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Just an update, I went on my holiday pre surgery. I had been advised that it would be dangerous to fly for even an hour due to the pressure and the current state of my valve, however my surgery kept getting delayed so I decided to risk it. A 7-hour flight ended up being 12 hours due to floods...

My holiday was postponed from October to April as I was deemed unfit to fly due to severe aortic stenosis. The surgery got very delayed due to cancelling appointments and it’s now planned within the couple of weeks, so I will have about 5 weeks before taking two 7-hour flights one way. Not sure...

My echo that indicated surgery is required for severe aortic stenosis and 44mm aortic root was last May (no change after the 1st one in Dec 22), and I still haven’t had surgery 9 months later. I’ve had a few pre-op appointments cancelled last minute, but luckily I’m not really any more...

Hi, Thank you so much for sharing, and I’m sorry that you had to go through this, hopefully it’ll get better for you. It’s really difficult as I think women have more to deal with in terms of hormones etc, and effects of warfarin aren’t really great. For a male I think it’s a much easier...

Hi, no I haven’t had a chance yet. In the UK it’s quite difficult to get a referral to specialists and they all have long waiting lists, so I probably won’t be able to before the surgery. I do work in a hospital though, so I guess I could try and track one down and ask them!

Hi Astro, thank you for your input, it’s much appreciated! I have not yet decided 100% but I am leaning towards going for a tissue valve as you suggested, and then just praying that by the time I need another surgery there’s something better available. I keep wondering whether it’s all worth it...

Thank you! I will see if I can consult a high-risk ob gyn for advice! Cardiology don’t seem to have detailed knowledge in this area as I guess they see mostly older patients.

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies and advice. My surgery is planned for Jan and I still have not decided. I had planned to go for the mechanical one, but the surgeon called and asked me to reconsider if I ever want to have children. Now I am back to being undecided - I’ve read Pellicle‘s...

I was supposed to have an appointment with the surgeon last week but it was cancelled, so I guess I’ll find out in another couple of weeks. I think they’re confused with my results, as Chuck mentioned my PV and mean pressure gradient are moderate but AVA suggests severe. The DI being <25 was a...

Hi Chuck, sorry I meant if anything happened abroad while I was on holiday or on one of the flights, as I’d then be 12 hours away from home and possibly with invalidated travel insurance. The NHS would most definitely cover you, regardless!

Yes very true! The good thing about Heathrow is that you can request assistance and they are excellent (family members have used it, I probably wouldn’t as I don’t have many issues walking on flat surfaces).

Thanks for the advice everyone. My cardiologist is currently away, and the registrar I spoke to strongly advised against it after a quick look at my echo. He told me my travel insurance would not be valid and I’d be screwed if anything happened so I didn’t end up going. I’m not sure anything...

Thanks Chuck! They didn’t mention anything about the discordance but she spent a very long time on the echo yesterday and it seemed that things didn’t seem consistent, so I realised afterwards that this was the case. I will try to obtain my echo results from a few months ago, the Cardiologist...

Hi everyone, Sorry to create another thread for this but I’m receiving conflicting opinions about whether it is safe to fly (2x 6-hour flights each way), and really need some advice. I finally received the numbers from my latest echo, which are: AVA: 0.7cm PV: 3.4m/s Mean gradient: 21mmHg...

The NHS is one of the best public health services in the world generally, but I have considered getting private treatment. The NHS cardiothoracic surgeon I believe I’ll be seeing is one of the top few in the country, so I’d probably still go with him if I paid for it privately as he does mostly...

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Thank you so much, really helpful and so glad you managed to get it replaced in time!

Thanks so much for the info everyone, it has been really helpful! It‘s reassuring to know that waiting for the surgery doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll suffer cardiac death in the mean time, but I guess we won’t be hearing from those that did experience this. I’m pleased that you were all...

Yes thank you this is what I meant 🙂 as opposed to the US where insurance is essential for treatment. I work for the NHS so I’m unable to obtain private insurance via an employer, but they probably wouldn’t cover you for pre-existing conditions anyway.

Hi Chuck, Thank you! We don’t have private insurance here, but I could probably get seen slightly sooner if it’s required as I work for the NHS. I just wasn’t sure about the urgency as it seems the in the US people tend to get booked in for surgery quite rapidly.