Bethany's Photos

Doran Herritt  Looking good, Bethany. Great to hear the hearings going well. Coming home soon? You'll love the first nights sleep with no one poking you in the middle of the night. Take care. Keep on healing. Drn

Steven A Husted  may the good lord above give you a great recovery and help you to heal with out any pain one day at a time do not rush it time is a healer

Lynee Casper  Bethany, great news that you are on the road to recovery, you look great, determined too, best to you each day and thanks for sharing an update post op.

Travis Ederer  Just recently ran into your story. Like you I was diagnosed young (15) and followed it throughout my life. I am 42 and still hoping to push my replacement out until 55 or so. We'll see.
Tissue vs. Mechanical: My personal choice would be tissue for all the reasons people say. An active life on coumadin is less then attractive.

I did recently read an article to make me think carefully, however. It may be something to discuss with your surgeon/cardiologist about which specific device they plan on using. The article in MedScape.com is research that has found possible issues with clotting on bioprosthetic valve leaflets causing them to be stiffer then they should, resulting in a need for anti-coagulation anyway (coumadin, warfarin, etc). In summary, it is early research on a relatively small cross section, but nonetheless I'd ask the question if I were getting a valve soon.

Here is the link - you may need to have an account. I work in EMS so I have used MedScape for 20 years. The accounts are free and they have great info and research. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/852441

Otherwise, if you can't see the article, shoot me an email at tederer@hotmail.com and I'll forward a pdf of the research you could take to your Doctors.

I've seen lots of amazing things happen on this site, and in person, and have no doubt your story will be just as successful!