Aortic Valve Replacement feb. 18th 2020

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RJMello85

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2019
Messages
15
I posted a few months ago on pre-surgery and many of y'all gave some good advice. It's been 11 days after surgery, went with the On-X valve and my Surgeon put a graft in my Aorta to extend for the valve to fit.
Everything went extremely good, my Surgeon is one of the best. He found out that I was born with an BAV aortic valve during surgery and that it was dilated at 6cm. So I believe the Surgery was planned just right. But before, it was charted as moderate aortic regurgitation and didn't know I only had 2 leaflet in my valve. Now they are working on getting my INR levels and Coumadin amount right and now taking beta blockers instead of calcium channel blockers. Still sore and some pain from incision and hoses that were in my stomach, which was very uncomfortable in the hospital trying to sleep and sit up with those in and pulling them out weren't fun , but a lot better when they pulled them out. Back pain and shoulder pain on and off and some numbness under left arm pit. Physical therapy was tough the first time but started getting better especially after tubes were removed.
Morphine helped for a short time for pain in the hospital but they gave me something else threw IV that let me rest and take some of the pain away. They discharged us after 5 days and said I was breaking milestones. So now just relaxing home on recliner or my bed and once a week hospital visit for INR because my last was like a 1.66. And next week surgeon visit and chest x-ray. I have an amazing wife and family who have been here and my wife has been non-stop taking care of me. I just thank God everything went well and to start feeling better.
 
I posted a few months ago on pre-surgery and many of y'all gave some good advice. It's been 11 days after surgery, went with the On-X valve and my Surgeon put a graft in my Aorta to extend for the valve to fit.
Everything went extremely good, my Surgeon is one of the best. He found out that I was born with an BAV aortic valve during surgery and that it was dilated at 6cm. So I believe the Surgery was planned just right. But before, it was charted as moderate aortic regurgitation and didn't know I only had 2 leaflet in my valve. Now they are working on getting my INR levels and Coumadin amount right and now taking beta blockers instead of calcium channel blockers. Still sore and some pain from incision and hoses that were in my stomach, which was very uncomfortable in the hospital trying to sleep and sit up with those in and pulling them out weren't fun , but a lot better when they pulled them out. Back pain and shoulder pain on and off and some numbness under left arm pit. Physical therapy was tough the first time but started getting better especially after tubes were removed.
Morphine helped for a short time for pain in the hospital but they gave me something else threw IV that let me rest and take some of the pain away. They discharged us after 5 days and said I was breaking milestones. So now just relaxing home on recliner or my bed and once a week hospital visit for INR because my last was like a 1.66. And next week surgeon visit and chest x-ray. I have an amazing wife and family who have been here and my wife has been non-stop taking care of me. I just thank God everything went well and to start feeling better.
Bravo! I just found out I may have a BVA, it seems to be difficult to confirm.
 
Congrats, and welcome to the club.

There's one thing that I usually tell to others post-op -- get yourself a meter and test your blood weekly. (It'll probably take a while before your dosing levels out). Don't always trust the anticoagulation clinics - they often use outdated protocols and are often content with extending the time between tests.

Even if you still use a clinic, it doesn't hurt to do a weekly test -- it's safer than waiting two or more weeks between tests. You should be able to let them know that you have a meter, and if you get a strange result, you should be able to call the clinic for dosing advice.

You can get meters and supplies on eBay, usually at much lower cost than going through a distributor. These things are MADE to work - the manufacturers can't afford a meter that gives incorrect results --whether it was used by grandpa only five times before he died, or a clinic that's run thousands of tests.

Again - I'm glad to know that you've come out of surgery well, and that you're doing well.
 
Best wishes. Follow through with rehab and just like most on here recommend home weekly testing.
 

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