Hi everyone, you've probably seen me lurking around and posting in the last month but I've been waiting till I got all my results back to properly introduce myself. I'm 37, married with a 14 year old daughter. I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse when I was 13 and have had yearly echocardiograms since then to check my progress. I was constantly assured by doctors and cardiologists that my condition was "benign", would never need intervention or affect me in any way as long as I took antibiotics before dental and surgical procedures. In fact, I was told by one GP that I was "lucky" that the cardiologist would see me every year with such a minor condition.
Anyway, two years ago I had episodes where my heart would race and I would feel like I was about to pass out. I had holter monitors, event monitors, stress treadmill etc. but of course it never happened when they wanted it to. I was assured it was nothing to do with my MVP but was referred to an electrophysiologist cardiologist who decided to do an ablation as he was concerned that with the added complication of my MVP I could find myself in difficulties when driving etc. The ablation was successful and I have never had another episode of it happening again. The big bonus out of this was that I really liked this cardiologist and he agreed to keep me on as a patient.
A month ago I merrily skipped into my yearly check up expecting to be told as normal to come back in a year. However, the cardiologist looked at my latest echocardiogram and said that there had been a change in the amount of regurgitation (from moderate to moderate/severe) and that I would need surgery at some stage. He organised another echocardiogram and TEE and I picked myself off the floor and went home to cope with this news. Thankfully, I found this wonderful site and spent the next three days reading all the previous posts and discovered that there was indeed life after OHS. You guys were far more effective than any medication I could have taken to calm my nerves and ease more concerns....
Anyway, had my follow up appointment yesterday. I took my husband and was really impressed that the cardiologist spent the first five minutes of the appointment explaining my condition to him with diagrams etc. All the tests showed that although the regurgitation had increased, my heart is coping fine at this stage. He said the figures he will be watching closely are the LV Diastolic Dimension and the LV Systolic Dimension but at the moment they are well within normal range. The rest of my heart is apparently OK with no enlargements anywhere. He said that it was important I had surgery before symptoms developed but that because my valve is apparently very tricky he is basically sure I will need a replacement not repair. Because of this he said he would wait slightly longer for the surgery than if it could be repaired. So I am on a program of 6 monthly checkups and echocardiograms and he said to ring him at any stage if I felt unwell for a continued period. I am not allowed to run marathons or do heavy lifting but apart from that can exercise etc.
I tried to get an answer from him about how long before I would need surgery but he said it is very hard to tell how quickly things would progress and he didn't want to mislead me by making any promises either way.
Sorry for writing so much but I really wanted to say a big thankyou for this wonderful site and the fantastic people that regularly welcome and answer newcomers questions. I will take up my position in the waiting room and cheer for those going over the mountain. As a Christian I strongly believe in the power of prayer so I will also be praying for those having surgery as well. Looks like April is a busy month!!
Thanks again, Jeanne
Anyway, two years ago I had episodes where my heart would race and I would feel like I was about to pass out. I had holter monitors, event monitors, stress treadmill etc. but of course it never happened when they wanted it to. I was assured it was nothing to do with my MVP but was referred to an electrophysiologist cardiologist who decided to do an ablation as he was concerned that with the added complication of my MVP I could find myself in difficulties when driving etc. The ablation was successful and I have never had another episode of it happening again. The big bonus out of this was that I really liked this cardiologist and he agreed to keep me on as a patient.
A month ago I merrily skipped into my yearly check up expecting to be told as normal to come back in a year. However, the cardiologist looked at my latest echocardiogram and said that there had been a change in the amount of regurgitation (from moderate to moderate/severe) and that I would need surgery at some stage. He organised another echocardiogram and TEE and I picked myself off the floor and went home to cope with this news. Thankfully, I found this wonderful site and spent the next three days reading all the previous posts and discovered that there was indeed life after OHS. You guys were far more effective than any medication I could have taken to calm my nerves and ease more concerns....
Anyway, had my follow up appointment yesterday. I took my husband and was really impressed that the cardiologist spent the first five minutes of the appointment explaining my condition to him with diagrams etc. All the tests showed that although the regurgitation had increased, my heart is coping fine at this stage. He said the figures he will be watching closely are the LV Diastolic Dimension and the LV Systolic Dimension but at the moment they are well within normal range. The rest of my heart is apparently OK with no enlargements anywhere. He said that it was important I had surgery before symptoms developed but that because my valve is apparently very tricky he is basically sure I will need a replacement not repair. Because of this he said he would wait slightly longer for the surgery than if it could be repaired. So I am on a program of 6 monthly checkups and echocardiograms and he said to ring him at any stage if I felt unwell for a continued period. I am not allowed to run marathons or do heavy lifting but apart from that can exercise etc.
I tried to get an answer from him about how long before I would need surgery but he said it is very hard to tell how quickly things would progress and he didn't want to mislead me by making any promises either way.
Sorry for writing so much but I really wanted to say a big thankyou for this wonderful site and the fantastic people that regularly welcome and answer newcomers questions. I will take up my position in the waiting room and cheer for those going over the mountain. As a Christian I strongly believe in the power of prayer so I will also be praying for those having surgery as well. Looks like April is a busy month!!
Thanks again, Jeanne
It good that the LV is still within normal range, this is the important thing to watch if you are asymptomatic. I look forward to your contribution to discussions in the future. Hopefully you will remain warming the seats of the waiting room for a long time to come. 
