Kelsey's Journal

Susan Lynn  Kelsey - You did it! It's all behind you, now. Take your time to relax and recover. You'll see progress before you know it. All the best! ❤

  Kelsey, you are on the recovery side, congratulations. Take it one day at a time and continued recovery. God bless you

  Kelsey, you made the best decision for you and your situation. You will do fine. We will be here for you when you come out of the TAVR and into recovery. God bless you

Raman Parmar  I'm in the same situation as u here due to have surgery next year. I hope everything goes well for you.

Civita Fahey  I guess my question would be if I have a TAVR now will the next be an open? You are young and you wonder how many surgeries the body can take. If they think TAVR is safe and the valve lasts a good amount of time. I’d go with that. May I ask how long the first one lasted. Whichever you choose my prayers are with you. We with tissue valve will all have this decision to make sooner or later.

Susan Lynn  Kelsey - It's definitely a big decision especially at your young age. I can't blame you for not wanting a mechanical valve, but with the current bio choices, you'd be looking at multiple replacements over the next five, six, maybe seven decades. I would ask your surgeon how many valve-in-valve replacements are possible with TAVR. The answer might help you make your decision. Best of luck with your research and choice. ❤

Ben Landry  OHS sucks. No getting around it. Although at this point it sounds like you might just be delaying the inevitable. So maybe just ask yourself if you’d prefer a larger scale operation now, later, or perhaps multiple interventions over the next few years? You are very young so it’s great that you have options... downside is you have a lot of options lol. I’d recommend discussing with your family and surgeon. I asked my surgeon: if this was your daughter or sister in my shoes what would you have them do? I understand OHS can be scary but try to remain objective as you evaluate all your options. Best of luck!

Karen Warren  Kelsey, I had a TAVR in 2017 at the age of 59. I was in the hospital less than 24 hours. It truly is a remarkable procedure. So far, no problems. I know down the line I will need another procedure, perhaps a valve in valve. Prayers your way.

Rose Madura  Hi Kelsey, you have a tough choice and it is a personal one so I don't want to speculate what I'd do in your place. I know there are many young people on this site who went with mechanical and have done well. But with the technology changing as we speak, it make the choice somewhat daunting. All the advice is good, discuss options with surgeon, cardiologist and your family. My only advice might be to get a more than one opinion. Please keep us posted.

Rita Savelis  Your choice is hard. With either TAVR or OHS tissue at age 32 you'll be having more surgery in 5 years or more... At this point no one knows how long TAVRs last in young patients.
You will need multiple TAVRs or go back to OHS tissue after a TAVR. I'd ask your surgeon whether he or others at your hospital have experience going from TAVR back to tissue through OHS, as this may be what you might need in the future. It's a more complicated surgery, but there are surgeons who are experienced with it.
None of your choices are great, I feel for you. There is no right choice but they are all manageable. I've had 2 mechanical valves for almost 6 years.
Take care.

Kelsey Ballard  In reply to Cevita. I haven’t yet had a valve replacement, just 2 balloon valvuloplasties. My last one was at age 21 and I am now 32. If I was to choose TAVR, my 2nd procedure MAY be a valve-in-valve OR it would be open if that won’t work out. I am on with that possibility.

Kelsey Ballard  Rita; I think that is an excellent question to ask (re: tissue OHS after TAVR or mechanical?) Thank you!

Rose Madura  Hi Kelsey, it might be a good idea to get a second opinion. Having something labeled as "severe" makes me wonder. Sometimes, waiting for symptoms is the "old school" way of thinking. It wouldn't hurt and your insurance would probably cover it. Just a thought. Keep us posted.

Jean Hochevar  I’m getting a second opinion. I am not comfortable waiting it out. Why wait for symptoms to occur if already severe. Goodnluck!

Civita Fahey  Hi Kelsey..I am having PVCs and started feeling them about 6 months after surgery, though I did have them before surgery too. I dont really remember feeling them, but now I do.. I went to an electrophysiologist ( heart rhythm doc) and she said though they can be normal, they dont want too many for too long ( years) as they can cause issues with the heart function.. my testing is all ok right now and I am back on 25mg of metropolol. hopefully they will decrease.. she said that its something that comes and goes.. will ebb and wane I guess. stress, can definitely bring them on .. I know I was pretty stressed out when they started, so I'm hoping they will start to decrease.. I can also feel them more if I have sugar or chocolate, so I am staying away from them.
I have my yearly echo in a few months again, just to keep checking on the heart, but, pretty much not much else they can do.. unless of course they become so unbearable that its worth thinking about an ablation.

Kelsey Ballard  It’s nice to hear you also experience issues when having sugary foods. Most people think I am crazy when I say that! I notice alcohol does it, too.

I just heard from my doctor about my halter monitor results and I am having “a lot” of PVCs and also Non-Sustained Ventricukar Tahycardia. I will also be seeing an electrophysiologist now to discuss what to do.

My friend Google says this may be related to my aortic stenosis and ventricular hypertrophy. I am just wondering now if this is a sign that my valve replacement time is near.

Clare Auten  I already had my children before surgery however, my sister was born with a heart problem and had a mitral valve replacement before she had her son. She got a pig valve to stay off coumadin so she could get pregnant. Her son is 3 and a half now and they are both doing well.

Joshua Trimberger  oddly enough this came up in my decision as my surgeons were explaining as to why some people choose mechanical or biological replacements. He said that he had just done a biological replacement for a young women because she still wanted to have kids and being on blood thinners with a mechanical valve wasnt the safest thing for the birth so thats why in that case biological was right for her. Good luck!

Kelsey Ballard  Thank you guys for sharing; gives me a little hope! I have been pretty down the last couple days thinking about surgery in general and whether or not to have a third. I am hoping I can find a surgeon that will lay out all my options clearly. My cardiologist is great but he is pretty one-sided on suggesting a mechanical valve.

Joshua Trimberger  My surgeon explained it as this. If you're "young" the textbook says implant a mechanical valve because thats what is going to last the longest and give the patient the best odds of not having another open heart surgery. My surgeon said what the textbook says is best doesn't work for every patient. If you're young and have a job like a pro athlete, police, or another job that being on blood thinners would be an issue. Or if you're young women who still wants to have kids, then your surgeon needs to ignore the textbook and work with you to give you the best outcome for your situation. I am 27 and considered young so I would say you are as well. They say the downside of a bio implant and being young is our bodies are rough on the implant and use it up in anywhere from 7 to 10 years on average (my cardiologist said the newer implants may be longer though there is just not enough research on young people with newer implants to get an accurate measure yet) So you will end up having to measure if having another surgery down the road is worth having another kid(s) down the road. My cardiologist also said that he thinks and hopefully this is the case when I need my replacement replaced that it should HOPEFULLY not even be open heart surgery anymore. So thats what I planned on and am hoping for because to put it mildly open heart hasn't been pleasant for me. Good luck!