lgurevitch
Member
Hello Friends,
I just found out that I will need another surgery to replace my aortic valve and root.
A little background: I had my aortic valve replaced on July 8, 09 (freestyle pig valve). At the time my surgeon (Dr. Edward Chen at Emory) noticed that my aortic root measurements were very unusual. The way he explained it to me is that for most people (actually all people he has seen except for me) the difference between the size of the top of the root and bottom is about 10%. Well, for me it's about a 60 or 70% difference. So, the valve he used is not an exact fit. Since they did not know about this prior to my surgery (even with all the tests I had), Dr. Chen had to make a judgement call during my surgery to go ahead and do the valve replacement (and not the valve and root replacemenet). So the new valve was leaking after the surgery, only a little bit. He told me that they didn't know what would happen with the leakage over time and we would just have to "keep an eye on it".
Well, here I am 9 months later and I just had another echo. The valve leakage is getting worse and I was told by Dr. Chen that I would need to have surgery to replace my root and valve within 3 to 6 months.
As you can imagine I have a million thoughts going thru my head. My feelings range from denial, anger, frustration, fear, etc.
My initial question to this awesome group of people...is there anyone else out there who has experienced something similar to me or am I the only one in this world that has this situation. BTW, I was told by Dr. Chen that my aortic root was probably due to a birth defect, not some type of change over time. I was also born with a bicuspic aortic valve.
Any help, input, support, etc. would be appreciated.
I have an appointment scheduled with Dr. Chen for June 1.
Thanks,
Liz G
I just found out that I will need another surgery to replace my aortic valve and root.
A little background: I had my aortic valve replaced on July 8, 09 (freestyle pig valve). At the time my surgeon (Dr. Edward Chen at Emory) noticed that my aortic root measurements were very unusual. The way he explained it to me is that for most people (actually all people he has seen except for me) the difference between the size of the top of the root and bottom is about 10%. Well, for me it's about a 60 or 70% difference. So, the valve he used is not an exact fit. Since they did not know about this prior to my surgery (even with all the tests I had), Dr. Chen had to make a judgement call during my surgery to go ahead and do the valve replacement (and not the valve and root replacemenet). So the new valve was leaking after the surgery, only a little bit. He told me that they didn't know what would happen with the leakage over time and we would just have to "keep an eye on it".
Well, here I am 9 months later and I just had another echo. The valve leakage is getting worse and I was told by Dr. Chen that I would need to have surgery to replace my root and valve within 3 to 6 months.
As you can imagine I have a million thoughts going thru my head. My feelings range from denial, anger, frustration, fear, etc.
My initial question to this awesome group of people...is there anyone else out there who has experienced something similar to me or am I the only one in this world that has this situation. BTW, I was told by Dr. Chen that my aortic root was probably due to a birth defect, not some type of change over time. I was also born with a bicuspic aortic valve.
Any help, input, support, etc. would be appreciated.
I have an appointment scheduled with Dr. Chen for June 1.
Thanks,
Liz G