Elyse Foster

Thanks for the info. I had my coarctation of the aorta repaired in 1975 and had 4 kids since then. But in 1999 when I was pregant with my last child it was discovered that my condition had returned. I was put on bp meds and sent on my way. Then in 2003 was told I have CHF and was put on a fluid pill and sent on my way. Now I live day by day. I have good and bad days. I would have had a better chance of not developing CHF if they would have repaired it again when it was discovered the second time. Why do doctors let some slide thru the cracks if they dont have insurance??

I am an intern of Cardiac Surgery department in Civil Hospital Karachi Pakistan being a third world country we have numerous cases of valvular heart disease due to rheumatic fever/Rheumatic heart disease.Most of the patients have mitral valve invovement and they come for their valvular replacement.My query after reading your article is that why mitral valve is involved more commonly then other valves of the heart?
Regards,
Dr Syed Danish Hasan
Intern Cardiac Surgery Civil Hospital Karachi

Nice to meet you. And, thanks for your knols about valve disease.

FYI, I had double heart valve replacement (via the Ross Procedure) in 2005. My recovery was filled with many ups and many downs. That said, I created a blog to help patients and their caregivers better understand the realities of heart valve surgery.

If you are interested to check it out, please go to http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/.

Keep on tickin!

Adam

Nice review. Thanks. Joseph Goldberg MD