i'm baaaaaack....

[Marcia58]

hello friends!

well, my dr told me a year or so ago that i now have regurg in my tricuspid valve--probably as a result of the strain put on it by the prolapsed mitral. at that point, he said all that was necessary was to keep an eye on it. but.... the last month or so, i have been retaining fluid in my feet and ankles (and i think my belly). my cardio put me back on HCTZ which has helped some, but my feet are still puffy. i am beginning to think that i may be looking at another OHS.

anybody here who has had mitral repair, followed a few years later by surgery on another (esp TV)? what should i be on the lookout for?

thanks everyone for all your support over the years.

marcia

 

[Aggie85]

Marcia, can you clarify something? Are you sure it's the Tricuspid valve now having problems and not the Aortic? The Mitral valve, especially a repaired one, being prolapsed shouldn't be putting pressure on your Tricuspid (it's on the other side of the heart) but could be affecting the Aortic. I guess it's not really pertinent to your question except that how the two sides are treated and monitored do differ. Swelling in extremities IS a RIGHT sided issue but Mitral is on left and shouldn't have affected the right Tricuspid.

Be sure to keep being monitored closely as the swelling is serious and let your Dr. know you're still having swelling if he doesn't already know. Is he having you monitor your weight daily, limiting salt (that includes Potassium often added to LOW SALT foods and just as bad for you in high amounts), and watching fluid input and output closely? Talk to him about these if you're not.

Best of luck and hopefully diet and meds can help your heart heal itself.
Linda

 

[Marcia58]

Aggie,

I think his theory was more along the lines of, "When the mitral was weak not much stress got put on the TV so it didn't show its weakness. Once the MVR happened, and it began pumping better, that put more stress on the TV and its problems came to light."

Does that make more sense?

 

[Aggie85]

Yes, it sort of does. That is sort of along the reasons that they repaired my tricuspid with this surgery as well. But luckily for me, they saw the need as they were working me up for the Pulmonary Valve replacement. As they put it, why give a great functioning new valve and keep letting the other valve leak even if it is only a moderate leakage. Granted, both these valves were on the same side of the heart.

For me they put an annuloplasty ring around the Tricuspid to shore it up as it were and that seems to have done the trick.

Have they now done a THOROUGH check of ALL valves to make sure there aren't any other lurking issues?
Have you had or plan to have caths of both right and left sides of the heart?

Since you are a repeat surgery, have you looked into Cleveland Clinic? I'd suggest doing so, since you're not too far away. I can't suggest a Dr. because the cardiologist I saw there was specific for Adults with Congenital Heart Defects. But I think any of them would be excellent resources for second opinions or confirmation and recommendations of course of treatment. Dr. Pettersson is supposed to be particularly skilled at Mitral and Tricuspid valve repairs. Apparently able to repair valves where most would replace them. Repairing, I guess, being more favorable option than replacing. That's what was implied to me in my discussions with the cardiologist regarding my Tricuspid.

GOOD LUCK,
Linda