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AcidaliaPlanitia2 karma

First, a question to make this all legit. Do you know why they requested that you get dental clearance for the surgery? My understanding was that the dental issues are only implicated with a tissue value, not a mechanical one.

Second, are you me? Not even kidding, I have a bicuspid valve and had surgery to repair a 5.1cm descending/aortic arch aneurysm at 31. I was lucky in a lot of ways, though. I didn't have severe stenosis, and so they left the valve intact. I might need surgery a couple of decades down the line to replace it, but that may be a minimally-invasive surgery by that time. I also got really lucky in terms of complications. I did get a-fib about two weeks after the surgery and ended up back in the hospital for a couple of days, had a trans-esophageal echocardiogram and cardioversion, but I felt a million times better after that. I really think that adding the valve to the surgery makes an enormous difference and is a huge added stress on the body, probably explains a lot of the differences in our experiences.

Finally, have you noticed anything else unusual about yourself health-wise? I've always wondered if any of my relatively minor health quirks have anything to do with my bicuspid value, and if I share them in common with any fellow bicuspid but non-Marfans/Ehlers-Danlos people. I've always been super prone to stretch marks, and even the lightest scratch inside my cheek will always turn into a canker sore, and these both seem to suggest some sort of connective tissue problem, though I've never found a defined disorder of this description.

AcidaliaPlanitia2 karma

Interesting. Thanks for the heads up on that. I've specifically asked both my cardiologist and surgeon if I needed to worry about taking antibiotics before the dentist and they both said it wasn't necessary. Might get a second opinion on that.

Also, as a patient who never got to thank all the different nurses who helped while I was recovering, I'm thanking you on their behalf. You people are rock stars.