Joy's Profile

In 2010 when I had my first aortic heart valve replacement along with placement of a conduit for aortic coarctation, I maintained a journal here. I am now 66 years old & am scheduled for re-replacement of that valve on May 3rd. My stentless equine valve which was thought to be likely to last 15-20 years, almost made it to 9 years. It was fairly new technology when I got it & it hasn’t proved to be as durable as hoped. I’ll be going with a stented bovine valve with a better track record this time. An echo in early March determined my aortic valve leakage, which had been mild/moderate, had progressed to the severe category. For years, I also have moderate mitral valve insufficiency & an enlarged aorta that will now be addressed. My surgeon plans to re-replace my aortic valve, repair my mitral valve & replace the affected section of aorta. 2010 Story Below: I am 57 years old and was diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis (.8) in January. I have had a heart murmur all my life but I’d always been told that it was nothing to worry about. I had no symptoms. I teach yoga and thought I was in good health. Consequently, when my physician sent me in for my first echocardiogram and the results came back – well, just say that I did not see it coming. The cardiologist who reviewed the echo results relayed a recommendation to me via my family doctor that I’d need surgery one day. I was told that I’d need to come back annually for another echo to see how much the stenosis was progressing or wait for symptoms to appear. Since then, I’ve read Adam’s book and your comments and journals, and decided to get a second opinion from a heart surgeon who was recommended to me by another doctor. In March I went to see a cardiothoracic surgeon who felt the recommendation to wait and see was not aggressive enough. I am taking his advice to have the surgery sooner – this summer.