Harry's Posts

Harry, you are not alone many have been there. I was 63 when I was told I needed a valve replacement. Young and dumb I thought a TAVR would be great, in and out. This group told me fairly politely that I had an ID Ten T problem (ID10T) and I need to replace the valve. Being a few years older I went with the Bovine valve. Ask anything someone will have experienced it. It helped me. I am glad you got a second opinion and like the Doc. Good Luck on you journey. Dan

I had my mitral valve repaired (through a sternotomy) when I was 54, 8 years ago. It seemed daunting at first, but for me I liked learning about the mechanical structures they were going to fix surgically. It helped me to be less stressed when doctors and nurses were talking. I healed quickly — I went in on a Tuesday morning and was home for Friday dinner. The anticipation beforehand was way worse than the surgery and recovery. Now, 8 years later, a recent echo shows the repaired valve does not leak at all. So you are not alone, there are lots of us who have had to come to grips with this and move through it. It is a big and dramatic surgery BUT they are so good at it now. This site is a great for de-stressing because somebody here has been through everything.

You are not alone in how you are feeling about your heart valve news. Most of us on this site have literally been in similar shoes. I was 55 when I got my new aortic valve and root replacement. Thought my world would never be the same but here I am doing well 3 1/2 years later. I got a bovine replacement but that was a really difficult decision for me. Thinking about what is coming was worse than what actually happened. While not a walk in the park, I am the biggest wimp ever and did pretty well all considered❤️

Hey thanks for all this feed back. I always feel better after coming on this site then I see that I am not alone. But that is so impersonal from a keyboard. In my daily interactions with people I don't mention it anymore to anyone, bcause in the past they give you that sad side look and say sorry and say you will be okay or i understand. They truly do not understand and they cannot relate, because they are not going through it or have gone through it. Talking with a cousellor or tharapy does not seem to help either, becasue they cannot relate. I personly do not know of anyone that has or is going through this, I know of heart bypass patients but NO heart valve replacement patients. I had to think about this for a couple of days but If it is okay and not a violation of the policy of this website I would like to talk with one or two of you nice folks on the phone. I KNOW for a fact that you can relate and understand what I have before me. I am not going to post my cell number here for you to call but i am going to post my email here. So if you are similar in age to me (59) and have or had severe aortic stenosis and are willing chat please send me an email with your number. harryn@telus.net Thanks Harry

sounds like you have time to do some research. ultimately, you decide what type of surgery you want. surgeons specialize in certain procedures. dr el-hamamsy came from Montreal and is now at mt sinai in nyc and an expert in ross procedure. others will say mechanical or tissue. there are great videos on this site that can explain the options! pros cons what fits your life and goals.

"Subclavian steal syndrome" means there is very likely a blockage in the artery that carries blood to your brain. This means the path-of-least-resistance for your blood is through your the subclavian artery (your arm). The subclavian "steals" some of the blood meant for your brain. There is another variation where blood goes to your arm instead of to your heart and mimics the feeling of a heart attack. just because there is a blockage in that artery, it doesn't necessarily mean your brain isn't getting enough blood. It could be getting blood from other artery connections. It sounds like a good thing to get caught early.

Yes i am on statins have been for a couple of years. I am on atrovistatin 40 mg Everything is in the acceptable range as seen below. Here in Canada we measure in mmol/L and in the US you guys look at mg/dl Converting my LDL number 1.74 to the US standard I am 67.28 So Marie Myers I am doing okay