It makes a clicking sound

[pellicle]

Hi

... The sound is pretty much the same today, some 35 years later, that it was right after surgery. As I sit here and write this message I can hear it clinking away..

while mine is not anywhere near 35 years of operation (congratulations) I do indeed hear mine, but I don't perceive it as sound its something felt deep inside. This is verified by the fact that ear plugs (which I wear almost daily for sound protection when working with power tools or riding my motorcycle) exclude external sounds and yet the beat is felt.

This certainly was a change from before the surgery, but not so much that I couldn't choose to accept it if I wanted to. As literature / poetry / song lyrics make many references to hearing the sound of a human heart I felt that choosing to accept it was my best bet.



personally I have always felt my heart beating, now its simply more clear to me and has indeed been a tool for me to actually understand and then regulate my emotions by knowing better what my body is doing. Indeed my lovely (late) wife could tell what was on my mind too ;-)

I hope its not too late for you

 

[Chuck C]

At first is was so loud it keep my wife awake.

It's so interesting how much this varies person to person. Even right after surgery, no one has been able to hear mine unless they put their head on my chest. This means that the only people who have heard it are my wife and people I've wrestled with at the gym. So far I've had 4 jiu jitsu partners, whom I was wrestling, comment that they heard it. One teen at the gym now calls me Iron Man, lol. But even while grappling opponents, most don't notice anything.

 

[ThomasM]

I know this thread is about a year old, but I had to laugh when others call you Iron Man. Mostly because my cardiologist calls me Sheet Metal Man, LOL. I have had an aortic valve prosthesis with the St Jude mechanical valve, all due to an aneurysm in my aorta which destroyed the valve itself as well. As I sit here and dictate to my tablet, I can clearly hear my valve clinking away. It has been doing this now for 35.5 years! Only on a couple of occasions have other people commented that they can hear the valve, but I can hear it so clearly because it reverberates throughout my body internally.