mitral valve replacement

go to: www.valvereplacement.com There you will find a forum
with many messages from people who have or soon will undergo
valve replacement. Ask your question there and you will get
some good responses.

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hnm

"Daniel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In 4 weeks I will be going for a mitral valve replacement. I am 44 and
in reasonable condition. Fully active and so on.

Can anyone share with me the recouperation process? how long does it
take until you are back on your feet? how long afeter surgery can you
think about work, even from home? how long after will I feel
comfortable with traveling around? when can I get back to mountain
bike riding? any other tips?

(Daniel) said:

In 4 weeks I will be going for a mitral valve
replacement. I am 44 and in reasonable condition. Fully
active and so on.

Can anyone share with me the recouperation process? how
long does it take until you are back on your feet? how long
afeter surgery can you think about work, even from home?
how long after will I feel comfortable with traveling
around? when can I get back to mountain bike riding? any
other tips?

I had my 1st mitral valve repair operation at 48, my 2nd
(more succesful) at 54. I didn't have any significant
symptoms before either one. It took me at least a year after
the 1st operation before I felt as good as I did before it.
The recovery from the 2nd was quite a bit quicker - I
attribute this mostly to improved techniques as compared to
the 1st one. I went back to work after the 2nd operation in
a bit over 2 months (half days for the first several days).
I'm an engineer so I work at a desk. If I had a more active
job it obviously would have been longer.

In most cases mitral valve operations are undertaken before
you really feel bad, so the effects of the operation aren't
as pronounced. If the operation is delayed until you really
do feel bad, there may be permanent damage to the heart and
the ultimate result will not be as good.

After my 2nd operation, I came home in about 10 days - that
would have been 2-3 days sooner but I developed a fever and
they wanted to be sure I didn't have an infection in my
heart. I didn't, just a bad sore throat (don't ever have a
cardiologist evaluate your sore throat!). About a week after
returning home I spent several hours at a flea market, then
went to an organ concert. Both were in a city about an
hour's drive from home. I was pretty beat when I got home,
but overall did pretty well that day.

You can probably travel by car almost immediately -
you'll probably want a pillow between your sternum and
your shoulder belt. You can't lift more than a few pounds
or drive for a few weeks, until the sternum begins to
heal. Once you can drive you'll have a higher limit on
what you can lift for a few weeks more. You should be
given very detailed information on all this before you
leave the hospital.

Don't be afraid to ask questions - make a pest of yourself
if necessary. It's your body and your life at stake.

Roger Grady [email hidden] To reply by email,
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