c's Journal

nicole taylor  Hi! I am 29, diagnosed with severe mitral valve regurgitation. Wishing her the best and a quick recovery and long life ahead! 

Nicole

Klara Čičić  Hi, I am not in my early 20s, but I was 33 when I had my surgery, if I can help in any way just ask :)

c l  Thanks Nicole, for your response.  My daughter did not have surgery yet.  She was diagnosed with mod/severe aortic regurg when she was 18.   she was screened b/c I had my aortic valve replaced 10 yrs ago at 46.    What a shock b/c I never had any real symptoms and just went about the gym everyday.  but an echo found it.    anyway, We're just in the process of figuring the right time for her to have surgery since she's just 24 now, or delay as long as possible , i dont want her to have this surgey several times in her lifetime.     

c l  Thank you Klara for your response.  I'm just concerned for my daughter who's 24 and may be needing surgery soon.   we're trying to delay as long as possible.  but also what if she wants to start a family?  How does this affect before pregnancy, during or after?  how have you been dealing?

nicole taylor  Oh so, I would not necessarily wait. Especially if the regurgitation is categorized as severe. From what I understand and being diagnosed with severe mitral valve regurgitation, the heart will compensate for a very long time and you may seem unaffected in your daily life.. but over time, the heart enlarges and that is simply not leaving it in good condition.. meaning surgery will be more risky in the future.

I would say do it sooner rather than later because you never know what could happen and she will feel a lot better within 6 weeks and then go onto making a full recovery. Plus, if you are able to be there for her and she can take a leave from work, then that is support she will definitely need. She won't be able to lift more than 3 or 5 pounds for the first 4-6 weeks i believe? and then no more than 10 pounds until 3 months I believe.

Better to do thorough research on a good surgeon and cardiologist and make the appointment. It's scary at first but she will make it through and consider everything I mean, when they sat me down and told me the differences of having a repair or a replacement. For the mitral valve, a repair allows you to stay away from long term medication but with replacement, you will be on a blood thinner that prevents pregnancy.
All things to consider but again, I don't know if it's the same for the aortic valve. Sending love, strength, and courage to get through this

Klara Čičić  Hi, fortunately I had my kids before the surgery, but interestingly, pregnancies were the aggravating factor that caused my regurgitation to become more severe with each pregnancy and leading to surgery. But each case is different, remember that. What I would definitely seek is second, even third opinion. You want the best of the best of mitral valve repair experts. You want to wait as long as you can, but not too long before irreversible damage on her myocardium is done. The exact moment of this happening often is quite hard to define even for the experts! We mitral valve patients are lucky to have a repair as an option, as mv replacement is done only rarely these days. After successful repair pregnancy is possible, although it would have to be caferully watched by ob-gyn and cardiologist. Please read as much as possible, educate yourself from this marvelous website and stay optimistic and strog because medicine can to wonders these days when it comes to valve surgery! :) we are here for you!