Aortic valve replacement.

[Bobbymrg]

Hi my name is Steve when I hit 50ish I was diagnosed with Cardomyopathy after suffering heart failure. They discovered I had a bi cus Aortic valve and an enlarged Aorta. My heart was very big and I then had surgery to replace valve and part of Aorta. I work running a landscape gardening business near Edinburgh.

I spent 1 month in hospital after two surgeries first was main OP and 2nd was a clean up after I got a cannula line infection.

It's been a difficult few years and it did come as a bit of a shock at the time but I was determined to push on. I finally managed to open up my Garden business but realised I now had some limitations.

Recently visited cardiologist and was told my heart was struggling again but valve was good. It's a frightening journey and I dont always stick to the rules. My meds have been changed and I'm feeling a lot better. Weekly warfarin tests can be hard going but being self employed makes it easier.

The point of my post is to ask if there is any others out there that run there own business and understandably have had to make changes.

I now find that after many months of searching I don't have to struggle alone and the NHS has been amazing with my on going care.

This is the first time I've posted on line.

Steve.

[080311]

Good afternoon Bobbymrg,

I can’t help with the running own business (retired years ago!) but just wanted to wish you well. This road we travel is sometimes a bit bumpy but we continue to keep going. As you say there is lots of help along the way.

Best wishes Pauline

[Shar28]

Hello and welcome to the forum. My husband has Dilated Cardiomyopathy and had a biscspid Aortic Valve too. He was 54 when he was diagnosed with the DCM and the valve wasn’t mentioned until he got the results of a subsequent MRI scan about 9 months later. He’s doing well, with his EF now up from 10-15% on diagnosis to 41% now. But he doesn’t work. He had a very stressful job and managed to get early retirement. It’s only since then that his heart improved so much, jumping from25%EF to 41% in just a few months. He finds he has more energy some days than others and has to pace himself carefully.

Your garden looks lovely but landscaping is hard work. To help your heart you have to do all the right things in terms of food & drink, exercise and rest, meds. My husband finds taking the supplement Ubiquinol helps and his cardiologist is happy for him to take it. It can affect INR but it’s easy to adjust the Warfarin dose accordingly, especially as you’d be taking it daily and your tests are so frequent.

On that note, have you thought of home testing? You have to buy the machine yourself which is around £300 but most GPS/ anticoagulation clinics prescribe the test strips and finger prickers in accordance with NICE guidelines. Then you just have to phone in the INR reading for your dose to be reviewed.

Have you discovered the charity cardiomyopathy UK? They’re brilliant. Here’s the link.

cardiomyopathy.org

Also, the AF charity has loads of info about what interacts with Warfarin. They have several factsheets.

heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...

I know I haven’t answered your question about running your own business, but hope what I’ve said is useful and supportive.

Best wishes to you and your loved ones.

[QuadroVEINia]

Sorry to hear of your health challenges Steve but you clearly have a fighting spirit which is great. To your question, yes, I run my own business, and have deliberately downsized last few months to reduce my workload. It’s given me more time to focus on me (which I wasn’t great at previously) as well as only taking on work I enjoy/want to, separately I also run a community group helping others fighting CVD to look after themselves and have fun doing so. Hope that helps. Drop me a DM if you have any specific questions. Good luck!

[Wellington19]

I am waiting to see a surgeon at John RATCLIFFE, sabout aerotic valve , am 71, take care

[Hermanm]

Hi Steve, I'm pretty much you ,

about 6 years down the line!

Same as you , landscaper , arborist, hard graft all my life, , drinker( I'm a geordie)

Got to my 50s

, told I had high BP,

Got put on meds , didnt do any good,

Just by chance I moved home and changed GP,

New GP gave me the once over,

Decided to send me for check ups ,to discover the cause of high BP,

Long story short ,

Dodgey aortic valve from birth,

Waited 50 years to make itself known!

Apparently my heart was very enlarged, and was very close to going TU.

So, December 2015, I had a nice shiny ON-X valve fitted for Christmas.

Never looked back,

Bit shitty to start with ,

Now , hardly notice it ,

Only thing I didnt get on with was Bisoprolol,

Pretty common apparently,

So now I'm on warfarin, and Losartan, and that's it,

As for work , I went back after about 3 months,

Self employed like you,

Takes a little while to get back into it ,

After the lockdown kicked in last year ,

I decided to call it a day,

Lifes too short!

It will get better ,

Those people in the NHS,

Life savers , heros ,and Angel's,

Every one of them, they will sort you out,

Take care bud.

[andy110519]

Hi Steve,Similar story to you, discovered I had a bicuspid aortic valve 2 years ago at the age of 49 after suffering a cardiac arrest at Vogrie parkrun, live in Gorebridge, and now have a mechanical valve.

Also self-employed although bookkeeper so easier to get back to work although it has its issues!

In the process of doing up an oldish Land Rover and struggle at times if it puts too much stress through my chest although am back running 5ks as fast (or slow) as before.

Good luck and shout if you want a chat, you can't be far away.

Andy

[Bobbymrg]

Thanks.