jarno1973
Well-known member
Hi All,
Well I am back home after my second OHS. I have been posting about my tissue valve failing after 6 months and how I wanted an On-x mechanical valve even though my surgeon had never used it before.
Everything seemed to have worked out fine. I am back home now, 6 days after surgery with an On-x implanted. Recovery went well after the first OHS but seems to be even faster this time. Came home yesterday after a 5 day hospital stay and though I seem to be out of breath easily I feel quite alright.
My heartbeat is more stable than directly after the first OHS and is around 80 when sitting up but has been as low as 65 already when close to sleeping. I feel a bit of pain and stiffness here and there but the incision seems to be less painful and I am already sleeping on my side and even almost on my belly.
I had the opportunity to have a look at my failed tissue valve. It looked in pretty bad condition to me but not so much to the surgeon. His opinion was that mismatch (too small size) has probably been the biggest issue. Besides the mismatch there was however also one of the leaflets that was not able to open properly, adding to the problems. I have tried to add a picture of the valve to my post but not sure if it is there. On the picture there seems to be a bit of a lump which I think could have limited movement of one of the leaflets.
I am a bit disappointed to know that if I would have had a bigger tissue valve things might have worked out differently. The option of having a tissue valve is now kind of spoiled. I do not blame my surgeon for this as I think he has followed the correct guidelines and there just are no guarantees with these kind of things. He used the valve that matched the size of my Aorta and according to calculations should have been the right size. The calculations apparently are a rule of thumb and not completely "fool-proof". I guess this makes sense because otherwise there would not be a thing called "prosthesis mismatch" at all.
The fact that my heart beat is more stable than with the tissue valve pleases me. The valve really feels right. Initially I heard quite a bit of sound from the valve and I was afraid it would start to bother me. I had a very loud heart beat before my first surgery when the valve was leaking and it never bothered me. This sound however is a much higher frequency sound and not really nice to listen to. Now only a few days after surgery, I seem to hear it less and less. My girlfriend apparently hears it quite often even when she stands away from me but that is off course not my problem. She could always move a few steps away when it bothers her too much : )
For now, I will be taking things easy and hope I will be able to stay away from any complications.
I will be back to the forum soon with lots of questions on anticoagulation. I intend to make quite a study out of this as I will need to find a way how to be on warfarin and still maintain a lifestyle in which I can be very active and have the opportunity to party (alcohol) every now then. My home tester should be able to be a great help in this. I have already been using it and checked the results against the lab test. The coagucheck XS seems to be very reliable. The biggest deviation against lab results I found so far is 0.07 point.
All the best,
Jarno
Well I am back home after my second OHS. I have been posting about my tissue valve failing after 6 months and how I wanted an On-x mechanical valve even though my surgeon had never used it before.
Everything seemed to have worked out fine. I am back home now, 6 days after surgery with an On-x implanted. Recovery went well after the first OHS but seems to be even faster this time. Came home yesterday after a 5 day hospital stay and though I seem to be out of breath easily I feel quite alright.
My heartbeat is more stable than directly after the first OHS and is around 80 when sitting up but has been as low as 65 already when close to sleeping. I feel a bit of pain and stiffness here and there but the incision seems to be less painful and I am already sleeping on my side and even almost on my belly.
I had the opportunity to have a look at my failed tissue valve. It looked in pretty bad condition to me but not so much to the surgeon. His opinion was that mismatch (too small size) has probably been the biggest issue. Besides the mismatch there was however also one of the leaflets that was not able to open properly, adding to the problems. I have tried to add a picture of the valve to my post but not sure if it is there. On the picture there seems to be a bit of a lump which I think could have limited movement of one of the leaflets.
I am a bit disappointed to know that if I would have had a bigger tissue valve things might have worked out differently. The option of having a tissue valve is now kind of spoiled. I do not blame my surgeon for this as I think he has followed the correct guidelines and there just are no guarantees with these kind of things. He used the valve that matched the size of my Aorta and according to calculations should have been the right size. The calculations apparently are a rule of thumb and not completely "fool-proof". I guess this makes sense because otherwise there would not be a thing called "prosthesis mismatch" at all.
The fact that my heart beat is more stable than with the tissue valve pleases me. The valve really feels right. Initially I heard quite a bit of sound from the valve and I was afraid it would start to bother me. I had a very loud heart beat before my first surgery when the valve was leaking and it never bothered me. This sound however is a much higher frequency sound and not really nice to listen to. Now only a few days after surgery, I seem to hear it less and less. My girlfriend apparently hears it quite often even when she stands away from me but that is off course not my problem. She could always move a few steps away when it bothers her too much : )
For now, I will be taking things easy and hope I will be able to stay away from any complications.
I will be back to the forum soon with lots of questions on anticoagulation. I intend to make quite a study out of this as I will need to find a way how to be on warfarin and still maintain a lifestyle in which I can be very active and have the opportunity to party (alcohol) every now then. My home tester should be able to be a great help in this. I have already been using it and checked the results against the lab test. The coagucheck XS seems to be very reliable. The biggest deviation against lab results I found so far is 0.07 point.
All the best,
Jarno
