My 84-year-old father went through something similar last year – only he waited until he had a heart attack before having the procedure. He was lucky to survive at all, and he was in pretty tough shape for a few months before he recovered. He had to have 2 stents placed to get him healthy enough to even withstand the valve replacement.
What I want to stress here is that the valve replacement went just fine and he recovered relatively quickly once that procedure had been done. Unfortunately, due to his procrastination and subsequent serious illness, he was hospitalized for nearly 2 months and now has some permanent kidney damage.
No one can say for certain that all will be well, but if your dad is in reasonably good health despite his age, he has a much better chance of surviving it than my dad did – and my dad is doing great today.
I well understand your anxiety. I hope it all goes fine, as it did for my dad.
He’s a bit overweight, but he still works and drives and has all his mental faculties. He lost the hearing in his ear suddenly last year and has a hearing aid.
His docs wouldn’t be offering the surgery if they didn’t feel his chances of recovery were good.
However, all life is 6 to 5 against, and anyone who’s made it to 82 has had a good run. I do understand your anxiety and hope you don’t have to face the loss of a parent anytime soon, but reality tells us most of us do have to face that one day. Both my parents died in their early 60’s (I was in my mid 30’s) and I miss them to this day, but life goes on. Even when it feels like it shouldn’t.
My mother had a valve replacement at that age two years ago. I went to stay with my parents straight after she got home to help my dad out as she convalesced. The surgery was a big deal and left her weak for a while, but even in her post-op state it was obviously a great success. She had much more color in her cheeks and a sparkle in her eye we had assumed were lost to the ravages of old age. I hope your father has at least as positive an outcome.
My husband had an aortic valve replaced in 2008 and back then it was a chest cracking open heart procedure. Now it can be done without cracking the chest open. He will be just fine.
One would hope. Any access to studies as to the reasons such invasive procedures are recommended/performed on geriatrics? As well as cost and life expectancy thereafter?
I’m happy to be persuaded as to the error of my anecdote-based opinion that the recommendation of costly treatment largely reflects whether someone will pay for it.
My MiL and my sister’s FiL have both had serious cardiac procedures in the last two years. Both have recovered well. As QtM says, there are no guarantees, but I hope you will take comfort in the fact that even the elderly can do very well with this type of surgery.
I don’t think the intention was to undermine the OP’s concern at all. I think it was just trying to reassure the OP that much improvement has been made in how the surgery is performed. I send my best wishes for a successful surgery and full recovery to the OP’s dad.
My dad says his doctor thinks his chances for recovery are excellent. How does a heart valve wear out? Is it due to his age or are there other factors?
Depends on the valve. I have a mechanical valve that I should never have to replace again (I’m 46), whereas a biological valve, given my activity level (fairly athletic), doc said it would last 5-10 years.
Best of luck to your dad and the family. I’m sure he will come through this better than ever. I felt the positive difference within days. The fact that the doctors are not in a particular rush to do it should be encouraging. In my case, the doc strongly recommended sooner than later, and I was in surgery within a week.
That depends. I think most valve replacements are still of the “chest cracking open heart” type. If your dad meets the criteria, maybe TAVR (the non-chest-cracking) surgery may be performed. Your surgeon I am sure will discuss it with you. TAVR recovery is a lot easier.
Before they did my aortic valve replacement (at the age of 53), I researched how much the AVR reduces life expectancy, compared to others in the same age cohort.
Apparently, after 65 or so, studies show that the life expectancy after AVR is increased compared to the age cohort. Before 65, there is a decrease.
It could be any number of things. My mother had rheumatic fever as a child, for example, which caused damage that ultimately led to her valve needing to be replaced. Sometimes there are genetic factors. There could be other types of heart disease that did damage. You would need to discuss it with your father’s cardiologist to get the specifics for him.
