OK, time for another update, as I saw a consultant again today.

My GP had also asked the opinion of a cardiologist friend of his, who had
said that five years ago he would have recommended an artificial valve for a
patient with my profile, but now would say go for a tissue valve. Not only
are they getting much better, but he thought that advances in techniques
would mean that, by the time it needed to be replaced, heart valve
replacement could be a day surgery operation. He also pointed out that stem
cell research is promising a total revolution in body parts replacement,
which could easily happen with the same timescale.

I had already rejected an artificial valve, because of the problems of
living on Warfarin. I wanted to discuss the Ross procedure with the
consultant, however, he said it involves such massive trauma, that he would
not want to perform it on anyone except an otherwise fit patient under the
age of 40. Apparently it also carries unique risks of its own. He was also
less enthusiastic about artificial valves than the previous consultant,
pointing out the multiple failure modes they can experience, which do not
affect tissue replacements. I tend to the view that sudden failure of a
heart valve is not a desirable occurrence. So, the final decision is to have
a tissue valve and watch for major advances in the next 10-20 years. The
consultant told me that the success rate is 98%, with the 2% who suffer
complications mainly being those who have other health problems, such as
having had previous bypass surgery, which means my chances should be even
better. The only question now is when, but that I will have to wait for the
answer to.

Thank you to everyone who has wished me well.

Colin Bignell

nightjar cpb@ wrote:

Thank you to everyone who has wished me well.


Your medical team sounds particularly competent, and willing to discuss
things with you - you are very fortunate.
Please let us know how it all turns out.

Sheila

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 17:12:38 +0100, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

Thank you to everyone who has wished me well.

Colin Bignell

Don't know many that would not wish well for you.

Best of luck and loads of it.

Best of luck and loads of it. But not the sort of thing you'd DIY.

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 17:12:38 +0100, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

Thank you to everyone who has wished me well.

Colin Bignell

Don't know many that would not wish well for you.

I can think of a certain poster on uk.legal and uk.transport.

Best of luck and loads of it.

What worries me most is that the consultant and my GP both shook my hand and
wished me luck too.

Colin Bignell

On Sep 8, 6:03*pm, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname here.me.uk
wrote:
wrote in message

...

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 17:12:38 +0100, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

Thank you to everyone who has wished me well.

Colin Bignell

Don't know many that would not wish well for you.

I can think of a certain poster on uk.legal and uk.transport.

Best of luck and loads of it.

What worries me most is that the consultant and my GP both shook my hand and
wished me luck too.

Colin Bignell

scalpel, or angle grinder for the incision?

lurker, wishing you all the best

OK, time for another update, as I saw a consultant again today.

My GP had also asked the opinion of a cardiologist friend of his, who had
said that five years ago he would have recommended an artificial valve
for a patient with my profile, but now would say go for a tissue valve.
Not only are they getting much better, but he thought that advances in
techniques would mean that, by the time it needed to be replaced, heart
valve replacement could be a day surgery operation. He also pointed out
that stem cell research is promising a total revolution in body parts
replacement, which could easily happen with the same timescale.

This is a diy group - we'll let you off the angle grinder but that's the
limit.

(Good Luck, Colin!)

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:08:37 -0700 (PDT), misterroy wrote:

scalpel, or angle grinder for the incision?

Scalpel for the skin, angle grinder for the sternum and ribs. Though
they normally use a rib cutter, bit like a big pair of bolt cutters,
when they are in a hurry otherwise it's just a rib spreader, bit like
a spring compressor but used in reverse.

All the best Colin, 98% for major surgery is pretty damn good is that
your surgeons rate though or that of the hospital (with several
surgeons) or a national rate?

--
Cheers
Dave.

"misterroy" wrote in message
...
On Sep 8, 6:03 pm, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname here.me.uk
wrote:
wrote in message

...

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 17:12:38 +0100, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

Thank you to everyone who has wished me well.

Colin Bignell

Don't know many that would not wish well for you.

I can think of a certain poster on uk.legal and uk.transport.

Best of luck and loads of it.

What worries me most is that the consultant and my GP both shook my hand
and
wished me luck too.

Colin Bignell

scalpel, or angle grinder for the incision?

lurker, wishing you all the best


reckon .... Angle-grinder gets it

another lurker

all the best

"nnk" wrote in message
...

"misterroy" wrote in message
...
On Sep 8, 6:03 pm, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname here.me.uk
wrote:
wrote in message

...

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 17:12:38 +0100, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

Thank you to everyone who has wished me well.

Colin Bignell

Don't know many that would not wish well for you.

I can think of a certain poster on uk.legal and uk.transport.

Best of luck and loads of it.

What worries me most is that the consultant and my GP both shook my hand
and
wished me luck too.

Colin Bignell

scalpel, or angle grinder for the incision?

lurker, wishing you all the best


reckon .... Angle-grinder gets it

another lurker

all the best

Angle grinders are a bit high tech. This is more like it.

http://www.braceface.com/medical/Sur...d%20chisel.JPG

Mind you, the best scalpels do use ceramic blades, which is much the same
material as an angle grinder wheel.

Colin Bignell

"Owain" wrote in message
...
On 8 Sep, 18:03, "nightjar" wrote:
What worries me most is that the consultant and my GP both shook my hand
and
wished me luck too.

I think you should wish them luck - he'll be the one doing the
surgery!

I hope he doesn't need luck. I would prefer skill.

Have you asked if you can take photos for the wiki?

Interesting thought, although I don't expect to know much about the day of
the operation, nor the one following. I've had some of the medications
before. Would a 20 minute video of a failed attempt to remove my gall
bladder by keyhole surgery do instead? What I find interesting is that I was
in hospital for six weeks after the gall bladder removal (the keyhole became
a 14" opening) but I should be out in 5-10 days after open heart surgery.

Colin Bignell

On Sep 8, 10:44*pm, Owain wrote:
On 8 Sep, 18:03, "nightjar" *wrote:

What worries me most is that the consultant and my GP both shook my hand and
wished me luck too.

I think you should wish them luck - he'll be the one doing the
surgery!

Have you asked if you can take photos for the wiki?

Owain

damn good idea We need more surgery articles.


NT

"Owain" wrote in message
...
On 8 Sep, 23:20, "nightjar" wrote:
I think you should wish them luck - he'll be the one doing the
surgery!
I hope he doesn't need luck. I would prefer skill.

Luck's a useful standby!

... What I find interesting is that I was
in hospital for six weeks after the gall bladder removal (the keyhole
became
a 14" opening) but I should be out in 5-10 days after open heart surgery.

If it were me I'd be making a "while you're in there could you
just ..." list.

That is liposuction on the beer belly, especially as I don't drink beer.

Colin Bignell

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 11:08:37 -0700 (PDT), misterroy wrote:

scalpel, or angle grinder for the incision?

Scalpel for the skin, angle grinder for the sternum and ribs. Though
they normally use a rib cutter, bit like a big pair of bolt cutters,
when they are in a hurry otherwise it's just a rib spreader, bit like
a spring compressor but used in reverse.

All the best Colin, 98% for major surgery is pretty damn good is that
your surgeons rate though or that of the hospital (with several
surgeons) or a national rate?

That is for the surgery team that will be doing the op. Mind you, that does
suggest they are not the best team in the hospital. The best team usually
handles the most difficult cases, which leads to a poorer success rate.
Fortunately, apart form the heart valve, which is a birth defect, my heart
is otherwise healthy and I am generally fairly fit.

I must remember to weigh a kettle of water though. I'm not allowed to lift
anything heavier for six weeks and a weight in kilos would mean a lot more
to me.

Colin Bignell

On 8 Sep, 17:12, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname here.me.uk
wrote:
OK, time for another update, as I saw a consultant again today.

My GP had also asked the opinion of a cardiologist friend of his, who had
said that five years ago he would have recommended an artificial valve for a
patient with my profile, but now would say go for a tissue valve. Not only
are they getting much better, but he thought that advances in techniques
would mean that, by the time it needed to be replaced, heart valve
replacement could be a day surgery operation. He also pointed out that stem
cell research is promising a total revolution in body parts replacement,
which could easily happen with the same timescale.

I had already rejected an artificial valve, because of the problems of
living on Warfarin. I wanted to discuss the Ross procedure with the
consultant, however, he said it involves such massive trauma, that he would
not want to perform it on anyone except an otherwise fit patient under the
age of 40. Apparently it also carries unique risks of its own. He was also
less enthusiastic about artificial valves than the previous consultant,
pointing out the multiple failure modes they can experience, which do not
affect tissue replacements. I tend to the view that sudden failure of a
heart valve is not a desirable occurrence. So, the final decision is to have
a tissue valve and watch for major advances in the next 10-20 years. The
consultant told me that the success rate is 98%, with the 2% who suffer
complications mainly being those who have other health problems, such as
having had previous bypass surgery, which means my chances should be even
better. The only question now is when, but that I will have to wait for the
answer to.

Thank you to everyone who has wished me well.

Colin Bignell

Best of luck mate.

nightjar wrote:

I must remember to weigh a kettle of water though. I'm not allowed to
lift anything heavier for six weeks and a weight in kilos would mean a
lot more to me.


It means "No angle grinder for you, matey."

Here's wishing you all the very best. We'll expect a full written
report.


--
Ian White

On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:20:02 +0100, "nightjar" cpb@ wrote:

"Owain" wrote in message
...
On 8 Sep, 18:03, "nightjar" wrote:
What worries me most is that the consultant and my GP both shook my
hand and
wished me luck too.

I think you should wish them luck - he'll be the one doing the surgery!

I hope he doesn't need luck. I would prefer skill.

Have you asked if you can take photos for the wiki?

Interesting thought, although I don't expect to know much about the day
of the operation, nor the one following. I've had some of the
medications before. Would a 20 minute video of a failed attempt to
remove my gall bladder by keyhole surgery do instead? What I find
interesting is that I was in hospital for six weeks after the gall
bladder removal (the keyhole became a 14" opening) but I should be out
in 5-10 days after open heart surgery.

Good luck with it all, Colin. So far I've been lucky - just 5 days in
hospital for radiotherapy, and a bit of day surgery.




--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

On 8 Sep, 20:49, "Steve Walker" wrote:
OK, time for another update, as I saw a consultant again today.

My GP had also asked the opinion of a cardiologist friend of his, who had
said that five years ago he would have recommended an artificial valve
for a patient with my profile, but now would say go for a tissue valve.
Not only are they getting much better, but he thought that advances in
techniques would mean that, by the time it needed to be replaced, heart
valve replacement could be a day surgery operation. He also pointed out
that stem cell research is promising a total revolution in body parts
replacement, which could easily happen with the same timescale.

This is a diy group - we'll let you off the angle grinder but that's the
limit.

(Good Luck, Colin!)

Well if they are not going to use an angle grinder, what about the
other fall back - the SDS drill. Recommend using it in chisel mode !

All the best Colin - I don't see anyone here mentioning anything
similar in their medical experience, so you're a first for this forum.
Just please don't make your final report toooooo... detailed; you
wouldn't want us all falling off our stools at the mention of blood.

Cheers and hope it all goes well when they finally call you in.

Rob

wrote:
On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 17:12:38 +0100, "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk wrote:

Thank you to everyone who has wished me well.

Colin Bignell

Don't know many that would not wish well for you.

Best of luck and loads of it.

Same from me - good luck Colin.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 23:45:17 +0100, "nightjar".me.uk wrote:

All the best Colin, 98% for major surgery is pretty damn good ...

That is for the surgery team that will be doing the op. Mind you, that
does suggest they are not the best team in the hospital. The best team
usually handles the most difficult cases, which leads to a poorer
success rate.

Aye, one really has to look at these figures *very* carefully. It's
easy for the suits to look at the count of operations v count of
deaths and come up with a number but that number is worthless unless
some account of the overall condition of the patient is taken into
account. That is not easy to do.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 23:45:17 +0100, "nightjar".me.uk wrote:

All the best Colin, 98% for major surgery is pretty damn good ...
That is for the surgery team that will be doing the op. Mind you, that
does suggest they are not the best team in the hospital. The best team
usually handles the most difficult cases, which leads to a poorer
success rate.

And the trouble with that is that it tends to lead to difficult patients
not being considered for surgery, purely on the grounds of risk of
skewing the surgeon's data...

Aye, one really has to look at these figures *very* carefully. It's
easy for the suits to look at the count of operations v count of
deaths and come up with a number but that number is worthless unless
some account of the overall condition of the patient is taken into
account. That is not easy to do.

Actually, that's been acknowledged - if you look at the following, they
do now take this into account in the UK, using a system called 'Euroscore':

http://heartsurgery.cqc.org.uk/about-this-site.aspx

See http://euroscore.org/patient.htm

David
PS - all the best Colin!!

"Rob G" wrote in message
...
On 8 Sep, 20:49, "Steve Walker" wrote:
OK, time for another update, as I saw a consultant again today.

My GP had also asked the opinion of a cardiologist friend of his, who
had
said that five years ago he would have recommended an artificial valve
for a patient with my profile, but now would say go for a tissue valve.
Not only are they getting much better, but he thought that advances in
techniques would mean that, by the time it needed to be replaced, heart
valve replacement could be a day surgery operation. He also pointed out
that stem cell research is promising a total revolution in body parts
replacement, which could easily happen with the same timescale.

This is a diy group - we'll let you off the angle grinder but that's the
limit.

(Good Luck, Colin!)

Well if they are not going to use an angle grinder, what about the
other fall back - the SDS drill. Recommend using it in chisel mode !

The NHS can't afford power tools. It will be an old fashioned hammer and
chisel (although they will be stainless steel) to open the breast bone.

All the best Colin - I don't see anyone here mentioning anything
similar in their medical experience, so you're a first for this forum.
Just please don't make your final report toooooo... detailed; you
wouldn't want us all falling off our stools at the mention of blood.

Having had a long history of making medical devices, which sometimes
involved detailed discussions with the people who used them, I tend to
forget how squeamish some people can be. I once had a rep call, who nearly
fainted, just at the sight of a few needles on a workbench.

Cheers and hope it all goes well when they finally call you in.

Thank you.

Colin

Ian White wrote:
nightjar wrote:

I must remember to weigh a kettle of water though. I'm not allowed to
lift anything heavier for six weeks and a weight in kilos would mean a
lot more to me.


It means "No angle grinder for you, matey."

Here's wishing you all the very best. We'll expect a full written report.

Too true, that is why I am not wishing him well. I want a full report as
well :-)

Dave

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "nightjar" cpb@insert my surname
here.me.uk saying something like:

What worries me most is that the consultant and my GP both shook my hand and
wished me luck too.

Hmm.. "Plucky chap, that Bignell."

Best of luck with it anyway.