Author Topic: Anyone have Open-Heart surgery - specifically valve replacement? (Read 15436 times)

Sawdust · « **Reply #25 on:** February 23, 2009, 01:14:51 PM »

No blood thinning for a tissue valve as the blood doesn't clot on them.

Clots tend to form on mechanical valves, ergo the need for coumadin and the like.

That's why the elderly rarely get a mechanical valve.

Sawdust

grislyatoms · « **Reply #26 on:** February 23, 2009, 02:01:10 PM »

Must have been a mechanical valve, then.

I do remember hearing about the porcine valves and at 13 y.o. or so, being fascinated by the idea. Maybe that's why it stuck with me.

I was unaware of the advantages/disadvantages of both though, so thanks.

myrockfight · « **Reply #27 on:** February 23, 2009, 10:47:43 PM »

Quote from: Sawdust on February 23, 2009, 11:21:26 AM

A couple of random facts:

Remember, you'll only need coumadin if you have a mechanical valve. The clicking from the valve opening and closing bugs some people, too.

Sawwhousedtobeaheartvalvedesignerdust

Did you really used to design them? If you don't mind me asking, which company did you work for? Is there a big difference in the quality of the valves they use? What are the advantages vs. disadvantages of the different designs? I have heard of titanium valves that leaked from day one and another that lasted 30 years. But I thought most of the valves were all plastic.

Should people who plan on being more active gravitate towards a particular design or material?

Thanks for the help!

Sawdust · « **Reply #28 on:** February 24, 2009, 10:18:14 AM »

Yes, I used to design heart valves.

I'm sorry, but the world of heart valve design is pretty small, so I won't go into any more detail as to who I worked for or when as that info could easily be used to ID me.

If it was me, I would get a tissue valve - especially if one is active. No blood thinners. No catastrophic failure (slow calcification of the valve leaflets is the mode of failure of a tissue valve). If a mechanical valve fails, it is faceplant time.

HTH,

Sawdust

AJ Dual · « **Reply #29 on:** February 24, 2009, 11:13:23 AM »

Quote from: Sawdust on February 24, 2009, 10:18:14 AM

Yes, I used to design heart valves.

I'm sorry, but the world of heart valve design is pretty small, so I won't go into any more detail as to who I worked for or when as that info could easily be used to ID me.

If it was me, I would get a tissue valve - especially if one is active. No blood thinners. No catastrophic failure (slow calcification of the valve leaflets is the mode of failure of a tissue valve). If a mechanical valve fails, it is faceplant time.

HTH,

Sawdust

Since you were on the mechanical side of biomedical engineering, perhaps you won't know, but do you have any opinon of how long to market it'll be before the stem-cell bio-reactor grown valves are common?

Sawdust · « **Reply #30 on:** February 24, 2009, 12:53:54 PM »

I don't know exactly where they are in development, but I assume that it's a lab project at this stage (i.e., they are not at the point of being used in human clinical trials).

If so, we are talking at least ten years.

Sawdust

myrockfight · « **Reply #31 on:** February 24, 2009, 12:54:11 PM »

Quote from: Sawdust on February 24, 2009, 10:18:14 AM

Yes, I used to design heart valves.

I'm sorry, but the world of heart valve design is pretty small, so I won't go into any more detail as to who I worked for or when as that info could easily be used to ID me.

If it was me, I would get a tissue valve - especially if one is active. No blood thinners. No catastrophic failure (slow calcification of the valve leaflets is the mode of failure of a tissue valve). If a mechanical valve fails, it is faceplant time.

HTH,

Sawdust

Do you happen to know what the incidence of failure is for mechanical valves? The big drawback, as I understand it, with the organic valves is that you have to replace them in half the time. I was told 5 to 9 years. I'm only 30. So that leaves me with an awful lot of surgeries before I cash out (I hope :D )

vaskidmark · « **Reply #32 on:** February 24, 2009, 07:05:18 PM »

Quote from: myrockfight on February 24, 2009, 12:54:11 PM

Do you happen to know what the incidence of failure is for mechanical valves? The big drawback, as I understand it, with the organic valves is that you have to replace them in half the time. I was told 5 to 9 years. I'm only 30. So that leaves me with an awful lot of surgeries before I cash out (I hope :D )

But multiple surgeries are fun - trust me, I know about this.

Also, if you can get your hands on a copy of Louis Grizzard's now-out-of-print book They Took My Heart Out and Stomped That Sucker Flat do so. PM me with your snail-mail address and I'll send it to you. It's a great read about his valve replacement - Chapter 6, where he discusses having a drink the night before, is worth every penny you might pay for it.

I used to loan a copy to anybody that weas facing heart surgery. They seemed to think it helped.

stay safe.

skidmark

myrockfight · « **Reply #33 on:** February 26, 2009, 10:43:26 PM »

Skidmark,

Sent you a PM. The heart book only! Try not to send any biotoxins, incendiary devices, or IED's (or unimprovised for that matter) :p

LOL. Thanks! And since I don't know where you live...No toilet papering, mailbox destroying, or soaping of windows. I know your kind.

:)

myrockfight · « **Reply #34 on:** February 15, 2010, 06:38:44 PM »

Update:

I didn't want to get everyone worked up without knowing 100% whether it was happening, but I am going to have surgery tomorrow morning. I applied all the advice that you guys gave me, and I greatly appreciate it.

Fortunately, I was admitted into the Cleveland Clinic last Wednesday. Through sheer luck, the doctor I ended up seeing in Florida did his residency here and knows a few doctors here and got me admitted after hearing all the problems I was having with the finance department at CC. The Larry King Cardiac Foundation agreed to pick up the bill, for which I am eternally grateful, as long as I qualify for the indigent care program at CC. Supposedly, the finance dept., said they didn't recieve any of my paperwork. I learned this after I had left town for a few weeks to help care for my terminally ill grandfather. After speaking with the rep assigned to my case, I started reapplying and she got the idea in her head that I have insurance, which disqualifies me for the indigent care program and subsequently, the Larry King Cardiac Foundation's funding of my surgery.

So I was having a problem trying to prove that because of the free clinic help I was recieving, just because getting a letter from the county explaining that it isn't insurance is like pulling teeth.

Laughably, I started going through the three weeks of mail that night and found a letter from them saying they had recieved my application and I had been 100% approved for financial assistance!

UN-BUH-LIEVEABLE.

So, I'm very thankful of my cardiologist down in Florida for getting me in contact with the doctor here and making this possible.

The cardiologist said there is a 95 percent chance that I will be able to get a repair. Which is huge for two reasons. I will not have to take blood thinners and I will not have to get another surgery to replace an organic or mechanical valve. There is still a chance he will get in there and decide to do a replacement, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Gewehr98 · « **Reply #35 on:** February 15, 2010, 06:53:20 PM »

Prayers enroute. Fingers, toes, arms, legs, and other appendages crossed for your luck.

vaskidmark · « **Reply #36 on:** February 15, 2010, 07:01:56 PM »

Quote from: Gewehr98 on February 15, 2010, 06:53:20 PM

Prayers enroute. Fingers, toes, arms, legs, and other appendages crossed for your luck.

Me also.

Please let us know how things work out.

In case you don't make it - you got any stuff worth driving down to rip off?

(Yes, I'm a sick bastard, but we all knew that. Gallows humor on the eve of surgery is traditional in my circle of friends.)

stay safe.

skidmark

myrockfight · « **Reply #37 on:** February 15, 2010, 07:38:42 PM »

Quote from: vaskidmark on February 15, 2010, 07:01:56 PM

Me also.

Please let us know how things work out.

In case you don't make it - you got any stuff worth driving down to rip off? (Yes, I'm a sick bastard, but we all knew that. Gallows humor on the eve of surgery is traditional in my circle of friends.)

stay safe.

skidmark

Play guitar? I've got a real nice Martin.

Love that thing. I sold all my real expensive rifles and the ones I really like to pay bills over the past year. My Garand, M1 Carbine, and Steyr FAL - specifically.

But I just put together a nice M-4gery with a DSA upper and a Spike's tactical lower. I replaced the stock, fore-end, and grip with olive drab Magpul products. Can't wait to shoot it! Otherwise I just have a hi-cap, parkerized, Springfield 1911, a Walther PPK, Saiga 7.62X39, Ithaca 12 guage, nickel plated featherweight, Mossberg 500 12 guage, and a few oldies - Mosin M44, .303 Enfield MkIII, etc. If you would have said something before today, I woulda willed you something. LOL

What the heck am I saying? I'm not gonna die. Sheesh

mellestad · « **Reply #38 on:** February 15, 2010, 07:55:35 PM »

Good luck!

BobR · « **Reply #39 on:** February 15, 2010, 08:11:33 PM »

Good luck.

Heart surgery is no stranger at our abode.

Wife had open heart #2 in 2002, it just made her meaner.

Her son had a bad case of endocarditis that progressed much further than it should have (thank you US Army hacks) and now has about 1/3 cow tissue heart, mech valve and a pacemaker. While it didn't make him any meaner it did make him much more lazy, which my wife and I point out to him every time we chat. There really is no need for one to act disabled after heart surgery. It sucks for him that she has had 2 surgeries, not much sympathy there for him.

Here's to hoping you get the repair needed.

bob

Northwoods · « **Reply #40 on:** February 15, 2010, 09:04:12 PM »

Good luck! Only surgeries I've had involved wisdom teeth and reconstruction on my forehead. No real words of wisdom (I think, paradoxically, that vaskidmark has that covered).

Headless Thompson Gunner · « **Reply #41 on:** February 15, 2010, 10:11:59 PM »

Good luck

BridgeRunner · « **Reply #42 on:** February 15, 2010, 10:16:28 PM »

Hope it goes well. Good luck.

myrockfight · « **Reply #43 on:** February 15, 2010, 11:14:15 PM »

Thanks guys. I just realized that I learned of my problem almost exactly a year ago by looking at the date of the thread. I guess getting it taken care of short of a year is good. *shrugs

Bobr: That is a strange combobulation (sp?) of things your son has got going on there. I'm surprised he isn't more motivated now that he has gotten it taken care of. I'm hoping my energy level goes up a lot, as per everyone's opinion/experience. It certainly makes sense that it will. I just want to get back to working/running/lifting. Although most of it will have to wait til I get my rods and screws in my back redone.

If you don't mind me asking...what led to your son's endocarditis. I got pneumonia. Then after being treated for six days in the hospital, I picked up a staph infection that infiltrated my blood stream. Then they gave me six weeks of antibiotics and I had no idea my heart was damaged or was being damaged until I started to try to run a few months later with little to no success.

It surprises me that he had to get a pacemaker along with a combination of organic valve/mechanical valve. I'm curious if that was a post op issue of some type or a pre-surgery issue.

Anyways. Thanks a lot for the support. I really appreciate it. The Cleveland Clinic's staff have all been very supportive, accomodating, and nice. The rooms are all singles and the wing I am in were refurbished in October of last year. There is a 42" flat screen in every room with a 100 or so channels. Overall it has been a good experience so far. Plus the surgeon has his own post-op floor,which is a good sign. Knowing that he has been here long enough to establish himself and therefore has a lot of experience is comforting considering I didn't have a whole lot of choice in who is going to do my surgery. I will give a more thorough review once I'm on my way out.

BobR · « **Reply #44 on:** February 16, 2010, 12:08:51 AM »

Quote

If you don't mind me asking...what led to your son's endocarditis.

We will never know. He had never been sick. When he started spiking fevers off/on he would go to sick call, get handed some motrin and sent on his way is his version. He doesn't want me to see his medical records. I have a feeling that he did not go to sick call as much as he says. We can't even blame dental work, he didn't have any before the endocarditis. We did find out after his surgery that he had a bicuspid aortic valve instead of a tricuspid one. That is whht set him up for the endocarditis, I believe.

His issues were many fold. The surgeon was surprised he made it through the surgey afterwards.

He had his aortic valve replaced, a lot of the heart muscle around the aortic valve was so badly infected the surgeon elected to remove it. That included the valve, portions of the right atrium, including the AV node. That effectively cut of the electrical pathway from the SA node to the bundle of HIS. Without that his heart beat was anything but assured, so he got the pacemaker as a precaution. His atrial septum was also badly damaged, more cow tissue. One side of his mitral valve had become detached.

If he had not been in the Army where fitness was necessary, and young, he would have not made it as far as he did.

As far as his mental state, it screwed him up pretty good. To go from young and healthy to nearly dead in 9 weeks was pretty traumatic to him. Perhaps that is why he is the way he is now. I really don't know.

He will end up being one of those guys at the VA who live on disibility and his military retirement. That is if he ever gets motivated enough to go to the VA to get rated. His surgery was a little over 3 years ago and he was medically retired from the Army a little over a year ago. His mother and I visited him in Sept and he is doing fine, just lazy in our opinions.

Best of luck tomorrow. It sounds as though you have fallen in with a group of great people who do this not only as a job but because they like too. Within 24-48 hours you will be up eating and walking the halls.

bob

vaskidmark · « **Reply #45 on:** February 16, 2010, 08:14:31 AM »

I forgot to mention this before -- hope I'm not too late.

BEWARE THE "COUGH LADY" - AKA respiratory therapist. She's the witch who will come in the day after they have cracked you wide open and tell you that you need to cough vigorously.

Uh. Huh. Sure. Your chest is held together with a couple of paper clips, and she wants you to cough vigorously. Riiight!

If you don't cough hard enough to impress her she's going to cram a cinderblock - cleverly disguised as a plush heart-shaped pillow - into your gut, causing you to double over, thus stressing those paper clips even more than coughing would have.

Your best revenge is projectile hacking up in her direction the 3 or 4 quarts of junk at the bottom of your lungs.

Seriously - get up & moving as quickly as you can. It speeds overall recovery time.

stay safe.

skidmark

myrockfight · « **Reply #46 on:** February 21, 2010, 03:03:07 AM »

Good news! Well good news for me. Bad news for you guys! I'm still alive.

Surgery went off without a hitch. Surgeon was awesome. I ended up with two valve REPAIRS!!!! HUGE! No blood thinners! Likely to not have to get anymore surgeries!!!

You wouldn't believe some of the crap I've been through this week. I'm still on really strong pain medications because of the chest pain. You'll have to excuse any grammatical/spelling issues.

I'm having problems with how much fluid I'm getting rid of through my chest cavity. The doctor says it and the tube that runs in is causing a lot of the pain I'm having. So I don't know when the tube is going to come out. And I don't know when I'm going to get out of the hospital. This is my fifth? day out or so. It hurts pretty bad to breathe most of the time.

I'm worried about the ancillary problems that come with surgery at this point becuase I have been in the hosptial for longer than expected(ish) withoiut immediate plans to get out. Sorry this is going to be short. I'm hurting pretty bad and it is late. I've only slept about 6 to 8 hours since the surgery not including the 45 minute naps during the day. So I'm going to give it a good shot.

De Selby · « **Reply #47 on:** February 21, 2010, 03:11:14 AM »

Awesome to hear that you are now over the worst, and won't need to do it again!

Good luck man. Here's to your speedy recovery and being out and about.

Scout26 · « **Reply #48 on:** February 21, 2010, 01:28:21 PM »

More prayers and good wishes for your recovery on the way !!!

RocketMan · « **Reply #49 on:** February 21, 2010, 02:57:00 PM »

Hang in there, myrockfight. Best of prayers headed your way for a speedy recovery.

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Author Topic: Anyone have Open-Heart surgery - specifically valve replacement? (Read 15436 times)