Hi.
I'm sorry to hear that you need a 2nd surgery after just 12 years. I looked at a couple of your previous posts and noted that you had opted to go with a tissue valve at age 40. You mentioned that your surgeon informed you that your valve should last a lot longer than previous generations, due to the anti-calcification Thermaflex technology used by Edwards Life Sciences for your valve. You indicated that you expected to get 15+ years from this valve, given the new treatment. Bummer that this was not the case.
I find it interesting that hopes are often lifted with new technology before there is evidence that it really is as good as the marketing suggests. The new technology being heavily promoted is the Edwards Inspiris Resilia, like Thermaflex, it uses an anti-calcification treatment. There is once again hope that this new technology will enable tissue valves to last longer than previous generations. But, at this point it is not yet known. It makes me wonder if it is appropriate for cardiologists and surgeons to raise the hope and expectations in young patients about their valves lasting longer than the data would suggest they would for a young person. I'd be curious to know if you plan to go tissue again or mechanical. It sounds like you are about age 52, which is still considered young in the valve world. That might be a tough call. If you do not want to share, that is totally understood.
Best of luck with your upcoming procedure. There are a lot of folks here who have travelled out of state and I'm sure that you can get some good feedback.