{"id":78,"date":"2020-07-01T10:54:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T10:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=78"},"modified":"2025-06-08T21:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T21:47:09","slug":"mechanical-valve-patient-success-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/mechanical-valve-patient-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"37-Year Mechanical Heart Valve Replacement Success Story: Allen Stendahl"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The patient success stories keep coming in!\u00a0 This time, I had a very special opportunity to interview Allen Stendahl from Fernandina Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n<p>In 1956, Allen struggled with rheumatic fever.\u00a0 Then, 10 years later, Allen contracted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/bacterial-endocarditis.php\">bacterial endocarditis<\/a>.\u00a0 As a result of these infections, Allen was diagnosed with a severely leaking aortic valve, also known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/aortic-valve-regurgitation-symptoms.php\">aortic regurgitation<\/a>.\u00a0 He needed a new heart valve.\u00a0 This is his story&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SHX-AxUK8HM?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Patient Learnings from Allen&#8217;s Story<\/h2>\n<p>I really enjoyed getting to know Allen and to learn about his life before-and-after surgery.<\/p>\n<p>There were several great points from Allen&#8217;s story that I wanted to jot down for all of us to learn from:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>While Allen was diagnosed with rheumatic fever (at 9 years old) and endocarditis (at 19 years old), his aortic valve did not need to be replaced until Allen was in his mid-30s.\u00a0 This is important for patients to appreciate as heart valve disease can progress over short or long periods of time.\u00a0 For this reason, patients diagnosed with heart valve disease should get annual check-ups to monitor a defective valve and prevent cardiac damage.<\/li>\n<li>Allen was formally diagnosed with a severely leaking aortic valve, also known as aortic regurgitation or aortic insufficiency.\u00a0 As a result, blood was flowing backwards across his aortic valve which put extra strain on the heart as it needed to &#8220;repump&#8221; blood across through the heart.<\/li>\n<li>Given Allen&#8217;s age at the time of surgery (35 years), Allen was excited by the possibility of getting a <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3ily1YP\">mechanical heart valve replacement<\/a>.\u00a0 He felt there was a possibility this operation could be a &#8220;one-and-done&#8221; situation unlike tissue valves which typically wear out over a 10 to 15 year period.<\/li>\n<li>Since his operation, Allen has not experienced any issues specific to the functioning of his St. Jude Medical mechanical valve.\u00a0 (So you know, St. Jude Medical was purchased by Abbott in 2017.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/Images\/St.-Jude-Mechanical-Valve-Regent.jpg\" alt=\"St. Jude Mechanical Heart Valve Replacement\" width=\"650\" height=\"499\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Specific to the lifetime use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/coumadin-therapy-valve-replacement.php\">blood-thinners (e.g. warfarin, Coumadin)<\/a> needed to eliminate the potential risk of clots forming on the mechanical valve, Allen has not experienced any issues testing his blood for acceptable INR levels.<\/li>\n<li>Allen has lived a &#8220;full life&#8221; without any restrictions after receiving his mechanical valve.\u00a0 Allen has not had a heart valve re-operation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/Images\/allen-stendahl-kids.jpg\" alt=\"Mechanical Valve Patient Success Story\" width=\"550\" height=\"458\" \/><br \/>\nAllen &amp; His Children<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Allen&#8217;s advice for patients is to get regular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/echocardiogram-stress-doppler-tee.php\">monitoring of your heart<\/a> and to be honest with your medical team about how you are feeling &#8211; good or bad.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks Allen!\u00a0 Thanks St. Jude Medical \/ Abbott!<\/h2>\n<p>I can&#8217;t thank Allen enough for sharing his mechanical valve replacement success story with our community.\u00a0 Allen is the longest living, heart valve replacement patient that I have spoke with.\u00a0 Needless to say, his 37-year journey has been very inspirational for me considering it&#8217;s only been 14 years since my operation. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/Images\/allen-wife-golfing.jpg\" alt=\"Mechanical Valve Patient with Wife\" width=\"569\" height=\"569\" \/><br \/>\nAllen &amp; His Wife On The Golf Course<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I also want to thank the team at St. Jude Medical \/ Abbott for making such a wonderful medical device that has helped Allen live such a great life!!!<\/p>\n<p>Related Links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mechanical-prosthetic-heart-valve.php\">Mechanical Heart Valve Replacements: A Patient Introduction<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2015\/03\/02\/mechanical-valve-ticking-clicking\/\">Linda&#8217;s Challenge: Can You Heart My Mechanical Valve Tick?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2008\/09\/10\/mechanical-aortic-valve-replacement-options\/\">Mechanical Aortic Valve Replacement Options<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the hearing impaired members of our community, I have provided a written transcript of my interview with Allen below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"class_list":["post-78","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-patient-stories"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5892,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/78\/revisions\/5892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}