 

Thomas Tomlinson  Hi David,

  I was 54 years old 6 weeks ago when I had my valve replaced, I've since turned 55.


I had the same issues as you except no aneurysm, thank god. I was originally going to have a Ross procedure, but decided against it because more than likely I would need another operation eventually if I went that route. Obviously I could still potentially need another operation, but I feel like there is less of a chance with a mechanical valve.


I already started home INR testing last week (testing weekly) and I have done it twice so far with no issues. Being on warfarin was the main reason I didn't want a mechanical valve, but again I think that having the mechanical valve outweighs the other potential risks of a tissue valve. I don't really care for the clicking/thumping of the mechanical valve but it's not really that big of a deal, I'm sure that over time I will get more used to it.


I have had a lot of upper back pain and weird nerve pain sensations around the incision , I feel like these are things you are not informed of before the surgery. Yes , they tell you that you will have pain, but I just assumed most of it would be the sternum. Boy, was I wrong.


I would say that the last few days I have felt the most normal since the surgery. I started cardiac rehab a week ago and my surgeon told me that I probably wouldn't even need to go to rehab but of course they have you go anyway. But I would say that so far I am exercising more on my own than in rehab. So maybe he was right, but I'll keep going anyway, it gives me something to do.


Hope I answered some of your questions, I'd be happy to answer anything else if I can. Good luck with your surgery!

Patrick Petch  Hi David,
Best of luck with your surgery. I was 46 when I had the aortic aneurysmand valve replaced. The reason I went with tissue was at the advice of my surgeon die to having young boys and coaching them in baseball. He felt it was too much of a risk with me being hit with baseballs and bats to be on blood thinners. Otherwise I would have gone mechanical so as not to deal(in theory) with a follow up surgery. I just had my 6yr CT scan and there is zero evidence of stenosis and my Dr. feels like I should expect another 10yrs from it.  That will take me too about 64 yrs old then hoping a TAVR proscedure takes me the rest of the way to that big bar stool in the sky.

Randy W  I had aortic valve and aneurysm surgery in July.  I am 64 and after thorough research and discussion with my surgeon, I chose a tissue valve.  I felt that the long term use of blood thinners and the restrictions that go with it would not give me the quality of life that I wanted.  The expected life of my bovine valve is somewhere between 10 and 20 years.  Should I need a second valve, I expect it to be done through a TVAR procedure.  I am sure that there will be advances in the TVAR valves and procedure in the next 10 years that will make this an acceptable procedure.  Best of luck to you.

David Tavarez  Hi Thomas, thank you for sharing your story, and I hope that cardiac rehab helps you get rid of your pain and discomfort. It is incredibly useful to have a sense of how your experience is going and how you are feeling 6 weeks after your operation. Best wishes for a full recovery!!

David Tavarez  Patrick, thank you so much for your observations. I am also hoping to have moderate activity after surgery, and it sounds like your tissue valve and you have a beautiful friendship that will go on for a long time. One issue about the mechanical valve is that, even with blood thinners, your risk for a stroke will increase, and that is part of the calculations for each of our individual situations.

David Tavarez  Thank you, Randy, for sharing the details about your decision. I wish I had a few more years before my surgery so I could follow a plan similar to yours, but I have known about my bicuspid aortic valve since my early 40s, and I knew that a replacement would be needed by my mid or late 50s. I hope that your valve lasts for a really long time, so you can push back the less-invasive procedure for as long as it seems reasonable. That would be my hope as well.

Rita Savelis  Hello David. I didn't have a lot of choice as to what type of valve I should have. I had double valve surgery (mitral and aortic) and a tricuspid repair at age 53. It was not advised for me to have more heart surgery in the future because my heart valves were stenosed due to radiation treatment for cancer many years ago.  Taking anticoagulants is an adjustment and then you get on with it. I was very nervous at first, but after that first year I no longer think about it. I have a blood test whenever I want, usually about once a month. I manage my own doses of meds. I eat what I want. The nature of INR is that it will go up and down and your dose of meds may change slightly. It's been 8 years and I've had no anticoagulant problems. I have had several cancers and surgery since heart surgery and doctors have to be aware of your anticoagulants and work around them and they do. They are accustomed to it. So I hear you - valve choice is hard for everyone. There is no perfect solution. Whatever you choose will be right for you and you don't look back. I hope that you can trust your surgeons to advise you as well. Everyone has a different story and others can't give advice, just share their stories. Take care. I'm sorry that you have to go through this.

Jason Hyrup  Hi Rita.

  I'm leaning toward a Mechanical valve. As i was born with (BAVD). The valve my doctor recomended is a
on X (MHV), because of my age at 51. The lower INR levels that is needed to safely operate. Also there's a good possibility that in the Future a new family of blood thinner will come out with less bleeding issues like Warfrin that can be used. 


 Since warfrin is the only approved blood thinner for a mechanical heart valve today, and You've been Using warfrin for a long period of time. Can you share your personal experience with it.

Did you have any excessive bleeding, brusing, or diet issues ect.


Any advice you have would be great.



Thanks Rita

Rita Savelis  Hi Jason. Since I have 2 mechanical valves I have a high target INR (3 to 4.5). As I said before, I was freaked out about being on anticoagulants at the beginning and now I don't think much about it. I haven't had any bleeding experiences, I eat whatever I want (most people have a fairly consistent diet and one's meds are just worked around this. It's a losing battle to try not to consume green veggies, etc. - it really is okay to eat everything in moderation.) The nature of INR is that it will vary and your dose of meds will vary but at some point it gets fairly steady . I get bruises occasionally, but no big deal.  I have a post in my  journal on this site that I wrote long ago about living with anticoagulants that you could read. Take care.