I am looking at a aortic root replacement very soon and this was the best video I've been lucky enough to stumble across after a month of watching aortic root aneurysm/dilation videos. Much thanks to its author and the writers of the comments below!
Thank you for taking the time to make a video like this. I am Anesthesiologist and my husband will be submitted in a week this surgery to have a bicuspid aortic aneurysmal dilation of the root of 51 mm. In my daily work I perform anesthesia for all type of patients, but not for heart surgery and have been very apprehensive about it. My husband does not know or speak English but I understand it and I read it but can not speak it very well. But your video has been so clear, orderly and documented that and I will wish to have simultaneus translation.His surgeon has told him that because of his age (52 years), it is best to put a mechanical valve. My 13 year old daughter also has a vivalva aorta, is the first discovered her and each year make it an echocardiography.Congratulations on the excellent work that helps others.PD: Excuse my English. I hope you have understood . I'm from Colombia but I live in Spain.
Good video. Great pictures and explanations. I had a aorta valve replacement and during surgery found they needed to replace the aortic root. Your picture actually showed me what that looked like. Thanks
Thanks so much for your experience. I have a medical background in anesthesia but working in the hospital is different than being a patient. Thanks again. Michael
Thank you for such a great, informative overview of the entire process! It is very comforting to see everything laid out in such a comprehensive manner.
New Planet School 2 weeks after surgery and I'm going out for long walks and can take deep breaths. Still bit painful to sneeze or cough. My only complaint after surgery was back pain which is now gone and drainage tubes.
Congrats on your new life! Glad to hear you are having a good recovery. You are now among the few people who know just how painful sneezing, coughing, and tubes can be!
Great video. I am a 29 year old swede and got an aortic valve replacement 3 weeks ago. I was fortunate enough to get the minimally invasive procedure and was able to cut Oxycodone after 8 days.Today I am just on Tylenol and was able to run 5K this morning. I can´t stress enough to get the minimally invasive procedure if you are able to choose.
My sister-inlaw had valve replacement surgery in March of 2014 and she didn't hardly have any pain at all. At least nothing like what you are describing here. She was only in the hospital for 5 days and then she came home. She was off work for a month and then returned to work. She said the worst part, at least for her was that tube they put down your throat. It is now almost Christmas of 2015 and she is doing great.
Thank you for this very infotainment video. I am 6-days post-op, hoping to go home today/tomorrow. My operation was an emergency. I can see that better planning can make the process a little smoother but I guess the downside would have been the anxiety leading to the the operation.All the best. PS I am a organ donor 😀
Great video! I had the same procedure plus a mitral valve repair on May 23 at the Cleveland Clinic. it went much easier than I expected. at worst my pain was about a 6 or 7. They had me on some strong IV painkillers and a button to push when I needed it. it had a timer on it so I couldn't take more than 2 shots every 4 hours. they switched me to oral painkillers (Oxycodone) around day 5. by week I didn't have to ask for them, they'd ask me if I needed any. (by week 3-4 I was off the pain meds.) I didn't even have to have nightly X-rays or compression socks. I was up and walking the floor by myself 2 days after! The worst part for me was not being able to sleep much the whole time I was in the hospital. Talk about coughing, I had some water go down the wrong way when I was in the hospital... that was not fun... lol the only issue I had about 5 weeks out was an episode of atrial flutter which was due to low magnesium. Now i'm feeling pretty much back to normal, but even better because I have no more symptoms and a lot more energy and stamina. I did have to sleep propped up for a few weeks and coughing, laughing and moving were pretty painful for a while, but it was all worth it to have my old stamina back!
I'm 33, going to be 34 in Sept. one of the things they did tell me was I was in great shape going into the hospital so that helped expedite my recovery. I was doing P90-X to the best of my ability before, now I'm getting back into it again. I lost a lot of muscle mass I had gained before. starting over from scratch lol. I actually lost weight in the hospital. I'm already really skinny, went in weighing 113, left weighing 108. i've gained it back though and pushing for more.
This was an awesome video. Thanks a lot. I have been scheduled for surgery (Bentall Procedure) along with replacement of aortic valve and mitral valve.
Thank you very much for making this video. I'm scheduled to have this surgery in a few months and I know what's waiting for me now. Do you have an update on how you're feeling 3 years later?
I had the Aortic valve and the ascending aortic replace back in 2010. from what my Dr. was surprised at was how active I was and how much my ascending aorta was stretched (7mm) without me having an aneurism. What surprised me was that the last time that I had an echo done, ~8years prior, the pcp that I was seeing told me that I grew out of the murmur that I had. I am no doctor so i took her word for it. She also said that I did not need to be premedicated before having dental work done. Well I decided to be a gym rat. Long story short. When I was told to have another echo done my pcp at that time said that I was in great shape and very healthy but he said "I hope that they do not need to crack you open". I was like "wow that is a horrible job." Anyway I scheduled the echo and went about my daily routine which included my gym workouts... I have the echo done. I look at the nurse and said everything is okay, right. She said that the dr (heart specialist) will tell me about the results. yep what a shock I got when he looked at me and said "We are going to need to do this soon. Who is going to perform the surgery?" I was in shock and said "What are you talking about. Surgery for what?". Then he told me and the rest is history. Bottom line I was very close to having an aneurism and did not even know it. I always had my yearly check up. And never once did I think that I was going to need to have this done... I went for a bovine valve. I did not want to have to deal with blood thinners even though they will have to replace the valve at some point. But until then I do not need to deal with the misery of blood thinners.
+R. Failoni _That's a great story_. I'll add to my story in the video based on what you wrote. There is some interesting history here. Just like you I was told when I was younger that I was "fine". Off into the world I went doing whatever I wanted. Whether it was racquetball, squash, climbing mountains (five colorado fourteeners!), skiing, mountain biking - whatever - I had not a care in the world. Then, as I entered early middle age, three things happened. I got a new primary care doctor, I got married, and I started to have symptoms. But, because I was told I was fine, I ignored all three. Finally, I thought, "okay, fine, it can't hurt...it's a couple of hours for a more detailed check up". I made an appointment with a cardiologist. It was nearly one of the biggest mistakes I ever made. I had some tests done, everything looked fine, and the doctor told me to exercise more. I should do more running - that was the trick to being healthy. The next day, his office called in panic and called me back immediately. They repeated the tests, this time with the doctor in the room watching. It was very tense as the nurse and doctor remade the measurements snapping at each other. I was thinking, "I am going to die any second." When they were done I spoke with the doctor and he said he had re-examined the previous measurements and, in his words, I "should have been blue". But, now things looked fine - go forth and run more. That doctor nearly killed me.... Needless to say, this did _not_ inspire confidence. My wife then insisted that we go to another hospital and she did something quite amazing: he tracked down the doctor I had when I was a child - he was still around, although at a different hospital. It was amazing to "meet" him again decades later. What he told me was fascinating. He told me that my (our) generation was the first to live to adulthood. For that reason, no one knew what to do with us. The problem is that PCPs know nothing and adult cardiologists focus on adult diseases, like heart attacks. The medical field was just figuring out what to do with us. So, he proposed a solution: I would see *both*. So, for the next year or so, I saw both "normal" adult cardiologists and pediatricians. This little experiment had an interesting outcome: once again, the adult cardiologist eventually stopped seeing me. Since they were all part of the same hospital, this was all coordinated, but I now only see a pediatrician - it is them who deal with these types of issues. But, during this time I was on a track to the surgery - totally shocking, not what I had been told years before. The upshot of what I learned was that we are the first to reach an age where adult cardiologist would ever see people like us. We _made it_ to that age! But, they are simply not trained to watch for these things and know what to do about it. It's not the best situation, but I suspect the situation you found yourself in is related: you too got way too far before someone realized that you needed help very soon. I too was shocked when I was told that, contrary to go forth and do anything, I needed to be watched very closely until the certain surgery would come. *Thank you so much for sharing your story!* And, _good luck_!
Thanks.. But I am glad that it happened that way for me, I hate being in suspense. Even Though I had a few weeks before the actual surgery it was a lot better than a few years. And everybody that I told could not believe it. Thanks for all of your information. Believe it or not, I came upon your post by accident. I was following your trigonometry videoes, just because I wanted to start exercising my brain, and decided to look at your home page and that when I came across your story.
Hi, Firstly, what a fantastic video - very informative and easy to understand! My wife is due to have exactly the same procedure as yourself (with the exception that she will probably have a mechanical valve instead of a biological one), and wanted me to ask you how far dilated was your aneurysm before you had the procedure? (Hers is currently 5.6cm and like you, has had the condition all her life, but was only diagnosed 5 years ago). Kind regards, Ian
+Ian Hancock Thanks, Ian! The "normal" size is about 2-2.5 cm, but maybe larger toward the root (~4 cm). By the time I had my surgery mine was a tad smaller than your wife's. In my case the doctors were trying to balance several things. First, they were initially very focused on the valve itself and the amount of regurgitation, which was impacting the size of the ventricle. At that time the dilation was there, but not significant; they were watching it. Second, the measurements of the dilation were causing some confusion. Based on an echo measurement I was scheduled to have the surgery, but that was canceled and delayed a year after an MRI. Then, third, because of my age, they really wanted to delay as long as possible. The final decision really came when the size was changing quickly, they could no longer count on stability between visits. So, it was the change in the size as much as anything. But, during that year, I was told to be careful; for example, don't lift anything over ~25 lbs. (That was not easy with two small children.) Tell your wife *good luck*! With a mechanical valve we can hope that she never has to deal to deal with this again. I haven't been following it as closely as I should, but I have read that the medications are getting better and the reasons for not getting a mechanical valve smaller. As for me, I am recovered enough that I see my doctor less than annually, and I am totally free of any drugs (it was mainly blood pressure meds toward the end).
Great video. I just had the surgery done on Dec 4. I highly recommend this video to anyone who is in the same situation. I just saw this now 2 1/2 weeks after my surgery and can honestly say that this will give you a great picture of the whole process. Pain management is extremely important. Do not be afraid to ask the doctors or nurses about it and work with them to manage the pain. Also an important thing mentioned was the pain from using muscles after you get home. It's going to happen. After one week home I am finally sleeping in my bed for half the night.. Getting better everyday. Stopped all pain meds Dec. 20. Thank you for time you spent on the video. I will be recommending it to my doctors for their patients.
My wife is also 46 and getting her aortic root and valve replaced soon. Most likely it will be of pig or cow tissue. Your video was awesome. I want to thank you so much for doing this. We can rest a little easier now. God bless you.
I have yet to see those pamphlets you mentioned and I just scheduled my surgery for next week. I only recently found out I have a faulty valve & 6 cm. aneurysm that must be replaced. I'm 51 and overweight but I think I can extrapolate what I might encounter from your video. My big question is I live alone without family near by, at what stage could you have taken care of yourself? It is not clear if I will wind up in a nursing home for a few weeks, yuck. This was more useful than 90% of the conversations I have had with doctors, thanks.
+Keith Gregori I think if you plan well (e.g., plenty of easy to prepare food, lots of clean clothes, that sort of thing) you can take care of yourself pretty soon. The key is to make things easy and count on the drugs to keep the pain down enough that you can do simple things. Get things done when the pain meds are at their peak. Getting up and down is hard, walking is hard, so you need to minimize those sorts of movements; plan that you cannot lift anything. The first few days are obviously the most difficult; for example, driving home is impossible. If you do end up in a nursing home, I would guess one week. But, as you can read in the comments, there is a lot of variation among people. *I hope your surgery goes well* - _good luck_!
This is exactly what I was looking for. I am having the surgery in October. Thank you so much for giving me a little piece of mind before the procedure.
What a great video, thank you so much for putting this together... I have it coming up in the next year or two... Doing the research now. A couple of questions 1. Why did you decide to go for the homograft? From the reading I've been doing I'm guessing you're getting the combined benefits of the mechanical valve (longevity) without the need for (as much?) blood thinners? I'm guessing you don't get the ticking sound either? 2. How did you go on with the blood clots? 3. How are you now 2 years on - do you have an active life? - that's the main bit I'm worried about... I'm in the gym most days and I hate the thought of not being able to workout... I know I'll be able to resume some form of lighter exercise at some point, but this has really got me bummed. Thanks again for posting this, it really was a great use of your post-op time! Best wishes
+Mike Clark *Thanks, Mike!* Here are a few answers: 1. I went with the homograft because I wanted to have as active of a life as I could during the following ten years. The main reason was that I have two boys and I did not want to worry about everything I did as they grew up - whether it be hobbies, sports, traveling, etc. There is definitely no ticking, and really everything is quite natural. My hope is that being more "natural" also makes it last longer. For example, if the overall root stays in good shape, perhaps I would only need the valve replaced later through a _simpler_ surgery. 2. Luckily, the clots were all resolved. It was a bit scary, but was fine in just a few weeks. 3. I am doing very well, and I don't really notice anything. I don't even think about it much. There are some times when I feel something in my chest, as when lifting something really heavy in an awkward way. I think this happens because I have protected that area for so long that it remains weak, like overprotecting a broken bone and having that area get weak. But, it is less and less and not much of a bother - just the only thing I really notice at this point. Although I am not that active right now (mainly busy with work and such), I don't feel limited in any way; in the summers that followed I did do some hiking - no problem! I wouldn't worry about not going to the gym! As I showed in the video, I started exercising within the first week. In fact, I was amazed at how soon I could use a machine, and there were two reasons. First, a running-type machine does not move the chest much, so you are not stressing the wound area. Second, the drugs allowed me to do things I would not have been able to do! Once I went off the final pain killers I had realized how much I was pushing my leg muscles - I was so sore! But, obviously, you won't be able to do any exercises that involve the upper body for a while; meanwhile, you can stay in good leg and cardio shape! I think the only thing I have been advised to avoid is exercise like bench pressing, where there is an increase of pressure on the aorta - just no reason to do that. Let me know if there is ever anything else you are wondering about. *Good luck* and, if you remember, let us all know how it went!
+New Planet School Thanks for the quick reply! Yep my cardiologist advised me to steer clear of benching and squatting 10yrs back when I first discovered I had the condition (semi bicuspid valve + enlarged(ing) root. Mine's at 4.6cm as of my last MRI in October last year I'm being recalled for a CT this week... I have been naughty and I have done benching over the last 5yrs but I haven't gone super heavy - I know I could have pushed it more but decided not to... I am wondering though if it has contributed to quickening up the speed at which I need the op. Up until this most recent MRI I thought I was good for another 10yrs, but after reading around I know 4.6cm is on the cusp of when you're considered for the op. I'm not a bodybuilder as such (I know Arnie had his valve replaced - not sure about the root?) but I really enjoy lifting - well all fitness really, so like I said, I am bummed because that will definitely have to change. I do a lot of cardio and I'm asymptomatic right now. I run / row 5k several times a week... cycle 15-20k a session without any issues. Last year I was flagged for some kidney issues too - high creatinine / high urea. I'm back at the nephrologist's for a follow up early next month and I'm hoping my recent bloods show a decline in these readings. I've read a lot today but I'm sure I came across something that said the aortic condition could impact on the kidneys? I don't know if you've ever come across anything like that but I'll be asking in the appointment. Personally I think that it's triggered by the amount of exercise I do so I have cut back on both intensity and duration, I'm 39 - no spring chicken anymore! I'm assuming I won't get a homograft and will end up with the gore-tex root and a mechanical valve. Obviously, I don't relish the idea of being on warfarin, especially reading it can take a toll on your kidneys. I know the ticking will drive me bonkers ha! but it seems the mechanical valves are the preferred choice in younger patients? My only thoughts on going with a tissue value is that maybe in 10 - 20yrs stem cell technology might be advanced enough to build "my own" valve... From what I've read, the gore-tex root should be good to see me through to the pearly gates? Thanks again - I don't know why all cardio's don't offer this link up for anyone undergoing this surgery, it's a GREAT insight into everything. I'll be sure to pass it on mine! Cheers Oh, forgot to say great news on the clots! Did they go naturally?... All round, it's really encouraging you're doing so well :) How have your follow ups been?
