12 year Bovine valve anniversary

[BAVD John]

July 28th will mark my 12th year with my Bovine valve and the 29th will mark my 43rd wedding anniversary. My Edwards valve was implanted by Dr. McCarthy at Northwestern Memorial in Chicago. I was just shy of my 54th birthday at the time. He gave me a 80% chance that my valve would last 15 years. I see my cardio twice a year with my next echo in January. So far so good and I hope it stays that way for as long as possible.

I'm the oldest of 4 males in my family. 3 of us have had our aortic valves replaced, all bicuspid. My youngest brother had his replaced at age 37 and had a mechanical valve along with his aorta replaced. My other brother had his valve replaced a few years after me at age 57 and he choose tissue too.

I was a bit more active as a participant here years ago and am sorry to learn that a number of our highly respected members have now passed. I've been lurking more regularly lately and wish everyone well.

 

[dick0236]

Congrats on your 12 years with your valve......I hope you get many more.

Interesting about your family members also having bicuspid valves. My daughtter-in-law's father, an uncle and a cousin all have/had bicuspid valves......more proof that that heart problem is genetic..

 

[Chuck C]

Congratulations on your valviversary! Wishing you many more years on your valve!

 

[Hyp2r]

Congratulations, hope it continues for a few years yet. I’ve only just had my aortic and mitral valves replaced, hope they last as well as yours, then if needed, TAVI which should just about see me out.

 

[bizinsider]

Congrats. I'm almost a year and a half in with the same valve you have. Fingers crossed mine gets anywhere near yours. My OEM, a unicuspid, was highly calcified so I likely have a predisposition toward lower tread life. My surgeon gave me 8-12 as the realistic range, sized for a TAVR replacement. I have a feeling I may be the last man standing to have had a Permiount installed, ironically by the lead investigator on the Resilia. I think it may have been the timing/procedure. I'm just happy to be here!

 

[Kathmack]

July 28th will mark my 12th year with my Bovine valve and the 29th will mark my 43rd wedding anniversary. My Edwards valve was implanted by Dr. McCarthy at Northwestern Memorial in Chicago. I was just shy of my 54th birthday at the time. He gave me a 80% chance that my valve would last 15 years. I see my cardio twice a year with my next echo in January. So far so good and I hope it stays that way for as long as possible.

I'm the oldest of 4 males in my family. 3 of us have had our aortic valves replaced, all bicuspid. My youngest brother had his replaced at age 37 and had a mechanical valve along with his aorta replaced. My other brother had his valve replaced a few years after me at age 57 and he choose tissue too.

I was a bit more active as a participant here years ago and am sorry to learn that a number of our highly respected members have now passed. I've been lurking more regularly lately and wish everyone well.

Thanks for sharing your family’s data - I was quite astonished that this particular cardiac situation can be so prevalent in any given family. My own family has kind of a history of heart disease on my maternal side. I was told probably twenty years ago that I had a heart murmur but since no doctor told me to see a cardiologist about it I figured it was no big deal. Then last December I had a scan of my chest and some other tests and that doctor recommended having my heart checked by a cardiologist. That was when I first heard that I had aortic stenosis - I was really stunned as to me this was not expected. I had my valve replacement (TAVR) this past March. Congrats on your replacement’s longevity!

 

[Stevebav]

Well done and thank you for taking the time to post. I'd a Perimount installed just over 1 year ago, My surgeon simply stating he preferred the proven track record to the promised longevity of the Resilia.
Would you say you've focused on any particular diet/exercise/lifestyle/meds to help the valve last?

 

[BAVD John]

Thanks to all for the kind words. I thought it was important to share my family history for those who are curios about genetics regarding valve disease. In my research I found the bicuspid valve can skip a generation. Neither my parents had a bicuspid valve but both had some form of heart disease. My grandparents medical records are sketchy as my fathers dad passed in 1955 or 56 of I believe a heart attack but don't know if it was valve related or not. My dad's mom lived into her eighties along with both of my mom's parents. I have 4 children, all have been checked, along with my 3 grand children, and none of them have a bicuspid valve I found it interesting that my cousin, on my dad's side also has a bicuspid valve and will have the TAVR procedure in September, I believe she is 70 years of age. So is that a enough evidence to show that the disease was passed down from my father's side, perhaps not, but I found it interesting.

I can't say that I do anything special to help prolong my valve. I have 3 stents in my heart. One implanted at age 49 and the other 2 in February of 2019. I'll be 66 next month. I was a bit of a gym rat up until the pandemic taking a fitness class 3 days a week and I thought I was in pretty good shape. That stopped with the pandemic and my wife and I returned to the gym in late May but I'm still no where near the fitness level of spring 2020. We try to eat healthy, my wife tries to keep me in line, but I did put about 6 lbs on during the pandemic. I'll attribute the 6 lbs to mostly wine and some ice cream. As to the longevity of my valve, I attribute that to the valve and my body chemistry.

Thanks again for your responses.

 

[tom in MO]

Congratulations. May you have many more.

Rest easy with your slight decline in fitness from 2020. Exercise is good for you, but doesn't seem to effect a replacement valve's lifespan.

 

[lilyofthewest]

That's interesting about the idea that it skips a generation. My dad's mom had a "heart condition" for many years and died in her 70s from it. But back then we knew no details other than to grab grandma's purse and get her a nitro pill whenever she was feeling dizzy. Now of my 5 siblings, 3 of us have had valve replacement and I have a niece on my dad's side who also is probably going to need one. Mine was bicuspid for sure.

Both my daughter and her son have been diagnosed with "heart murmur." Unfortunately my kids get it from both sides as their dad (my ex) has also had valve replacement.

My cardiologist advised that my kids should definitely get baseline testing done and keep on top of it. At least now we know. I had no idea before I was diagnosed, late in the game, thanks to an alert from my doctor in a routine visit.

 

[Kathmack]

That's interesting about the idea that it skips a generation. My dad's mom had a "heart condition" for many years and died in her 70s from it. But back then we knew no details other than to grab grandma's purse and get her a nitro pill whenever she was feeling dizzy. Now of my 5 siblings, 3 of us have had valve replacement and I have a niece on my dad's side who also is probably going to need one. Mine was bicuspid for sure.

Both my daughter and her son have been diagnosed with "heart murmur." Unfortunately my kids get it from both sides as their dad (my ex) has also had valve replacement.

My cardiologist advised that my kids should definitely get baseline testing done and keep on top of it. At least now we know. I had no idea before I was diagnosed, late in the game, thanks to an alert from my doctor in a routine visit.

My situation is kind of like yours in that I wasn’t really aware that my aortic valve was not in good shape. My healthcare was mostly focused on my panhypopituitarism which was finally diagnosed in January 2000. I had a myriad of strange symptoms starting in 1990 and went all over the place trying to get diagnosed. Finally found an endocrinologist in Boston who diagnosed my disease rather quickly. However all the docs I saw never mentioned the word “murmur.” Last Christmas I got a UTI and at that visit our family doctor noticed something going on with my heart and sent me to a cardiologist and thus I learned that my valve needed replacement - major shock! My brother John had just passed away during heart surgery which exacerbated my panic. However I subsequently learned that his surgery wasn’t concerning a valve. I had TAVR procedure on March 30 of this year - if I didn’t have so many other health issues maybe I would have more energy plus I figure that my being 79 is a major factor energy-wise.

 

[Eva]

Congratulations! Wishing you many more healthy years. And welcome back to the Forum!