The Maxsons

We met with the heart surgeon on Tuesday afternoon for the first time. When we’d gone previously (a couple months ago), we met with a nurse since he had been called into emergency surgery. We couldn’t really complain about that excuse!

Anyway, he went over the options and discussed outcomes with us. There are two good options for each problem (the valve and the aneurysm). For the valve, he could either replace it with a mechanical valve or perform the Ross Procedure to move my pulmonary valve to the aortic position and place a homograft (cadaver) valve into the pulmonary spot. The mechanical valves are touted as having a good chance of lasting a lifetime, as opposed to pig or cow valves, which only last about 10 years. Their downside, however, is the continuing need for blood thinning drugs to prevent possible clots on the mechanical part. The drugs can require frequent adjustment in dosage and make it more troublesome for blood to clot when you cut yourself or bruise. The Ross Procedure, then, appears to be the best choice for me. It offers an outcome with few restrictions on activity, no long-term medication, and similar risk (both during the operation and for possible re-operation at a future point).

Regarding the aneurysm, the choices are to either remove a section of the aorta and replace it with a Dacron graft or to simply cut out the weakened side of the wall and narrow the aorta manually by sewing it back together in a smaller width. The surgeon felt these options were also essentially identical in most respects. The chance that the manual aorta narrowing might require future re-operation is about the same as the Dacron graft requiring repair or causing infection at some point. What tipped the scale in favor of the manual repair option for me is that he mentioned that the Dacron doesn’t flex like normal blood vessels, tending to make the rest of the heart work a bit harder.

So, that’s the plan! I have to go in to do some lab work on Friday, and then just show up on Monday. I’ll have someone post an update or two here while I’m in the hospital next week. Tricia will be taking a week off work when I get out of the hospital, so that will be invaluable. Thanks for your support!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 21st, 2006 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Health, Ross Procedure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.