Steve's Profile

Hi I'm Steve. 9 years ago I had a one off nocturnal seizure and on admission to hospital doing normal monitoring a significant murmur was found. Referred to cardiology and then following Echo and MRI, I was found to have a bicuspid valve and dilation of ascending aorta (4.5). I was prescribed losartan prophylactically to reduce pressure on dilated aorta and put on a watch and wait of yearly echos and 2 yearly MRIs. Started to become symptomatic (short of breath on walking up hills etc ) summer 21. Echo and MRI in November confirmed that I had severe aortic stenosis. We decided to replace with mechanical valve and as my aorta was 4.8 to replace that section too. This was done in Feb 22. Valve was a lot more calcified than the scans showed, and in removing the valve and calcifications I ended up with complete heart block so needed a permanent pacemaker placed 1 week most op. I also suffered from pericardial effusion and had 1 litre drained 10 days post op.