Patricia's Posts

My husband Roger who is the heart valve recipient had his surgery almost 30 years ago and he is almost 78. He was born with a bi-cuspid valve and and also had an ascending aneurysm caused by the faulty valve. He received a St Jude Valve with conduit attached which is called a Bentall Procedureat the same time at Kaiser Sunset. We knew a mechanical valve would last longer and that he would be on Coumadin the rest of his life but we could handle it. Well he is almost 78 now so it has been almost 30 years. I was a registered nurse at the time so I understood the ramifications and the support he would need from me. We worked it out together but Roger never acted like victim and did all the things he normally did even though he scared me a lot of times. He rode motorcycles with his buddies and even was hit by a car when he was stopped at a light. We have had our shares of surgeries where they would put him on Heparin and he developed a Hematoma from his blood being so thin or he would have a cocktail and his INR was not in control. I was scared silly when he had his surgery and thought he was so fragile because it was his heart but he has managed to survive the surgery and developed cardiac tamponade afterwards and had to be readmitted to have the lining of his heart drained. Again I was terrified but all in all, he has done well . I just read that Mick Jaggar was in the USA getting his aorta valve replaced. Roger says to tell everybody Kaiser did a good job of taking care of him.