I so soooo dreaded this surgery that I wanted to wait as LONG as possible with the hopes that maybe I would never have to do it, even though I was also being told otherwise. So, each time I would visit the cardiologist and he said "Not yet"...thats what I wanted to hear. As a matter of fact, I had the numbers worked out......I was losing .1 cm a year on my Mitral. So, the last couple of times I had an echo, there was so little change that I thought I had around 3-4 years before surgery. To help finances I decided to wait 18 months between check-ups. I made it to around 17 and was planning on a appointment with the doctor when I became ill SUDDENLY. I couldn't walk across the room without become so out of breath I had to sit down.
I asked my surgeon last Wednesday why my valve got so bad so quick and he said it's normal. Most people do it, AND he said the Aorta is the same. The only damage to my heart is a VERY enlarged left Ventricle. I was told this may never go back to normal. I know you can't force surgery when your doctor says to wait.....and AHA wants your quality of life to be down before having the surgery. The thing is, like the others I would say to keep a vigil on symptoms and be aware of what is normal for your body and not what you have learned to live with. Since I had surgery and am now healing I didn't realize how sick I had become.
I wish you luck.
Mileena