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Hi, I(33m) had endocarditis last year which resulted in me being in hospital for 7 weeks getting IV antibiotics for 6 of those weeks. I really feel for you as it was a long time to be in hospital and all the worries that come with it. They done an echo on my heart at the end of the 6 weeks of...

Yeah I knew about the warfarin being for life. It was more the aspirin for life wasn’t something that was made clear to me before the surgery.

Hey all, I had an appointment with the surgeon and was told I would be on the low dose aspirin for life as well as warfarin, my understanding was the aspirin was a short term medication for 3 months. Their justification for this is they view it as a safety net. I’m in a bunch of other meds...

Hi Jim! 32 year old here from the UK who had infective endocarditis which went on from May to August before finally getting diagnosed (I feel lucky I didn't drop dead during that time due to how unwell I was). I was in hospital for antibiotics for 7 weeks in August until late Sept. Looked like...

Nice one! Glad to hear you're feeling good now you're home! Hope the rest of your recovery is speedy too.

just another update. Was told today that the left ventricle wasn't working as well as before surgery so they have prescribed me two medications to help (didn't get the name of them) but the doctor said being young it should hopefully correct itself with help from the meds. I'll have to have...

Glad it was helpful. I found many people's journey post extremely helpful to me in understanding what happens next then life after the op. My situation was just more complicated and unlucky with the recent endocarditis. Yours will be much better post op experience and back home in no time.

Still getting stronger each day and voice slowly coming back. I find sleeping is still hard and I get uncomfortable during the night and wide awake by 5am. Pain levels have dropped, its more of an uncomfortable feeling rather than an intense sharp pain. Finding it tough with knowing I'm gonna...

Best of luck tomorrow! I'm positive you'll not have the same infection issues as me so you should be home in no time!

As Mark said you'll not be allowed to drive for 24 hours afterwards. Some people handle it better than others. I've had 3, 2 needed to be cut short as I couldn't handle the end part (goes further down) the 3rd one I was heavily sedated when my doctor was telling me the bad news I thought he was...

Mine is the breathe in device and you watch the ball go up. I try to do it a few times throughout the day and it gets better each day but lots of room for improvement. My voice still hasn't fully came back so I find talking tiresome and lose my voice easily. I sound like someone who smoked 60 a...

Hey, Based in the UK. When I had my transoesophageal echocardiogram I was already admitted into hospital. My hospital only seemed to do them one day a week unless they had an emergency patient. The different in the chest echocardiogram and transoesophageal echocardiogram is pretty big from my...

Yup! Gave me that on the first day and I couldn’t do it at all. Day 3 and I can do it much better so that’s a good sign at least.

Hey. It’s a kick in the balls to be told I’ll need to stay here 6 weeks. Today is day 3 after surgery and was able to walk about the ward today. Yesterday was tough, I had some delirium which felt crazy. I was convinced everyone wasn’t real including me. Nurses calmed me down and I was...

Operation went well, in a lot of pain though. They found previously live infection on the heart valve so I now need to stay in 6 weeks for antibiotics again to play it safe. Not ideal at all. Christmas in hospital.

From the other side. Still out of it a day later.

Thank you Mark! I'll post an update after surgery! 🙌

Had a chat with my surgeon today. He said he would try to repair the valve first if he thinks it's possible (I don't think it will be and neither did my cardiologist). If he's unsuccessful he will replace it with the on-x valve which again I was surprised about as I was expecting st jude valve...

Just another thought that has been on my mind. I have been reading online around life expectancy with heart valve replacement and I keep seeing 12-15 years post surgery. This doesn't seem to make much sense to me as there are people who have had a mechanical valve for 20/30 years (even longer...

Hi Gail, This is what I try to tell myself, no point thinking what if it was caught sooner as it may have had no impact on the damage to the valve. It was actually the dead vegetation that broke off the valve that caused the hole, so it really did feel like a matter of time before it was going...