Linda's Heart Valve Journal

Hello! I'm new here but not new to heart surgery. I had a mitral commissurotomy in 1974 and a mitral valve replacement in1981. My diagnosis was mitral stenosis due to Rheumatic Fever (which I never knew I had). Fast forward to now...Because of some recent swelling of my ankles and legs and shortness of breath this past summer (which coincidently happened at the same time that my dr. increased my dosage of Norvasc), there was a question of whether or not I was in congestive heart failure. My dr. that had been following me since we moved here didn't think I was but after requesting my echos from the last several years and seeing that I had pulmonary hypertension (from at least seven years ago) I decided to seek another opinion from another cardiologist that was a specialist in pulmonary hypertension and heart failure. So I have seen the second dr. and he has diagnosed me with chronic congestive heart failure (diastolic with preserved ejection fraction), and something that I have never heard of...patient prosthetic mismatch which I understand is my St.Jude mitral valve is too small. Of course, I don't think they knew about this stuff 33 years ago when my valve was implanted. According to the echos that I have the pulmonary hypertension has remained mild for the last seven years but the tricuspid regurgitation has increased from mild to moderate. I have decided to stay with the new cardiologist and will have my next appointment April 1. Of course, after looking all this stuff up on the internet, I'm wondering what is coming...specifically having to possibly get my tricuspid valve repaired. It doesn't sound like an easy procedure. Any questions you all might have for me to ask my new doctor about this would be much appreciated. I've had some very good cardiologists following me all these years. We lived in Baltimore for 15 years and I was followed at Johns Hopkins and then in Atlanta for five years followed at Emory. Oh, I also have a pacemaker/defibrillator. A chest full of metal. Thanks for reading all this! As a side note on the SOB and swelling this past summer, when the Norvasc was decreased and my diuretics were doubled for three days, I lost almost 9 pounds overnight and it has never returned.