Covid 19 Vaccine For Post Op

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LinH

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2020
Messages
23
My mother had aortic and mitral valve bovine replacement and tricuspid repair in September at 83 years old. She is doing amazingly well thanks be to God and her fabulous Doctor in Scottsdale Arizona. My question to the post-oppers, is what are all your cardiologist saying about taking the Covid 19 vaccine given it is in this first round phase. My concern is how the vaccine will react for the elderly with fresh bovine valve during wound healing at her age. Thank you!
 
it will have no influence on the valve. It may or may not be useful (higher probability weighting on useful) at protecting against covid.

do you understand how vaccines work?
I understand enough to know in a nutshell how it works. However, as we start to hear more about allergic reactions, and people having side effects, i am wondering what heart doctors are telling their patients who recently underwent surgery. I read where some people who received the vaccination and who had fillers, had reactions. That because the fillers are per-say ‘foreign object’ in the body, the body triggers a hyper response to the fillers and resulted in inflammation and soreness in those areas fir several days. So I was wondering then if the vaccine can have same type of side effect to “fresh” bovine valves, and causing damage. That is my concern mostly; more about the injury type of side effects as a result, given we are receiving and learning as we go during this first phase.
 
@LinH
I fear you may not know as much as you actually need to know, perhaps less than you think you do. In summary
  1. there are NO fresh bovine valves, they are all leather - dead - inert ...
  2. the reactions you are reading about are from LIVE virus, vaccine is dead virus matter which allows the immune system to learn about it and then respond fast enough to a real threat (a dress rehearsal so to speak)
  3. the bodies response to the "fillers" as you so incorrectly call it are just that, not to the valve. Reactions of the immune system are specific to tissue types
you worry about side effects, you should be more concerned about "the real deal" ... that's probably fatal if she gets it

Life is a risk ... if you truly don't understand these things you should put conspiracy theory aside and trust those who know something more.

What do I know? Well if I told you you what would it matter? You don't know me, but you know the medical staff involved. Why not trust them?

Best Wishes
 
@LinH
I fear you may not know as much as you actually need to know, perhaps less than you think you do. In summary
  1. there are NO fresh bovine valves, they are all leather - dead - inert ...
  2. the reactions you are reading about are from LIVE virus, vaccine is dead virus matter which allows the immune system to learn about it and then respond fast enough to a real threat (a dress rehearsal so to speak)
  3. the bodies response to the "fillers" as you so incorrectly call it are just that, not to the valve. Reactions of the immune system are specific to tissue types
you worry about side effects, you should be more concerned about "the real deal" ... that's probably fatal if she gets it

Life is a risk ... if you truly don't understand these things you should put conspiracy theory aside and trust those who know something more.

What do I know? Well if I told you you what would it matter? You don't know me, but you know the medical staff involved. Why not trust them?

Best Wishes
Sounds like you misunderstood what l meant in my wording.
1. When I said “fresh” bovine, I meant that my Mom just HAD the valves replaced (like “fresh” off the press; not that the bovine is alive.)
2. The reactions I am referring about are the allergic reactions from the Vaccination.
3. The fillers I am referring about are facial fillers that women receive, that are getting negative reactions because the body is attacking the foreign object after receiving vaccine. Nothing serious though but nonetheless inflammation to those areas.

Lastly, my point with my question is whether cardiologists are telling new post op patients to hold off or not. I do know this virus can be a death sentence and want to make decisions based on medical experts opinion. That is why I am asking the group what their doctors are telling them. We all know this is the first go around with the vaccine and we just don’t know, all the effects. On top of that everyone has different circumstances. My mother fortunate enough to have one caregiver at home, my sister, who takes every precautionary measure. She has very limited exposure to anyone and doesn’t go out. Therefore, she has very minimal risk of catching the virus to begin with and could possibly go a couple months without taking the vaccine especially because her operation was so new.

Thank you for your response. Blessings!
 
Sounds like you misunderstood what l meant in my wording.
...
I do know this virus can be a death sentence and want to make decisions based on medical experts opinion. That is why I am asking the group what their doctors are telling them.
my mistake.
 
my mistake.
No worries. My wording in original post wasn’t great and I could see where it could be construed differently.

My mom sees her cardiologist in a week and we’ll find out what he tells her. It’s amazing how well she is doing in spite of he second open heart surgery in 4 years (the first operation was minimal invasive with pig valve that didn’t hold up for her) at her age! Needless to say best Christmas present ever to have her here, and to see her so joyful that she could witness the birth of her 4th great grandchild on Christmas night and then the birth of her 5th great grandchild two days after that. Happy New Year!
 
My mother had aortic and mitral valve bovine replacement and tricuspid repair in September at 83 years old. She is doing amazingly well thanks be to God and her fabulous Doctor in Scottsdale Arizona. My question to the post-oppers, is what are all your cardiologist saying about taking the Covid 19 vaccine given it is in this first round phase. My concern is how the vaccine will react for the elderly with fresh bovine valve during wound healing at her age. Thank you!
I think we should check into this matter. The valves are foreign objects to our bodies and there is always a possibility of some type of side effect. It sounds like the possibility is low, but still should be taken into consideration.
 
Not all things inserted into the body are recognized as 'foreign objects.' There are many materials that don't produce any immune responses.

The bovine valve may have been modified enough to reduce or eliminate rejection without anti-rejection drugs (I don't know this for sure).

With a growing population that is getting the vaccine - not quickly enough - we should have a much better picture of injection reactions.

The longer you wait for a vaccination, the greater the risk of getting COVID-19 (unless you're living in a bubble). OTOH, I understand the fear of the vaccine - once it's determined WHO is most likely to have side effects, HOW to anticipate possible populations at risk of side effects, SEVERITY of side effects, and how to deal with the side effects (perhaps for those at most risk, having an Epi-pen or defibrillator nearby), concerns about vaccination should be more easily handled.

As long as you trust the science related to vaccines and vaccination, you or your mother should be okay.
 
Update on my Moms cardiologist appointment, 4 months post op. She is doing great! He doesn’t want to see her back until September unless she is experiencing symptoms that concerns her.
So that’s the good news!

As far Covid vaccine, he said it was up to her if she wants it. I suppose that is the only answer he could give her; leaving the decision up to her. My Mom is gung-ho to get vaccine because she wants more freedom, but we explained to her that she will still need to quarantine for at least 6 weeks after and there are no guarentees she won’t still catch it. So she still needs to quarantine through this flu season.

We are happy and blessed she was in and out of hospital and went through a few months of recovery, before the virus started to incline. But now that she is feeling so much better, she wants to get out. Just like everyone else. She understands she can’t quite do that yet. What a year!

Have a nice weekend all!
 
LinH, glad to hear your mom is recovering well!
she will still need to quarantine for at least 6 weeks after
Where did you hear you need to quarantine "for at least 6 weeks after" getting vaccine? And is this 6 weeks after the first (Moderna or Pfizer) shot or after the second one?
 
I was basing it off of waiting 3 weeks after the FIRST shot (50% effective) and for the second shot, another 3 weeks just to be on the extra safe side with my Mom. I am not sure how long the second shot takes to kick in for 95% effectiveness.
 
There is no recognized reason that having any form of valve surgery should be a contraindication for vaccination. Your mother should be at the same risk as most other 83 year olds. Not sure why the cardiologist didn’t tell her to get vaccinated straight out. Sure ultimately everything is up to the patient and they sign the consent but as a physician you can give recommendations.
 
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Thank you for the update.
One of my sisters is 83 and with tissue valve. Her doctor (like your mom’s) left it up to her. She surprisingly refused to take it! And I was surprised how the doctor didn’t say anything else!
I took my oldest sister (88) who is physically very healthy to her doctor on Tuesday. He didn’t bring the subject up!
My doctor, whom I saw my yesterday, encouraged me strongly to definitely take it.
 

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