Heart valve replacement surgery

[THC]

Hi my TRF Family

68 years old…

Have been very proactive with my health and preventive screenings.. I have had an Aortic valve leak (moderate] for several years and after my latest echo screen last week, it has gotten more severe. Time for surgery I was told.

Won’t be till early May, as I really have no symptoms but slight shortness of breath. (Also had a nuclear stress test 2 weeks ago and heart itself is strong)

Does anyone know of anyone that has had this surgery?

[RW16610]

I haven't, but wanted to post letting you know that I'll be praying for the best outcome. Wishing you a speedy recovery, Tom! I'm certain you'll be able to get more details from others on the forum that had this procedure before or those in the healthcare industry.

[THC]

Thanks Rommel.. just a procedure lol

[RichM]

No Tom I don’t. Just wanted to wish you the best and a speedy recovery.

[sickened1]

Yup, wishing you a faster recovery as well Tom. It’s just a procedure so you should be in and out in no time.

[scarlet knight]

Wishing you an uneventful procedure and speedy recovery. Better to operate before a heart event.

[hdrazor251]

My mother-in-law had it done several years ago when she was in her early to mid 80’s. Her major symptom that I remember was shortness of breath. In a year, she went from walking 2-3 miles a day to barely able to walk to the mailbox and back. She made a full recovery and just recently passed away 10 days short of her 98th birthday.

I also have worked with a couple of people that had it done. Both made a full recovery. One was younger and came back to work after a few weeks. The other decided to retire and travel and never came back to work.

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

[Brenngun]

2 family members have had this done. Both doing well many years later. No worries Tom as this is pretty much like a production line process now. You'll be out and on your feet in no time. All the best through this process.

[THC]

thanks all, good to hear these stories and encouraging words.

[1st amg]

Hey Tom, I do not want to be that guy who tells the story of things that did not go so well, but here it goes. My mother at 78 had an aortic valve replacement as well as the aortic arch which is just above the aortic valve in October. The surgeons of course always give you the possibilities of complications etc. Anyway, dropped her off that morning in October, they performed this surgery and I was waiting for them to call later that evening when I could see her. Rather than receiving a call from the cardiac surgeon, it was a neurologist from the stroke team who called and said after the heart surgery, when they started the process of "waking" her up they noticed she had no response on her right side. She had suffered a severe stroke from the blood that left the heart area and formed clots in her brain. They needed me and my brother to get to the hospital to sign and authorize this brain surgery to try and remove the blockage/clot on the right side of the brain. If not performed, she would run the reality of never getting out of bed and losing all cognitive functions. Of course, we gave the go-ahead.
She came out of the brain surgery where she now has expressive Aphasia. She basically lost all her speech and all ways of communicating ie writing, printing, and reading more than three words at a time. She had completely lost her speech and has suffered loss of functions on her right side. The worst nightmare happened. Since October, she has been admitted to in-patient stroke rehab, and her world along with all of ours is upside down. They have rehabbed her to the point she can walk unassisted, albeit very slowly and awkwardly, she can put four words together, albeit slurred and distorted. What she still has thankfully is cognition. She knows everything that is going on, has an opinion as usual, and has a will/determination to fight. I did not want to be the story that you do not want to hear, but the reality is, that our family did not have such a good outcome. The good news I suppose is that her heart belongs in the Six million dollar man.

[THC]

Yikes, so much for encouraging words .. j/k Nicholas… your Mom sounds like an inspiration to us all. Hope she is doing well

Every human is different so the downside of my not having it done are far worse, so on I go..

[Dan Pierce]

Tom, I've no experience w/ this but wanted to send all my best to you for a speedy recovery and hope your back better than new!
dP

[brandrea]

Tom, I have no experience with anyone I know, but I too am wishing for your speedy recovery and continued good health

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by 1st amg

Hey Tom, I do not want to be that guy who tells the story of things that did not go so well, but here it goes. My mother at 78 had an aortic valve replacement as well as the aortic arch which is just above the aortic valve in October. The surgeons of course always give you the possibilities of complications etc. Anyway, dropped her off that morning in October, they performed this surgery and I was waiting for them to call later that evening when I could see her. Rather than receiving a call from the cardiac surgeon, it was a neurologist from the stroke team who called and said after the heart surgery, when they started the process of "waking" her up they noticed she had no response on her right side. She had suffered a severe stroke from the blood that left the heart area and formed clots in her brain. They needed me and my brother to get to the hospital to sign and authorize this brain surgery to try and remove the blockage/clot on the right side of the brain. If not performed, she would run the reality of never getting out of bed and losing all cognitive functions. Of course, we gave the go-ahead.
She came out of the brain surgery where she now has expressive Aphasia. She basically lost all her speech and all ways of communicating ie writing, printing, and reading more than three words at a time. She had completely lost her speech and has suffered loss of functions on her right side. The worst nightmare happened. Since October, she has been admitted to in-patient stroke rehab, and her world along with all of ours is upside down. They have rehabbed her to the point she can walk unassisted, albeit very slowly and awkwardly, she can put four words together, albeit slurred and distorted. What she still has thankfully is cognition. She knows everything that is going on, has an opinion as usual, and has a will/determination to fight. I did not want to be the story that you do not want to hear, but the reality is, that our family did not have such a good outcome. The good news I suppose is that her heart belongs in the Six million dollar man.

I’m truly sorry to hear this Nicholas. I hope that she can still get the most out of life with her limited speech and mobility issues.

We had a similar (but medically different) scare with my mom about a year ago. She contracted a Strep A blood infection (we still don’t know how) and we almost lost her. She spend 1 week in emergency and 6 weeks in intensive care. She stroked out once during this time as well.

Remarkably, she has made a full recovery and lived independently for a short while afterward. She finally decided to move to supportive living to be closer to my dad who is now in long term care.

[2000-NJDEVILS]

To the OP -

The procedure that you are inquiring about is called the “Transcatheter Aortic Valve Repair” (TAVR).
My best friend is a Cardiac surgeon and he has done hundreds of these cases - it is a very short procedure repairing the “out valve” of your heart. You wouldn’t be getting this procedure if you weren’t a good candidate so please stay calm, relax and know that TAVR is very safe and effective (see Mick Jagger).
The recovery time is only a few weeks and you will be as good as new……
Best wishes!

[Krash]

First of all, the anxiety leading up to the surgery is worse than the actual operation itself…at least for me it was…

I went through valve repair surgery 3 years ago. I was born with a defective valve (mitral valve prolapse). I felt great but it progressed to the point where I had severe leakage and regurgitation. My heart was also functioning in a compensated state, and that’s why I felt like I was in great shape.

My cardiologist told me it needs to be dealt with now or it could get to the point where my heart would begin to function in an “uncompensated” state and one of my chambers could significantly increase in size (forget which one, maybe lower left). If that were to happen, they could fix the valve, but they couldn’t do much to undo the damage it caused. I would basically live the rest of my life a “train wreck.” Those were his exact words.

He also said you don’t want to be somewhere in the middle of the country and suddenly require an emergency valve repair surgery. He said “those never go well.”

But after he explained all that to me, he said I should have the operation in the next 6 months. So, it was urgent, but apparently not so urgent that it needed to be done that week. But he kept emphasizing that now is the time to have the operation while you’re still in great shape.

This was in August and I scheduled the operation for October. He recommended the Cleveland Clinic, but I didn’t want to travel. So I had it at the University of Florida, and he was fine with that.

I had the operation on a Monday. I was in recovery by that evening, and I walked out of the hospital on Friday morning. Two or three weeks later, I was riding my bike around the neighborhood again. I feel great. The surgery was a success.

BTW, I was 58 at the time…


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[Krash]

Originally Posted by 2000-NJDEVILS

To the OP -

The procedure that you are inquiring about is called the “Transcatheter Aortic Valve Repair” (TAVR).
My best friend is a Cardiac surgeon and he has done hundreds of these cases - it is a very short procedure repairing the “out valve” of your heart. You wouldn’t be getting this procedure if you weren’t a good candidate so please stay calm, relax and know that TAVR is very safe and effective (see Mick Jagger).
The recovery time is only a few weeks and you will be as good as new……
Best wishes!

I was told that the TAVR procedure is only for high risk patients that are too weak for a traditional surgical procedure. I wasn’t considered eligible for it. That was back in 2020. Maybe things are different now, but I just want to make sure the OP is aware that he might not be eligible for TAVR. He might require a more traditional procedure.





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[THC]

Thanks everyone .. great intel, great forum, great people, and hopefully In and Out, like the burger, ha.
I am still 2 weeks ish away..

[DLRIDES]

Best of luck and well wishes !

[Krash]

Originally Posted by THC

Thanks everyone .. great intel, great forum, great people, and hopefully In and Out, like the burger, ha.
I am still 2 weeks ish away..

Best of luck. What procedure are you having? Full open heart?


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[DJ TT 2002]

Tom, it’s sounds as though you are planned for
an AVR
Aortic Valve Replacement.

That is the surgical procedure that involves a mid-line sternotomy and complete valvular replacement with either a mechanical valve or a bioprosthetic valve


TAVR is an entirely different approach which is done transcutaneously and places a
man- made valve above the existing Aortic valve to improve cardiac function. This procedure is usually done by an interventional cardiologist

I deal with both groups of patients almost daily.
The vast majority of people have excellent outcomes.

Please feel free to PM me if you have questions or would like me to translate the medicalese I used above


All the best
T

[VictorGMT]

Originally Posted by DJ TT 2002

Tom, it’s sounds as though you are planned for
an AVR
Aortic Valve Replacement.

That is the surgical procedure that involves a mid-line sternotomy and complete valvular replacement with either a mechanical valve or a bioprosthetic valve


TAVR is an entirely different approach which is done transcutaneously and places a
man- made valve above the existing Aortic valve to improve cardiac function. This procedure is usually done by an interventional cardiologist

I deal with both groups of patients almost daily.
The vast majority of people have excellent outcomes.

Please feel free to PM me if you have questions or would like me to translate the medicalese I used above


All the best
T

Thanks for pointing out these are two VERY different processes.

My wife (58) had AVR last year for the same reasons as @krash. Mid-line "small" (maybe 3" max?) sternotomy.

Great result. A bad few hours that evening due to a bronchial spasm that scared us. Walking second day. Home fourth day?

Very limited unattended movement during week two. Driving by week three or four. (Followed surgeon's advice on all).

Stable INR/meds balanced in month two. Like it never happened after month two, except more stamina etc. I think by day 60 or 90 surgeon released her back to cardiologist for all ongoing monitoring.

[THC]

Angiogram next Wednesday first, then my surgical consult, but yes will most likely be midline small procedure first week in May, from what my Cardiologist said ..I will update along the way.

Thanks again for all the knowledge… helps me calm down a bit

And thanks DJ.. I may

[THC]

Originally Posted by Krash

First of all, the anxiety leading up to the surgery is worse than the actual operation itself…at least for me it was…

I went through valve repair surgery 3 years ago. I was born with a defective valve (mitral valve prolapse). I felt great but it progressed to the point where I had severe leakage and regurgitation. My heart was also functioning in a compensated state, and that’s why I felt like I was in great shape.

My cardiologist told me it needs to be dealt with now or it could get to the point where my heart would begin to function in an “uncompensated” state and one of my chambers could significantly increase in size (forget which one, maybe lower left). If that were to happen, they could fix the valve, but they couldn’t do much to undo the damage it caused. I would basically live the rest of my life a “train wreck.” Those were his exact words.

He also said you don’t want to be somewhere in the middle of the country and suddenly require an emergency valve repair surgery. He said “those never go well.”

But after he explained all that to me, he said I should have the operation in the next 6 months. So, it was urgent, but apparently not so urgent that it needed to be done that week. But he kept emphasizing that now is the time to have the operation while you’re still in great shape.

This was in August and I scheduled the operation for October. He recommended the Cleveland Clinic, but I didn’t want to travel. So I had it at the University of Florida, and he was fine with that.

I had the operation on a Monday. I was in recovery by that evening, and I walked out of the hospital on Friday morning. Two or three weeks later, I was riding my bike around the neighborhood again. I feel great. The surgery was a success.

BTW, I was 58 at the time…


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Thanks Krash.. this is very calming

[Krash]

Originally Posted by THC

Thanks Krash.. this is very calming

Sure, I re-read what I wrote. I think I was actually riding my bike around the neighborhood closer to 3 or 4 weeks after I got out of the hospital and not 2 to 3 weeks.

Either way, if you’re going into an operation like this in a great shape, you’ll be fine.

Nowadays, it’s nice that they operate pro-actively and not reactively. Not too long ago, they’d wait for you to become a “train wreck” and then operate on you.


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[1st amg]

Originally Posted by THC

Yikes, so much for encouraging words .. j/k Nicholas… your Mom sounds like an inspiration to us all. Hope she is doing well

Every human is different so the downside of my not having it done are far worse, so on I go..

Tom you are much better off having this done. Your heart will thank you for it. Sorry about the reality of what happened to my mother. Though she did have not just an aortic valve replacement, she did have the aortic arch section replaced as well. She also has diabetes and had fibrillation. So these were all contributing factors to her misfortune. You will have a strong heart after this. praying for you man.

[INC]

My close friend had a surgery, he was young, but an infection which led to an unrepairable aortic valve damage. The good thing was, that the entire process was less intrusive and problemous as it sounds. It is a so common surgery nowadays, that even an appendix surgery could be more dangerous. It is a simple routine surgery nowadays.

Takes some weeks recovery, but then he felt better then earlier as his heart will worked better and even his blood circle became healthier.

--- please ignore if this is not your case ---

However, in the same time I do not now how it is working in the US, but if they have to replace the aortic valve, we can choose from two options: It can be synthetic (biopolymer) or organic (biological or bioprosthetic).

The difference is, that the synthetic last for a lifetime for sure, but in this case you have to take medicines during the rest of your life. The organic has no such medicine needs for a longer term, but they will not last forever but only about ~15 years when you have to replace them.

So it would worth a concideration which one is more suitable for your life.

GET WELL! :)