Hi Dave,
Hmm did the click bother me? OH yeah, big time.
Does it still, after almost two years, yes occationally it really sounds so loud. Like, in the middle of performing with a wind symphony, I hear it and wonder if the players next to me can hear it, but only in the soft sections of music.
Sometimes I am bugged by it and surely wish I could've had a different quiet valve.
But these feelings are slowly going away. Maybe because I am a musician, the clicking just bothers me more. It is becoming part of me, and for the most part, no longer feels foreign.
About the only lifestyle changes have been to stop snow skiing as I feel the risk of me falling and bruising or breaking would be too great.
I really bruise easily now, and always have a few 1" diam or bigger , mostly on my legs. I have had some doozies, like 3" in diam and really ugly.
I now use saline nasal spray daily to keep the bleeding low in my nostrils. This is a side effect of the coumadin for me.
My first surgery was age 34, second was 46. Just celebrated my 48th birthday and my 20th anniversary, and am so glad to be as healthy and happy as I am.
I know you have a big decision to make.
My cardiologist really did not want me to go thru a 3rd surgery, but the surgeon didn't seem too bothered by the fact that I might need another or he probably would've taken the risk and replaced my mitral during my last avr. Maybe because it will be on another valve so no scar tissue issues there, I don't know.
Hope this helps,
Gail