47 and need heart valve repair

I,m 47 years old and I just got back from talking to a heart surgeon. I have a bad mitral valve that needs to be repaired. The surgeon wants to cut up the breast bone and do open heart surgery. Has anyone had this done and I've heard of less invasive ways of doing it by going between ribs.

Rat If you do have the full monty take it real easy for quite a while!! I didn't and my chest was a pain for an extra year or so.