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  1. W

    Surgery this Wednesday

    Several things come in to play. Fundamentally, there is always the issue of the mitral valve not being round nor flat and that the two leaflets are not the same size. So a rigid ring (which is what my initial repair utilized) or a replacement valve with a rigid OD, both reduce flexibility...
  2. W

    Surgery this Wednesday

    That is an amazing picture! I'll share some perspective from a lifetime distance runner who had 2 mitral valve surgeries at the age of 50. As I obviously cannot truly know your exact situation, I'll just share some thoughts on what I would be asking/thinking about today "knowing what I now...
  3. W

    Exercise and Tissue Valve

    Because the study distinguished between "vigorous" and "very vigorous" I was curious about the distinction. The original Circulation article included: The volume (metabolic equivalent of task [MET] hours/week) and intensity (moderate [3 to 6 MET hours/week]; vigorous [6 to 9 MET hours/week]...
  4. W

    Medication question!

    I have had that specific cocktail. I was prescribed the 25 mg Losartan immediately after my first surgery (Mitral Valve Repair). This actually works very well for me (to lower blood pressure) and I remain on this medication and dose today (~ 10 years after commencing). My problem was that...
  5. W

    Possible Mitral Valve Surgery Needed?

    As others have said, what the doctors (and hopefully you!) want to do is catch and address the problem before it worsens to the point where consequences are permanent and/or very severe. Here is the Mitral Regurgitation table from the 2020 Guideline for the Management of Patients with...
  6. W

    New member; Alarmed at decreasing EF %

    The attached document by some Cleveland Clinic doctors may be of interest. The section on mitral valve regurgitation starts on page 477. This is about a decade old but I found it helpful around the time I underwent mitral valve work. A key point is what has been previously mentioned: "In...
  7. W

    New to forum, but not new to heart valves..

    Not sure if this will be of interest to you but I had it in the file as it pertains to valve leaflet calcification. Talks about some things in common between leaflet and blood vessel calcification. Vascular Calcification: an Update on Mechanisms and Challenges in Treatment Here's some...
  8. W

    Big surgery coming up

    Procedures 4 & 5 are common for a patient undergoing OHS who has any history of AFIB. They are (relatively) quick and simple procedures if the surgeon is already inside of the heart.
  9. W

    Leg Vein Ablation & the immaculate deception

    Yes, the basic technique for mine was a thermal ablation with a radio-frequency catheter. Issue was several locations where the vein inside diameter was too large. In those locations the vein was surgically removed. I agree that I was quite fortunate! Lest I leave a wrong impression, the...
  10. W

    Leg Vein Ablation & the immaculate deception

    My experience might be interesting so I will share. It was actually a leg vein ablation that put me on the "warfarin for life" plan. I ended up with a pulmonary embolism. A clot formed in my lower leg and migrated. Warfarin cleared it up! So I was already on warfarin when I developed AFIB...
  11. W

    Mechanical valves ... but what about the ticking?

    I had never thought about it before but it does make sense to me. The (kinetic) energy and momentum of opening movement get dissipated somehow/somewhere. In a native or biologic valve it will be the compliance of the soft (relative to a mechanical structure) tissue. I did learn a new word...
  12. W

    Mechanical valves ... but what about the ticking?

    I had a routine checkup with my cardiologist this past week and learned something about the ticking that I had never thought about. He had a student with him, and after I had shared that "I can hear it when I want to" and (to the med student) "yup, the doc here told me years ago that if I ever...
  13. W

    Resting HR post-AVR surgery

    My experience has been that my resting heart rate increased about 10 bpm. Some differences (my situation vs yours!). Mine is in the mitral position. I have a mechanical valve. I required 2 surgeries. I've had some arrythmias. Similarities: I was 50. Pretty fit. Lifelong endurance...
  14. W

    Redo valve surgery within a year

    I had re-do mitral valve replacement surgery about 7 months after repair surgery. My experience was that, at a high or basic level, they were similar experiences. This is despite the details being quite different. For example: the repair was minimally invasive and the replacement opened...
  15. W

    Shock to your body after open heart surgery

    Here's a study with some relevant information on this subject. Interestingly, valve patients were excluded from the study population! What jumped out to me in a quick read is the tremendous variability in healing times. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4333848/ Methods This...
  16. W

    Exercise and INR

    As you might guess, it's pretty varied! Runners tend to think in terms of miles/week. When I was younger I'd run 40-60 miles/week all year round. I might peak at 70 during marathon training (spring/summer). Short days were 5 miles and long runs would reach 20. These days I run 20-30...
  17. W

    Exercise and INR

    Took me a bit to dig out some older data but some might find this interesting. My hypothesis, based solely on my personal experience, has been that decreasing exercise increases my INR. I was put on warfarin years before I had my mechanical valve. When I had a pulmonary embolism (which...
  18. W

    A-Fib after Aortic Valve Replacement

    hi @ChristinaColorado. First piece of advice I can offer is to try to scrape yourself off the ceiling (i.e. reduce your level of worrying) and try to ignore all those TV commercials in the U.S. that tend to overemphasize various AFIB drugs! AFIB is serious but you have been through serious...
  19. W

    Mitral Valve Repeater

    I've had several cardioversions. It is a pretty routine prodedure for afib and aflutter. Very simply, you are sedated/anesthetized and then a high voltage shock is delivered through two pads (one on the front of your chest and the other on the back). It is very quick . . . the entire...
  20. W

    Bisoprolol and exercise

    Simply speaking, the beta blockers will throttle or slow down the heart. They block adrenaline by attaching to the adrenaline receptor sites. So speaking very broadly and generically, I'll suggest that if the exercise in question pushes against a person's max heart rate, he/she will...
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