charlottekaye
Well-known member
Hello Everyone,
Born with a bicuspid valve, at age 25 I had an AVR (porcine valve) in 1981 at NYH, William Gay, surgeon. Lasted till 1997, but just barely - my then cardiologist let me go too long before re-replacing, and - a piece of calcium broke off: wow was I lucky to survive that. After 5 weeks of unnecessary pleading, screaming and yelling, I finally convinced my then-insurer to let me go to a very experienced surgeon rather than the newbie they were pushing on me.
In 1997, when I was 40, Dr. Douglas Murphy at St Joe's in Atlanta implanted a Carbomedics valve, and - there was a small peri-valvular leak from the get-go.
(I wonder if I would have had a better outcome with no peri-valvular leaks if I had been sent for re-replacement early enough.)
(BTW - THANK YOU Dr. Hochreiter of New York Hospital, Dr.Paul Phillips now of Clearwater, Fl.)
I had about 15 pretty good years. Now - I'm hearing that my "leak" has been upgraded from mild to moderate, and - I am not feeling well at all. My aorta is dilated, and I finally found a cardiologist who would tell me what was going on : (Tissue growing into the valve, I believe he said.)
Of course, with a mechanical valve, I am not a candidate for the new cath procedures.
Has anyone on this Forum gone through 3 AVR's?
I would be MOST grateful for any and all comments and suggestions.
Thank you so much, everyone!
Born with a bicuspid valve, at age 25 I had an AVR (porcine valve) in 1981 at NYH, William Gay, surgeon. Lasted till 1997, but just barely - my then cardiologist let me go too long before re-replacing, and - a piece of calcium broke off: wow was I lucky to survive that. After 5 weeks of unnecessary pleading, screaming and yelling, I finally convinced my then-insurer to let me go to a very experienced surgeon rather than the newbie they were pushing on me.
In 1997, when I was 40, Dr. Douglas Murphy at St Joe's in Atlanta implanted a Carbomedics valve, and - there was a small peri-valvular leak from the get-go.
(I wonder if I would have had a better outcome with no peri-valvular leaks if I had been sent for re-replacement early enough.)
(BTW - THANK YOU Dr. Hochreiter of New York Hospital, Dr.Paul Phillips now of Clearwater, Fl.)
I had about 15 pretty good years. Now - I'm hearing that my "leak" has been upgraded from mild to moderate, and - I am not feeling well at all. My aorta is dilated, and I finally found a cardiologist who would tell me what was going on : (Tissue growing into the valve, I believe he said.)
Of course, with a mechanical valve, I am not a candidate for the new cath procedures.
Has anyone on this Forum gone through 3 AVR's?
I would be MOST grateful for any and all comments and suggestions.
Thank you so much, everyone!