Recent content by Philip B

Risks? Risks? Gee Norm, I lived and skied in the mountains of Colorado for thirty years. I think I know just a little bit about crashing and snow sports related injuries. Of course, there's inherent risk in pursuing activities that could involve impact injuries. There's risk for anyone who...

Weight Gain Weight Gain Geez, it'd be nice to be able to blame warfarin for weight gain rather than looking at all of the other issues (age, slower metabolic rate, and what I eat) that result in adding pounds. -Philip

Rehab Opportunities Rehab Opportunities Cardiologists vary with respect to their opinions concerning cardiac rehab. Even though I was in my early fifties when I had AVR surgery, my cardiologist indicated that he didn't always recommend rehab for his patients. He also told me that he wouldn't...

Help Help As others have noted, you've little choice but to get some help lined-up. Given your description of what you are facing with regards to surgery, it sounds like you've got some time to pursue lining-up some help. Lifting and carrying your young kids isn't the only issue you'll need...

Boading Boading You're certainly free to choose what you do or not do, but doing "blood thinning" meds shouldn't increase your risk of injury when snowboarding. I skied for a couple of years after AVR surgery and despite taking some hard falls, I fared just fine even though I was taking...

Rehab? Rehab? Cardiac rehab was enjoyable for me. My cardiologist dropped me into a program when I was two weeks post-op to slow me down and monitor the quickest recovery he had ever seen. The program was good because I could see the progress my heart was making. It gave me a lot of...

Dunce Cap? Dunce Cap? No Neil, I wouldn't want anyone who chooses tissue to wear a dunce cap and sit in the corner. As I've noted in numerous posts, I respect whatever choice people make with regards to valve choice. You're certainly correct. The risk of re-ops v. risks associated with...

Omg Omg OMG, bdryer... I hope you don't continue to skydive after you get your mechanical valve... geez, your parachute might not open and...well... you could bleed to death if you're taking coumadin and you hit the ground after jumping from a perfectly good airplane at 10,000 feet... Sorry...

"The risks involved in a re op are more or less the same as major problems with anti coags, to think otherwise is naive at best." Really? Okay, I'm happily naive. Where are the numbers to back this statement. Regardless of my personal preference for going mechanical, I really believe whichever...

Cold? Cold? Take a couple of shots of blackberry brandy and call me in the morning. -Philip

Stroke? Stroke? Geez, what's this stuff about having a stroke? It sounds like you've been listening to the evil, anti-coumadin fairies. Lots of us coumadin junkies live incredibly active lives. Despite my very active lifestyle, a stroke isn't something I even worry about. Life's like our...

Valves? Valves? Dave, As others have already mentioned, there are a number of different kinds of valves. This is true for valves in both the tissue and mechanical varieties. I haven't done much research on the availability of tissue replacement valves with a factory-attached aortic conduit...

Risk? Risk? Any kind of open heart surgery is a big deal. Many of us have gone through AVR surgery with the added complications of having aortic replacement. Yes, it adds some complications, but like others have said, a competent surgeon can handle the task. Some of us opted for replacement...

Dizzy? Dizzy? There are so many things that can cause one to feel light-headed and dizzy it's hard to even guess at a cause. It could be heart, exercise or medication related, but it could be something simple like an inner ear infection. In 2009, I had serious issues with getting dizzy and...

Tick... Tick Tick... Tick Body acoustics vary widely. Odds are pretty good that things will improve for you. It just takes time. -Philip