Recent content by wryan

January 5th was 10 years since AVR. Edward Lifesciences bovine valve. Yearly ultrasounds. Last one this summer showed the valve is performing as well as the day it was installed. I thank God every day.

Good luck with your recovery Steve. My wife who is a respiratory therapist works in the CICU at times and says that not very many people get through this type of surgery without some type of hiccup. When I had my AVR I had problems with very low BP that would not come up, cardiac tamponade...

I have been using an analgesic creme from Walgreens that contains aloe. It has "trolamine salicylate 10%" but it doesn't bring much relief. I think I will ask the pharmacist for any suggestions. I do have an aloe vera plant growing in my back yard. Maybe I can try some of that directly.

Today I'm 7 weeks post-op and on either side of my incision I have a burning sensation on my skin whenever I put a shirt on. It only happens when fabric very lightly rubs against the surface of my skin and extends out mostly on my right side about 4 inches. It is driving me up the wall. I'm...

The upper 3/4 of my incision/sternum doesn't hurt any more. Its the bottom where that soft sternum area is plus right behind the drain tube holes that still hurts. I have that sunburned feeling on the right side of the incision also. Clothing rubbing on this area drives me up the wall. I'm...

Hey Drive- I'm a few days past 6 weeks from my surgery and I feel about the same way as you do. I had the full sternotomy though. Some days are better than others. Clicking and popping noises have pretty much stopped. Pain does gradually subside though. Can lay on my left side but right side...

The sound is definitely different. No whoosh at all. I had for years listened to the whoosh and now the sound I hear is to me essentially the same as my wifes and sons. My wife who is a respiratory therepist also hears a normal heartbeat. She knew very well what my murmur sounded like all...

Hello and Thanks to all that responded to my post on the pre-surgery forum. I made it! Had my surgery on the morning of Jan 5 and was back at home by Jan11. It was a helluva a journey. There were a couple of bumps but I am feeling okay and relatively pain free even though the rehabilitation...

Norm, Thanks for all the info. My heart sort of sank when I read that the Hancock II looks to be a better choice. Now I'm second guessing myself again. I got a question though, do these studies compare the CE ThermaFix process to Hancock II anticalcification process? To me it doesn't seem...

Thank you all for the kind and supportive comments. I've just returned from out of town and had a very nice visit with my family. My mother passed away 6 years ago but I still have my dad, 5 brothers and 3 sisters. We all went through the full range of emotions. We laughed, we cried and we...

Thanks to all for the encouraging words. It has been an emotional roller coaster for me and my family. I've read about the 7 steps of grief and see similarities during my roller coaster ride. The cardio that performed the cath. tried inserting progressively smaller probes into the AV with...

Thank you both Kim and Lyn for your responses. Even though my surgeon initially recommended the ON-X, he seemed to be confident that a transcatheter procedure may be perfected by the time I need replacement of the tissue valve.

Hello everyone, I'm new on the forum although I've have been lurking for about a month or so. Recently found out that I would be needing AVR. Searching on the internet led me to this site which has really educated me on what is happening inside my body and what I have to look forward to pre-op...