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Hello everybody, It's been a while since I've last visited this site. While I would check the posts several times a week before surgery and for many months after surgery, I almost forgot about it. And that reflects how I'm doing: Great! With 29y I had an aortic valve repair. After some rough...

What works great and is used in patients that have celloid/hypertrophic scars are silicone scar sheets. You can start using them 2-3 weeks postoperatively, once the wound has healed. There are tons of different products on the market (cica-care, mepitel... just do mention a few). These sheets...

Since you're young and I assume you're otherwise healthy and had a valve replacement without CABG, you're sternum should heal within 3 months. I'm 30 years old and started heavy lifting after 3 months. It took me about another 3 months to be back at where I was preoperative regarding maximum...

Hi BAV isn't a big deal, as long as the valve works like it should, meaning that there is no regurgitation and no stenosis. Restrictions are mainly for people with leaky/stenotic valves or who suffer from cardiac failure. If I was in your shoes, I would continue weight lifting. My leaky BAV...

Good luck! I had a David procedure of a BAV almost 1 year ago. After some months of recovery, life is now just as it was ever before.

I'm 30 and had a David procedure last year. I life a normal life and still do lots of sports. The only difference from me to buddies that have a mechanical valve is that I don't have to take oral anticoagulation. However, most people will tell that warfarin and home monitoring is no problem at...

Hi Pellicle, you're totally right. 10-15 years doesn't sound like longterm to me either. For me, longterm would be 50 years or so. Not only operative technique changed in the past decade, but also anesthesiology, heart-lung-machines, intensive care, diagnostics and indication for surgery. Then...

Hi Marco There's a lot of literature. Here are some recently published papers. You can access the abstracts with the provided link. de Meester at al. 2014. Valve repair improves the outcome of surgery for chronic severe aortic regurgitation: A propensity score analysis Conclusion: AV repair...

Congratulations GymGuy and thanks for sharing your story on this forum! The posts of your hospital stay, the rapid recovery and training are super encouraging.

Haven't registered for any sporting events yet. Would it be strange to do that within the first 12 months after surgery? I thought about doing a half marathon after 12-18 months. From experience I know that once I start a race I can't hold back... My surgeon suggested to wait with competitions.

I started with pushups against the wall, later on my knees. The real pushups still feel a bit strange after 4.5 months. But I think that's more a psychological than a physical issue. My simple rule for training: If it doesn't hurt, it's good for you! And: Little bit of pain doesn't hurt ;)

I totally agree with Marc. There's a lot of data supporting MV repair. Recently also aortic valves with regurgitation have been repaired more often and the literature suggests pretty good results, possibly lasting a lifetime. But at the end it's all statistics. Chances you might need a second...

Going back to work depends mainly on the speed of your recovery and on your job. My speed of recovery was rather slow in the first weeks I guess. Further my company could only use me at work if I delivered 100% performance while im there. I was still a bit less concentrated and needed more...

All the time, I usually check it on my wrist under the table. But the temporal puls is a great idea, it makes it easier to check your watch at the same time. I'll practice over the weekend and try it during my next meeting.

This is ironic: Just two weeks after my post above, I got the flu. That was 6 weeks postop and I had to sneeze and cough for 7 days. Especially the sneezing was super painful. At that time of the recovery even a simple flu throws you back to bed and makes you feel miserable. I have no idea were...

Wow, time went by so fast and I almost forgot about this forum, which by the way was a great help during several months pre- and postop. Preop I spent hours reading reports. Especially positive reports from people in a similar situation as me were very encouraging. So let me share my thoughts...

What about a valve repair? You're young and you seem to have aortic valve regurgitation and not stenosis. Depending on the morphology of your valve you might be a good candidate. Aortic valve repairs (David or Yacoub Procedure) show pretty good longterm results at experienced centers, but there...

I've had one TEE and to be honest, I was quite scared before. First I got this spray which doesn't taste that good. They should develop one with strawberry flavor... Afterwards I was given something that made me very sleepy, while still being aware. I remember being told to swallow and breath...

Great link! No affiliation to supplement companies and very well supported by the latest research results.

Both surgeons seem to have quite some experience. 150 is a lot of repairs. At the end you need to trust your surgeon and have a good feeling. I think it's important to be careful with numbers from individual surgeons. Consider this: An exceptional surgeon might end up having a higher mortality...