how long is recuperating time after heart valve

Docs called today to confirm my heart valve replacement and will know on april 14 if they can do thru femoral artery in groin or open heart surgery. I am kind of a die hard and work pretty hard around my place. What is a reasonable recovery time .? I usually push the bar.

God i hope they dont replace my valve with a pig valve,our border collie may herd me around the house!!!

Don't know about the femoral artery time lines or limitations. I had my aortic heart valve replaced (born with a defect and found it when I was 62). 9 years ago next month. I had a piece of bovine pericardium replace that valve. That was open heart surgery as the valve was 1.25 inches. I had a a long recuperation time and it was needed. I was not supposed to lift more than the equivalent of a gallon of milk for 8 weeks. I did not because I did not want to break the stitches in my chest as if I did I would need staples the rest of my life. Doing okay but it takes some time to get back up to speed. Probably every procedure is different and PT will be as well.

Bryce

Im use to hard work,,,having restrictions like that would kill me. Im not use to having help. This also is a family thing in my family. On april 14 they will do the new scan from neck to knees at arteries to determine wether it will be done by open heart surgery or femoral artery. I hope femoral only as I want to be of full use.

Mine was done 7 years ago....open heart surgery. Took me a good 2 months to get feeling better. The guy I shared my room with walked out smiling and whistling....so it definitely depends. 3 years later they put 3 stents up to my aorta....thru my wrist....procedure took 37 minutes. Released in 3 hours.
Take care and best wishes!

If they open up your chest, it takes months for the bones to heal and you do not want overstress and interfere with that healing. If they can do it through an artery, the healing time will be measured in weeks rather than months. I am sure they will explain all of this to you.

Have 2 mechanicals (aortic...original mechanical one had to be replaced 14 years later due to growth on it...and mitral). first was 1976 but since only 16 bounced back quick. To replace the aortic was 1990 and was told not to lift more then 10# for a bit. Had it done Aug. 6 and waited till middle of Sept. to start drawing bow at lower weight. Seemed every week or so could up the weight a pound or two until got to usual hunting weight, middle of October so about 9-10 weeks till felt almost back to not being afraid to do anything.
Not sure of the stitches/staples part. Way mine have been were all open heart so sternum is split and then wired together when done. This is permanent. First surgery had stitches in the skin and they were removed a few days later. Second one they used glue. Last one was with staples.
Neighbor just had his aortic done and they went thru the femoral artery to replace it. Was shaved so if they couldn't do it that way then they could go straight into opening the chest.
Do the breathing excercises as they do help. At least for me with it being open heart they gave me a fairly hard stuffed heart shaped pillow to squeeze to my chest when coughing to ease any discomfort. Just don't go to the restaurant a few days after being released and have your mother happen to hit her fork and have it go flipping thru the air. Boy did that hurt from laughing.

You mean like this!





Ours were supplied by Telus....a large telephone company. And it definitely came in handy.

Yep but with a smiley face!

Heart surgery at your tender age will take a while to bounce back from.
Perhaps this'll be a great time to allow those who love you to care for you. It's called love. I encourage you to accept it with humility and thanks.
It's not a sign of weakness to ask those who love you for help during your time of surgery and recoup. It's a sign of maturity on how things are supposed to be.
Consider this time as one of those merciful moments - in you and their lives - where deeper love for one another is possible, which if done well, will bring y'all closer together and fuel your tomorrows with greater love for each other.

Blessings,
Mark

Prayers sent.

My dad has his done through the femoral last December 15th. We had him out shooting deer two weeks later. Of course he wasn’t a 100 percent seems like it was 6 weeks before they told him he could do everything. He isn’t one to sit still either so he was back up and going pretty quick. He said he was amazed how much different he felt afterwards. They did the procedure in about 45 minutes and he was out of the hospital in less then 24 hours. Didn’t you have a go with cancer? If they did radiation to the chest be careful with open heart surgery. My dad had cancer and did radiation 30 years ago which is what lead to his heart valve going out. His cancer doc made sure he lined him up with a cardiologist that knew his stuff.

I have leukemia for life....havent had chemo or radiation

That would tickle me to death to just have it done thru femoral artery. I imagine I will feel better with more energy after its done.

Ok just wanted to throw that in. The first cardiologist he went to didn’t even read the chart enough to know he had had radiation. He got out of that office pretty quick. She told him he was a perfect candidate for open heart replacement. When he said what about the radiation she gave him a dumbfounded look.

thanks guys!