To Ross or Not to Ross???????

[sylviayasgur]

hey all you RP's out there, now is the time to come forward!!!
My husband Joey is having his AVR this wed. 9/12(5 days) and is leaning toward the RP. We had a consultation with a second (prominent) surgeon today (head of cardiothoracic at a major NY hospital), hoping we'd like him, because he comes soooo highly recommended by our cardiologist and many others. he is supposed to be a brilliant man and handles cases many others won't. Joey and I , however, walked out of his office disappointed. He was extremely dry and removed. Answered all our questions, but offered up no more. Spent about 45 min. maximum with us. And, gave us some scary info regarding the RP.

Do you all know that Arnold Schwarzenegger had a RP?? Well, we were told today that he returned to the operating room the following day to have his new aortic valve (which was originally his pulmonary valve) replaced with a homograft, because there was some problem. He now has 2 homografts (when he could have had a single one put in in the first place). This same surgeon told us that there is a 10 % rate of RP's having leakage problems within the first year, some of which need to return to the operating room. Anyone hear of this??? Scary, huh?

This same surgeon told us that most people get only 20 yrs out of the RP.

RP's are not what he does primarily, although his associate at the same hospital does pediatric RP's.

We had consulted with Dr. Steltzer with regard to the RP (his specialty) in Aug. Both Joey and I loved him. He was both kind, informative and clearly the choice if the RP is our final decision.

Joey is of the opinion that we should just commit to the RP and block out our doubts since he is apparantly as solid a candidate for an RP (no coronary issues), all things considered. However, it is difficult to commit and accept that this is the right choice. There is no right choice, is there?

Sound familiar?

-Sylvia and Joey

 

[tnboomer1013]

Hi Sylvia,

Hi Sylvia,

I can only tell you what happened to me. I had a bicuspid av since birth I am only 44 yrs old and I just had avr and two bypasses to fix another birth defect. My or should I say our (my wife and I) first choice when all this came to a head was the RP. Not only because of what I do for a living (being on coumadin the problem there) but because of my age. We wanted something that would last. I am no fan of surgery. The RP was our first choice the mechanical was the second. Because with tissue valves there is the fact of resurgery and like I said no fan of surgery. We were told it is a real good idea to have a back up plan because they can't just wake you up and find out what you want to do if something isn't right and they have to go in another direction. In my case my aortic root was enlarged to the point of anurisym and the valve was so large that they could not use my pulmonary root and valve. The surgeon that I had has over 200 RP's under his belt so I felt that we were in pretty good hands as far as surgery went and the decision making went. But we talked it all out before hand so everyone was on the same page. So hence the mechanical valve. If you do go with the RP get the surgeon in your area that has a number of these on his resume, cause like it was told to me there is a learning curve with these procedures and you really don't want a doc that is doing his first one. By all means have a backup plan so incase of unforseen problems there is no time lost. What ever you all decide to do good luck and keep us posted. You will be in our thoughts and prayers.

 

[sylviayasgur]

hi boomer! thank you so much for your reply. we have a surgeon who has done over 300 and used to work in oklahoma with dr. elkins. our dr's name is paul steltzer. great guy! we liked him so much when we met him a month ago. he spent about 2 hours making diagrams of how he would make things fit if they didn't (based on joey's heart measurements).
he also gave us alternatives and really made us feel we were in good hands.

we were supposed to meet with another prominent surgeon but he couldn't see us until yesterday. we didn't care for him at all. that made our decision much simpler.

funny you should mention a back-up plan..... joey and i were just discussing that and we do have one_ i think we will opt for the CEPericardial bovine. it may not last quite as long as the RP, but joey is really against a mechanical and the coumadin (even though he may need it anyway should he go into a-fib after the surgery).

thank you for your support and input. this heart forum has been a godsend for me. i am finally calming down (not completely though!) knowing what joey will be doing and where and with whom the surgery will be done. we both feel really comfortable with the decision to do the RP, but as you said_and you're totally right_ the dr never knows until he opens you up.

-sylvia

 

[tnboomer1013]

Hi Sylvia

Hi Sylvia

Just glad I could be of help. Yes Dr. Stelzer is a good one I even considered having him do mine but NY is just to far from home. I'm glad you all have a plan, now that that is over it will get easier. It is just matter of time now and that time will pass very quickly. Be sure to keep us updated and you all will be in our prayers and thoughts.
I also was against the mech, but as I said I don't like the idea of surgery. But it is a personal decision.