Bradley White
Well-known member
It's time to find new doctors. period.
You need to be fighting. I would want to know why a surgeon who decided you needed to be on coumadin anyway would not use mechanical valves. Your cardio seems behind the times. Yep - gotta get new ones.Thriell said:Believe me, I've had more than one heated discussion with more than one doctor about that very subject.![]()
When Dr. Watkins first did the surgery, he told me very plainly that I'd be on blood thinners for six months. Six months later, I had to beg and plead to get a cardiologist to call him and verify that statement because I had been in the hospital without coumadin and I didn't want to go back on it. When I finally DID convince someone to call Dr. Watkins, he changed his story to say that if I had only had ONE valve replaced, I wouldn't need the blood thinners, but since it was, in fact, two valves, then he felt I should be on the blood thinners as a precautionary measure.
I didn't agree then, and I don't agree now, but I got tired of fighting about it with every one I know.
geebee said:You need to be fighting. I would want to know why a surgeon who decided you needed to be on coumadin anyway would not use mechanical valves. Your cardio seems behind the times. Yep - gotta get new ones.
lynlw said:I agree with everyone here, I think you need to find some new doctors, some of the things you have been told are pretty scarey.
lynlw said:As for coumadin because you have 2 tissue valves, honestly I have been involved w/ heart support boards for about 7,8 years and i have never heard of another patient being on coum for that reason.
I also would get hard copies of all of my charts. Good luck, Lyn
Thriell said:I would have appreciated the 30-year life expectancy of the mechanical valve a lot better than the 10-year life expectancy of the valves I have (which don't seem to have lasted TWO years! *GROWL*)
If the surgeon didn't know why the second surgery was needed, what reason did he give for doing the surgery again?MaryC said:Thriell,
This could have nothing to do with the tissue valve. Katie D's and my sister had to have a 2nd open heart surgery on her St Jude mechancial valve 2 yrs after her original surgery. The surgeon thought going into the surgery he was going to have to put another mechanical valve but ended up tightening the valve into place better. The surgeon was not sure what caused the need for a second surgery. Your best plan is to first find a doctor you have confidence in to give you correct information about your status.
RCB said:If the surgeon didn't know why the second surgery was needed, what reason did he give for doing the surgery again?![]()
MaryC said:(Our sister did not have insurance for her first surgery and, to be honest, we always felt the care she got the first time was sub-standard. Everything from the condition of the hospital, staff etc. She came home with a staph infection from that surgery.)
What you have described as "tighten the valve" sounds like classic dehiscence, which is when the suture ring separates from the tissue around the valve seat. It is very much like having to repair a repair in fabric that has come loose. This happens in all surgeries both mech and tissue. However, I have seen several studies where it is quite easy to observe this effect (called jets as high speed blood flows into slower speed blood that pools in the heart chambers) on a color Doppler echo. By the time it starts causing SOB, there is serious separation and the valve can be observed "rocking" back and forth, pivoting on the attached stitches as the heart beats. This observation would be completely different than if the jets were cause by a stuck leaflet. I would be very surprised if an ordinary echo wouldn't show the difference, much less a TEE where it would be a certainty.MaryC said:The reason they did the 2nd surgery was basically my sister was back where she was before her 1st surgery, SOB, tirednessed etc. The doctors could tell the valve was leaking but were unsure of the specifics until the surgeon got in there and determined he could tighten the valve and not replace it. (Our sister did not have insurance for her first surgery and, to be honest, we always felt the care she got the first time was sub-standard. Everything from the condition of the hospital, staff etc. She came home with a staph infection from that surgery.)
catwoman said:Thriell:
Have you been tested for other autoimmune diseases?
She's on an infusion treatment for the RA, can't remember the drug but it starts with an R and is I believe for severe RA that has been resistant to other drugs.
I'm sure your rheumatologist has been brought into all of this by your cardiologist. What has he/she said?
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