Might be one in my future....anyone had one?

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I might have one and not know it. :-)

Acronymania, coming to a keyboard near you.

Aortic valve replacement. And no, I can't tell you anything about them.

But the good news is Cajun now has proof he has a heart!

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I had one in 2016, when they were first allowing them for more general use. Caj, what would you like to know?

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

Recovery time. Did it make a big difference? I am asymptomatic at this time but cardiologist is monitoring and says it WILL be in the future. How long do they last?

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But it's cold and black-does that make a difference

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I apologize, I mis-read that.

I had mitral valve repair 15 years ago. I know it's not aortic and realize mine wasn't replaced but that's rather the point. All mechanical or biological replacement valves have a limited warranty with regards to how long they last. Some mechanical valves last a long time.

Is "repair" of your aortic valve a possibility? Generally repair of a heart valve is vastly preferable to replacement. It may require a surgeon with advanced skills to accomplish repair but if it's possible it is the way to go.

I was lucky and had a referral to a master who was late in his career and had done many of the same types of procedures. He did my mitral valve but his "specialty" was aortic repair so they're out there.

As far as recovery time the younger you have this done the better your recovery will proceed. I was 52 and in pretty good shape so recovered quickly but the fellows I shared the cardiac recovery floor with were generally in their 60s and 70s and they were having a tougher time of it. Mostly they had received bypass surgery rather than open heart (valve work is "open heart" as it requires access to the interior of your heart, bypass is accomplished on the exterior of the heart, but the median sternotomy is the same).

Best of luck to you (and prayers)!

Bryan

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Ordnung muss sein
SWHF #789

Sorry. Just read that this procedure is minimally invasive and something like a stent. Completely different than open heart surgery. And that's a good thing.

Bryan

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Ordnung muss sein
SWHF #789

Minimal Invasion?
I get a Second Opinion before I get a Pedicure!
Just kidding, if you Docs say you need it, you most likely do.
Best of Luck Caj.

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Naw, I have a couple of them lying around just to show people who accuse me of being heartless. Don't know what they are from though...

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I've assisted on many aortic and mitral valve replacements using the "old fashioned" open chest technique when I was an O.R. Nurse, but never even seen a TAVR, although my wife has assisted on quite a few in the interventional cath lab she works in. TAVR stands for Trans Aortic Valve Replacement.

You should investigate the number of these your surgeon has done and his success rate, and also get a second opinion from another interventional cardiologist who has done the procedure. They have great advantages over the open procedure but have their own list of risks as well. There is no chest incision, the catheter is inserted in the femoral artery (upper thigh near the groin) and threaded up the aorta and once positioned is deployed, somewhat like a stent is done. Beyond that I have no experience with them. Good Luck.

Back many moons ago when I was working for a major medical products company, there was a shortage of heart valves. So the company is doing a video of a valve replacement and the surgeon removes the old valve, puts in the sizing die and says to the camera "Damn, we're out of that size, pull the plug".

Talk about a serious chain yank!

In any event, surgeon sews in the new valve and wraps it up.

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

My 93-year-old mom just had one in early November. Went home at less than 36 hours (Too Soon!) and went back in the ambulance twice the next week. At 2 months the dizzy spells and shortness of breath have almost disappeared. Much better than open heart!

Ivan

I had open heart aortic valve replacement two years ago this February the first. I spent ten days in the hospital and I’m just starting to feel good again now. I was told the valve will last 10-15 years and then I can get two replacement valves after that each lasting the same 10-15 years. Having an artificial heart valve is weird but the alternative is way worse.

3 plus yrs ago for me. Helped very much. In the hospital less than 24 hrs. had to take a blood thinner for 90 days and that was it.

I underwent a TAVR last year. To hit the conclusion, then reverse for details, all came out well.

I had had a heart murmer for years, which MDs were aware of. I was told that as long as I was asymptomatic to not be concerned. However during a routine exam in 2023 the murmer was much louder. That led to an assessment by the cardiologist who confirmed it had become a stenosis and needed to be corrected.

That started me on a long road of testing to qualify me for a TAVR. Part of that is to determine if the overall health of the patient is good enough to withstand the operation.

I passed through all the testing and evaluation. One thing noted was a bundle branch blockage which would necessitate a pacemaker install prior to the TAVR.

The TAVR operation itself was routine. These are done assembly line style as there is a large number of people assembled in the OR to do these.

Recovery was routine. I was limited on exercise for the entire recovery period, which ended up biting me on the derriere (more anon).

Never in any of this did I experience any pain or discomfort.

Miscellaneous items.

Life expectancy is always variable. The surgeon stated the TAVR itself does not have a known or expected service life, so it will probably not be my heart that sends me to boot hill.

The surgeons were surprised at my asymptomatic state right up to the day of the surgery. They attributed it to my overall fitness level since I have always worked out. As it turned out my stenosis was far more severe than I had presented. The lead surgeon, who has done 350+ of these, said my valve was not the worst he had ever seen, but it was in the top several. And if that valve fails, the patient bleeds out.

If you do have this done, behave during recovery. I recently collapsed at home and had to be flown out. One of the leads on the pacemaker had become disconnected. I survived that ok. I had a new lead inserted by the cardiologist and now the pacemaker is supplying electricity as it should. Ths was my fault. As soon as I could return to excercising I went back to my old habits of overdoing it. Doing pull downs on my weight machine put a vertical strain on that lead. I have been told I can never do any exercises in the future that replicate chin ups.

My recommendation is you get this TAVR done as soon as possible. The risk is too great if you delay.

Get back to me with any further questions.

When I 1st saw this post, I thought it was in the wrong forum.

I thought Cage was asking about an Israeli bullpup rifle, the TAVOR.

Not being facetious either, I had never heard of the TAVR procedure before.

Proof you can learn something new every day.

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BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

Here I was wondering how they would get a Tavor into those little blood vessels....

Attached Images

IWI-Tavor-TAR-21w1.jpg (22.6 KB, 4 views)

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Even older, even crankier....

Yes. My wife just had it last week. It was less than two hours from the time she went in until I talked to the doc. Everything went fine and I saw her in her recovery room soon thereafter. She was moved to a regular room later that evening and we had her home the next day. There were some restrictions the first week like not lifting anything over 10 pounds, etc., but mostly, it was life as usual.

She had and EKG as a follow-up and visited with her surgeons designated person yesterday. All is well and she says she feels better than she has in years. She is released now to do what she wants. She does have to wear a heart monitor patch for 4 weeks as a precautionary measure.

Physical therapy is recommended but not mandatory. My wife is doing walking and related exercises on her own.

Hope this helps.

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"In God We Trust"

Thank you for sharing. Glad your wife did so well!
Gary

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