Valve Selection / Pre-Surgery / Post Surgery forums in one thread

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Re pain: I followed advice to take pain pills whenever the nurses were offering them, and I felt little pain. The pain med dispensed in the hospital was percocet. When I got home after five days, I don't believe I took any medicine for pain.

Welcome to the forum -- glad you are getting so many good answers. That's not surprising -- this is a great community.
 
I'll agree with Ski Girl…the post op pain is nowhere near what I expected..once out of CICU all I got was Tylenol, and that too care of it. The worst part of the whole experience, was having the various tubes, catheters, etc removed. I'm a year out, and it all seems like a dream. Best of luck!
 
Hi 53 , got a bovine valve 12/13. I hated the Coumadin for 3 months , but I am intolerant of most meds
And the other meds sent me to the ER a lot at first. Mine may last 10, 12, 15+ years. No one can say!
But I plan to work on getting well, going back to being sporty and travel as much as I can while I can.
Maybe I'll be receiving a replacement via artery ! Everyone has different information when I speak to them.
But I wanted you to know I did not have chest pain requiring medicine after day 2. Sometimes I took a Tylenol
As bed rest kicked my ass ( hip tear surgery is next..) but no opiates. We are all different.
As the nerves reconnected they activated other surgery sites! My shoulder repair was a pain. But
Tylenol took care of it. Don't worry about if you can handle it. Foot pain from plantars faciatis is FAR worse!
As is having a baby, a migraine, the stomache flu and burns. Really! You can do it! Oh and don't watch videos
Also look at the ACHA website, full of good stuff, but this one is cheerier for me.
 
You are going through the same motions as most of us did. Only thing I can suggest is reading as much as possible here, look at people hospital stay stories to reduce your anxiety about pain and post-op proceedings, Ross or Mechanical are both decent choices. Adam Pick was fairly young and got Ross, though more complicated than just one valve replacement, it has been pretty successful. I prefer just one valve replacement, and while I considered Ross, I was advised just one valve. I guess, reducing risks was what it was all about.

I have full confidence in you completing multiple marathons and ironman post surgery and recover no matter what choice you make. Most folks on here do just that.
 
http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings/cardiology-and-heart-surgery

Ironman
The URL above may answer your question regarding Hospitals. It's a ranking that U. S. News and World Report has been conducting for 25 or so years.

Valve selection is an "up close and personal" decision, but I do agree with your rational regarding Tissue Valves. My Congenital Aortic Stenosis valve was replaced on April 18, 1985 with a St. Jude 25 Aortic. The St. Jude served me well
until November 9th 2011. Due to an Ascending Aortic Aneurism that originated in the "root" or "annulus", the St. Jude had to be explanted. Due to the technological (at least in my eye) advances of the On-X Valve, I had pre-selected it for the replacement. My heart was significantly different at age 62 (as opposed to age 35 in 1985) and needed a valve with a graft attached to it, (it replaced 6 to 7 inches of of the Aorta) 5 by passes, and ultimately a Pacemaker. I am now doing great.......the surgical pain you will have is dull, and the pain meds will work great for you. If you hurt, take them, that's what they are for.

My first surgery was performed in Fort Worth Texas by a very good CAV Surgeon at Harris Hospital, the second one was at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, also by an excellent surgeon! Coumadin is not and has never been an issue for me, nor has checking my INR. I have been checking it myself for years. I could and can.......hear both valves. However neither are noticeable by people around you.

A Post Script you might find interesting: I asked Dr. Pettersson (of Cleveland Clinic) if he would send me my explanted St. Jude valve, and he did. There was no noticeable wear on it after nearly 27 years in my chest. It is now in a display cabinet.

The decision is yours, don't let anyone ( including a cardiologist or surgeon) make it for you.

Will place you in my prayers.
 
Ironman,
Regarding the pain issue. As you read through all the forums you'll quickly notice the whole range of views on pain. Some have virtually none, or claim they didn't :rolleyes: and others have pain for quite some time. A LOT of the pain issue depends on the procedure done, whether this is first or multiple cut through of the sternum and of course tolerance for pain.

I've always felt that I have a high tolerance for pain but keep finding myself taking a long time to recover and quit experiencing pain with each of my major surgeries (this last OHS was #12 total surgeries, not all heart.) So, as you can see, I speak from waaaayyyy too much experience.

Key points with dealing with pain.
...Keep on top of it, don't try to brave it out. If you hurt, take something, even if just Tylenol.
...make sure to take some sort of pain med about 45 min (can be less if IV meds, see next point) BEFORE a procedure such as removing chest tubes, pacing wires, central lines. Check with nurse what time they're planning things and ask her to help you arrange pain meds accordingly. BTW chest tube didn't hurt me at all, but those pacing wires were HELL!
...if you have a PCA or Narcotic Pump (one of those IV pain med lines where the patient controls the dosing) use it just before procedures. These are fast acting, so don't need so long to get into blood system.
...if you have problems with one kind of pain med, ask to try another. I can't tolerate ANY of the Codeine derivative drugs (like someone else here, Percocet causes me hallucinations among other things.) Ironically I CAN tolerate plain old fashioned Codiene, just not the new derivatives that were developed to deal with codeine's side-effects. Ask about traMadol, it works pretty well for me with relatively few side effects.
...if you find narcotic pain med is wearing off in effectiveness, try switching to timed, regular Tylenol and using the narcotic as a bridge for those times the Tylenol isn't cutting it. BE CAREFUL OF HOW MUCH TYLENOL YOU TAKE, AND CONSULT DR. FIRST!!! Anyway, This switching around was recommended to me by the Pharmacist when she asked about the Tramadol and my pain control. I'd reported to her that even with Tramadol at max dosing I was still in at least a level 3-4 on 1-10 scale of pain ALL the time, 4 weeks after surgery and was using the Tylenol to bridge waiting for my next Tramadol. That's when she suggested reversing the two and not just using the Tylenol as needed but on the clock. It made a world of difference. (Although I'm 6! Weeks post op and STILL in significant pain {car rides -especially killer Prius-, sneezing, talking are sheer torture} I can tell a BIG difference on pain control levels since switching the two meds.)
... Don't take what you see on here as the bible for whether or not you're a tough guy or whimp! Everyone has different circumstances and healing issues. Some lucky ones seem to breeze through, others not so fortunate. I mentioned to my daughter that I was feeling like a whimp for still hurting this long after surgery and she quickly said NEVER WOULD SHE HAVE THOUGHT AS ME AS A WHIMP! Nice validation, just wish I wasn't still hurting (also tired of having to coordinate someone driving me anytime I want to go somewhere!)
...for me, I'm sleeping in the guest room other than on weekends. My hubby gets up quite early in the morning and I didn't want to disturb the little sleep he gets and I didn't want him disturbing me if I happened to be asleep. Weekends is when we reconnect. At first, I had quite the nest of pillows, experimenting with what worked for comfort. I'm now down to two pillows but still experimenting with finding that comfortable position to sleep in. My biggest problem is not being able to move from one position to another easily and that then wakes me up and I notice the pain.

Finally, about the valve clicking. I hear mine quite clearly when it's quiet around me and at night. My Dr. said, it because it's very anterior (near front of chest wall) and for my size, fairly large. Apparently the sound can also diminish as healing proceeds and it "settles in". I likened it to the crocodile in Peter Pan and nearly gave my GP stitches! I'm one who CANT STAND white noise so was really worried about this. But....yes I notice it, but other than for a couple beats when it's gotten my attention, I quickly tune it back out. No one else has casually noticed it and my husband has to be in just the right position when we are snuggling to hear it. Even with his ear on my back, he doesn't hear it. Only when we are lying next to each other and I'm on my back.

I think this has been long enough. Sorry for length, had more to contribute than I thought. Hope some helped.
GOOD LUCK!
Linda
 

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