Recent content by mitchner9g

Glad you're asking this question up front, Pem. Even in the best circumstances, there are communication issues between your local provider and the one who did the knife-work. I've dealt with this a lot, even when the hospital performing the surgery was only 50 miles away from where I normally...

Hey ARG - Sorry to hear about the Ross going south on you...I admire your sensibility to think critically about the reimplantation study without long term followup data. I can't tell you what to do but feel I should at least reach out as another ross patient and let you know what my experiences...

Hi all - Just resuscitating this thread here - I'm experiencing similar ulnar nerve issues since the surgery and they carry on today at post-op week 15. I've gone through the EMG study fun and clinical strength testing with a hand surgeon recently. he (naturally) wants to operate. Procedure...

Hi Protimenow - Thanks for your input! I agree: Philips INR@Home is more a service than an actual equipment seller, however I don't want to exclude them from my list given they do meet my broad criteria for supporting self testing at home. I did some poking around for the ITC ProTime meter you...

Hello comrades - My name is Adam, and I'm new to anticoagulation therapy after getting two new On-x valves in my pulmonary and aortic outflow tracts last month. I am keen on managing my INR with self testing and am looking for a listing of the various manufacturers of home testing kits...

I have colitis, I didn't want to deal with the anticoagulation that would make a bowel flare up worse, so I've opted for surgeries that use biological valves. That said, I am hoping to get a mechanical valve implanted for my fourth surgery in a few weeks and gambling that I can manage my...

Hi Ed - I'm sorry to hear about you having difficulty with your mitral valve there. I hope it gets resolved soon. I presently have 2 mosaics in me. One implanted in 2006 in my aortic position during my second surgery, and then the year following I received a Mosaic valved conduit for my...

Well put, Bob - And not just because I arrived at the same conclusion as you (-: Facing my 4th reconstruction in 11 years (3rd re-op following my orig. Ross procedure in 1999). After some poor luck with biologic valves, I'm knuckling down with a mechanical aortic valve and the one I'm opting...

Gail is this Dr. Miller at Stanford? Thanks,

Hello Mk - You raise a question that I've had for quite some time, although our situations are a bit different. In my case, I underwent a pulmonary valve replacement (my 3rd) a couple years ago, and they implanted what my cardiologist considers too narrow of a bioprosthesis. This is a...

As TobagoTwo mentions above, I'm betting high it's a paravalvular leak as opposed to a malfunction of the valve proper; one thing I'm going to twist my surgeon's arm about is reserving the old valve if it cannot be repaired. Since I won't be going back to the sawbones who did this valve, I...

correct, they did the bypass via the fem artery in #3. it looks like they resorted to this in their notes as an auxiliary plan, they originally tried to do the bypass via cardiac cath but ended up perforating my aortic root in the process so had to go that route. I think in USMC parlance this...

Hi, Yes, I've had 3 surgeries: 1) Ross in 1999 2) Ross re-op in 2006, implanted Mosaic aortic valve, allograph pulmonary 3) a PV re-op in 2007 due to stenotic pulmonary from '06 (likely due to infection; nobody's certain). They wouldn't say what exactly happened during 3) but it was a...

Hi Lynlw - The problem is insufficiency, specifically. They have a hard time visualizing the valve proper because of the stiching ring apparently. however they can assess the regurgitation. Sorry to hear about Justin's scarring response; I've had a lot of challenges for my surgeons due to...

Hello - Have a question about the forum's experience with degeneration patterns of bioprosthetic valves, specifically Medtronic's Mosaic in the aortic position. Previously, I understood from my surgeon that these valves tended to become fibrosed and less pliable over time. The effect presents...