Will it be safe to leave my severely leaking mitral valve until it is safe to go into hospital?

[spikynana]

I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and mitral valve prolapse in February this year after a serious episode of AF which resuted in me being rushed to hospital with a resting pulse of 150. At first the cardiologist said the regurgitation was moderate and I would need to be monitored and take beta blockers. Two days ago I received a copy of a letter sent to my GP saying my second echocardiogram, my first was paid for at a private hospital, showed that my regurgitation is severe. I spoke to the cardiologist last night and he said if it wasn't for coronavirus, he would have me back to his clinic to do more tests. he is speaking to his surgical team as my symptoms have worsened, breathless, ectopic beats, although not racing. I also have pain on the left hand side of my chest. Apparently, I was born with this problem, but it has never shown up before. I am now very worried that my condition will get worse before I'm able to see anyone due to this virus. I'm not on anti coagulants as I'm only 62. Any advice would be welcome.

[Midgeymoo17]

Your consultant will make the best decision for you- it may not be the same decision as he would make outside of a pandemic but that is irrelevant as we are in a pandemic.

There was a really nice tweet by an A&E doctor yesterday basically saying if you need us (for a problem other than coronavirus) we are still here.

Services have suspended all elective treatment and delayed all out patients- not so much for swamping purposes- but to stop disease transmission. Those tests he would have ordered- if he feels you will deteriorate to an emergency before the end of the pandemic- he can still order them and you will receive them before the end of the pandemic, however, there will be a much higher chance of you getting the virus while having the tests. I suspect he will deem the risk from the virus to be higher than the risk of waiting for you.

This said if you got severe palpitations you felt might be dangerous - you can still go to A&E. All A&E' have separate waiting/ treatment areas for those suspected of Covid. They will still treat you and will do their best not to cross infect you. The reason the A&E doctor posted was actually because people (needing help for other problems) were delaying attending A&E for fear of cross infection till they deteriorated to the point they needed admitting to hospital. If they just turned up earlier they could have been treated in A&E and sent home.

[TooLate4Daughter]

HI Spikynana - Sorry, are you still here on this forum? How did you get on? Hope you have had your surgery and/or at lest received some solid care and monitoring by now?