agrees with talking to your doctor...alot.....about the wonderful world of coumidan..  Not to make things sound even scarier for you, but speaking as a person who has 2 mechanical valves and a teflon aorta taking blood thinners has been an experience.  I can never stop taking blood thinners, even for minor things like tooth pulling, had to go to the hospital to have it done. But that is just me keep in mind everyone is different...  sometimes we don't have an option when I had my surgery was asked if I wanted bio or mechanical....I said mechanical  because having the surgery at such an early age was possible I would have to have valves replaced going bio route at least one time and couldn't even think about another surgery before facing my first one.  As it turns out doc said after he got "in there" bio wouldn't have Even been an option.

Hi Tabitha,

I can so appreciate the thoughts running through your mind right now.  Some people do not have to be on coumadin for their entire life (such as myself), while others do.  All depends on the surgery, the surgeon and the procedures.  I would really spend time speaking to your surgeon and/or specialist about it and talk openly about your fears/concerns around having children one day.

 

It is always best to consider surgery when you are more healthy.  Your body is stronger and recovery generally is faster.  I waited to have my mitral valve repair done and as a result, got more and more sick/weak.  However, when push came to shove and the specialist told me that it was time for the surgery, I couldn't have it right away due to the backlog of patients awaiting surgery.  So I spent from October till April camped out on the couch not being allowed to do anything and I am SO GLAD I did because I was much more healthy going into the surgery having had a good deal of rest and had time to prepare myself as well.  My recovery was very fast and went smoothly.

 

My thoughts are with you on your decision and know that we are here to help support you...

 

Karen in Ontario

legendheir@sympatico.ca

 

----- Original Message -----

From: tabitha spacht

To: marfans_support_and_chat@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 1:46 AM

Subject: Re: [marfans_support_and_chat] coumadin

Thank you for sharing. I have recently been faced with
having to make the choice on whether to go ahead an
get my entire aorta replaced immediately or to wait.
The issue I am facing is that I am currently in
college, and there are not many times during the year
when I have six weeks where I can be operated on. I
was thinking of going ahead and pushing for the
surgery because I do not want to be in the middle of
my last year of college and have to the surgery.

The only negative I have been told about having the
surgery now is that it will be more difficult to have
children because of the coumadin. They did not tell me
about the side effects of the drugs. This definitely
gives me something more to consider.


--- Heather <hethbean@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I've been on coumadin for 22 years....it is very
> important to have
> regular coumadin (INR) checks,they always told me
> that and I said to
> my self"yea...yea...yea"
> However;
>
> as the course of everyday life it is normal for
> there to be
> microscopic tears in the capillaries in ones body
>
> I have found that through haveing an active
> lifestyle that if my
> blood is too thin that this can exasparate the small
> bleed and make
> it become a significant bleeding problem
>
> I have had intra-muscular bleeds many times,the pain
> is unbearable
> Everytime, I have to go to the ER,to make sure my
> dissection has not
> torn,and get an INR in the ER,sometimes I have to
> have a transfusion
> or a reversal(vitamin K treatment)
>
> Everytime I have an intramusclular bleed I have
> nerve damage and the
> permanent loss of function to the muscle involved.
>
> They make a INR home testing machine (its just like
> the home
> diabetes test machine) everyone on coumadin should
> have
> one,sometimes insurence will cover the cost
>
>
>

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