Mary's Journal

Catie B  They released you quickly! Congrats on successful surgery and on coming home. Hope your recovery is very smooth!

  Great news Mary! So happy for you to have the surgery behind you! Stay strong during your recovery, keep us posted, will be thinking of you 😊

Rose Madura  Great to hear. I'm glad everything worked out well for you. I hope your recovery is uneventful. God bless you.

Bob Fessler  That's great news that you were "let out" from the hospital so fast!! Did you end up with a tissue or on-x valve? You had your surgery a day before I did. Did you have a ministernotomy?

Mary Rodriguez  Hi Bob. Sorry I haven't logged into this site in a few weeks.

I have the on-x valve. And no I have a three inch incision and right side of chest.

How abut you?

Adam Pick  Hi Mary, Here's a video I filmed with Fred Holberg, the Coach of the Chicago Bulls about his On-X valve. I thought you might like to see it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C88mpgQJ_n0

Shawn Taylor  Hi Mary...hard to believe I'm now 5 months with my on-x aortic valve. I'm 49 and it sounds like I had similar recommendations to you. No regrets so far, although you have to look at it that way whatever choice you make.

Warfarin has been a non-issue for me to-date fortunately. It's well-tolerated and hasn't impacted my activity level or life really at all and I had some comfort going in knowing my Dad has been on it for 25 years (non heart-related reasons) without any complications. My inr has been reasonably steady in the 1.7 - 3.2 range (target 2-3) and my understanding is that with the on-x valve my cardiologist will drop the target range to 1.5-2.5 next month when I see him.

My takeaways so far are that the warfarin has been easy, it isn't affecting my activity level and the valve has been relatively quiet (not silent, but not impactful...still not totally used to the heartbeat awareness yet, but getting there☺) and I'm hopeful this valve ends up being the long-term solution and I can keep it to one ohs.

Just ask if you have any questions and best of luck in this "adventure" we're all on!

Roger Perkins  I have the ON-X mitral valve & have read excellent reviews for the ON-X. I do wonder if there's any significant difference in longevity and/or INR range between the aortic & mitral though (don't mean to hijack your thread Mary :)!).

The ON-X appears to be the best thing going w. mechanical valves now due to potentially lower anti-coagulation, less scar tissue, etc.

Shawn Taylor  I've been lucky enough to be healthy otherwise and my annual pcp visit was pretty much it until the murmur was picked up a couple of years ago. ohs at 49 was my first stay in a hospital, and hopefully the last for a long while🤞

Roger Perkins  Mitral valve has been my only real health problem Mary. 6 weeks post-op. of my 2nd OHS within 1.8 years. My tissue valve failed after only 1 year. My surgeon said that the mechanical valve was my best bets for living a long life. ON-X seems to be the thing for mechanical valves these days....sure hope so!

Melissa Houser  Hi - I happened to see this post. I am 18 days post-op Bentall procedure, which is an aortic valve replacement and aortic root replacement with a Dacron graft. I am very small and do note the On-X when my heart rate is up and when I strain on the toilet. I also hear and feel the vibration when I lay on my left side at night. I am a light sleeper and thought the valve would be bothersome, but it hasn't affected my sleep (although I am still taking oxycodone at night for pain). I am 42 years old, unmarried, and with no desire for biological children at this point in my life. I therefore chose On-X. I didn't want to have repeat procedures, which is the commitment one makes with a tissue valve and with the Ross procedure. So far, Coumadin has been no problem, and my INR has been steady. I get it rechecked on Monday (2 days from now). You will have to weight the risks and benefits of each option available. Definitely take time to talk with both your surgeon and your cardiologist who will be following you after surgery. In fact, my cardiologist was really more helpful than the surgeon in terms of being frank about the different options that were available to me. Hope these thoughts help. Have a good day!

Mary Rodriguez  Thank you ! I went with the on-x valve and so far so good. I too hear the ticking more when I may on my left side but hoping over time I will be able to ignore. Hope you are well!