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Congrats! Here’s to 10 more, and 10 more and 10 more after that! I reach the 10 year mark in June 2024.

There’s no need to challenge or threaten. The need is for you to find out if you’re healthy and to make sense of what you’re feeling. Make noise and get 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinions. This is your valve and your peace of mind. I’ve had my mechanical valve since June 2014 and I’m doing great all...

Congrats. I hit 8 years in June. Have an amazing weekend.

I’m going on seven years post surgery (mechanical valve + aortic aneurysm repair) and I’m still in my 50’s. Sleep did escape me in the hospital and for a few months at home. It did concern me also. I took a low dose of a sleeping pill each night at first. I went off of that after six months. I...

My surgery went without incident. I was surprised by the breathing tube when I woke up; that was an uncomfortable experience. And by how many wires I had going in me to monitor everything imaginable. I was pleasantly surprised there was minimal pain from where they sawed me open. And later that...

I had the same diagnosis. I’m at almost 7 years with a mechanical valve. I was 52 at surgery. No issues with my valve. None. And I have no problems taking warfarin or maintaining my INR. I’ve become a master at knowing exactly what to do and eat if it goes to high or low. I was back at work in 3...

I had my BAV surgery in June 2014 at Johns Hopkins and I went with a mechanical valve. I experienced two different noises, one internal noise that sounded like the ticking of a wind up watch. That went away after two weeks. The external sound, the clicking noise everyone mentions, that went off...

I'm about to have my first colonoscopy and my DR says I dont need to bridge off warfarin to do it. Get a 2nd opinion.

I'm 53, for me it was two noises to deal with, internal, which sounded like a wind up watch ticking that went away after 4 days, and the external clicking. I'm 16 months post surgery and I don't even notice it. I was on a sleeping med at first because the THOUGHT of it made me so aware of it...

I'm 53, in VA also, had BAV replacement and an ascending aortic aneurysm repaired. I had 3 weeks between diagnosis and surgery. I met with several surgeons at Virginia hospitals. I fortunately made my way to Dr. Kaushik Mandal at Johns Hopkins, best choice I ever made, ever. Per his...

For me, six months. My heart was enlarged as well and I was in active heart failure. Had no clue until the murmur was found. Had repair same month I was diagnosed, June 2014 at Johns Hopkins. At six month check up I was told the size of heart was back to where it should be.

It wasn't possible for me to know if I was feeling symptoms until long after my surgery. Only months later could I realize what the differences were. Before surgery I had no idea I had symptoms, like you said, how to separate valve issues from aging? For me, not possible. As obvious as my case...

Yeah, a tech isn't supposed to tell you anything. My case was the extreme end of the spectrum. I found out June 1 and had surgery June 25. It took me a few days to wrap my head around it. Don't go near WebMD. If you have BAV, it's seemingly really big at first. But in the end it helped me to...

We have identical stories. In June 2014 I was a happy, healthy 51 yo male, w/o 3-4 x a week, traveled the world a couple of times a year, just returned from trekking across Greece. Never had any symptoms of any kind. Nobody in my family had heart issues, not even a murmur. One night I felt a...

I was a happy and seemingly healthy 51 yo male, traveled the world a couple of times a year, just returned from trekking across Greece. Never had any big symptoms of any heart related issues. At the time I didn't know the sluggishness I started feeling in the afternoons was related to anything...

I was diagnosed with BAV w a pretty leaky valve and severe regurgitation on June 1 and had it replaced on June 25. Also had and aortic aneurysm repaired as well. I went to Johns Hopkins. That was just over 4 months ago. I'm 52, in very good health, and all went and recovery went without...

I'm 8 weeks out from having my bicuspid aortic valve replaced and I went mechanical. It was my 1st surgery and i didn't want to see my surgeon 3-4 more times in my lifetime, which would have happened had I gone with a tissue valve. So far, so good. I definitely hear it, usually when I'm alone...

Im 52 and had my first surgery six weeks ago - a bicuspid aortic valve replacement and an aneurism repair and I went w/a St. Jude's mechanical valve. I didn't want to go through this surgery, on any level, 2-3 more times. That's what my gut told me in the end, and I couldn't ignore it. I know...

I'm in the process of finding a new cardiologist. I'm exactly 6 weeks out of surgery and my cardiologist's group is similar to how you describe yours. Nobody seems to know what's going on, they don't seem to care enough to take a minute out to read my file, it's always somebody new calling me...

I never felt the urge to do any of that, pull out plugs, wires, etc. and I had them in both hands, both arms, my throat, and of course the chest tubes, an external pacemaker which is standard at Hopkins for all heart surgeries, and a catheter. If anything, I was careful to not get all tangled...