Ewen Macdonald
Mon, 28 Jul 1997
My experience with the Ross procedure

Hello,

On Friday 18th July I had the Ross procedure performed on me. I would have liked to mail to the list earlier but my e-mail was down. Having only received a couple of messages from the list I don't know if the following will be of interest to any one, but I will give a short account of my case.

I am 27 years old, 188 cm, 80 kg and live in Australia. I did track athletics (400 and 800m) at a national level for about 5 years from 1990 to 1995. I gave up athletics to pursue my career as an Engineer but continued to be active in triathlons until the end of last summer.

I was diagnosed with severe aortic regurgitation and a congenital bi-cuspid aortic valve. I think there was also aortic stenosis, but I don't have the Dr's notes for reference. The stenosis was detected when I was very young - as far back as I can remember. At no stage did I suffer from any symptoms.

Up until 8 months ago I was of the impression that I would require a mechanical valve sometime in my 30's or 40's. 8 months ago I changed cardiologist and he recommended that I have the Ross procedure in the next 6 months to 5 years. My heart was enlarged and he said it was difficult to determine whether it was due to sport or the bi-cuspid valve.

I also spoke to a surgeon who conducts the Ross procedure and he agreed with my cardiologist. After about 6 months of thinking about it I decided to be guided by the experts and have the operation. It was a difficult decision to make since I didn't suffer any symptoms. The reasons I made the decision were:

• I was assured of a normal quality of life with no restrictions after the surgery (no anti-coagulant drugs).
• I was young and healthy and would recover from the operation better now than later.
• My heart may start to deteriorate, and there was no assurance that the deterioration would be detected in time to prevent permanent damage.
• The risks of open heart surgery were not likely to reduce dramatically in the short term, so there was no point waiting for improvements.
• No time was going to be convenient, and I was only going to get busier with my career.

So on Friday 17th July I underwent the Ross procedure. The operation was successful and I was discharged from hospital on Thursday 24th. At no stage was I ever in any significant pain, in order, the worst experiences were - removing the oxygen tube from the throat, removing the tube that drains the blood from the abdomen, having irregular heart beats and getting no sleep in a four bed-ward with erratic heating. I was anaemic when I left hospital and had a numa-thorax (? spelling) in my right lung. The general feelings I had while in hospital were a combination of discomfort, nausea and boredom.

After the tube was removed from my throat I vomited up the majority of sputum from my lungs, so I did not suffer a lot of coughing-pain in the following days. Now, my chest feels quite tight where the sternum was broken and improves marginally each day. I have a sore voice box and a very week voice, perhaps from the tube in the throat. The irregular heart beats have stopped. I am starting to get a little bit achy but nothing unbearable.

In general I feel quite good and can watch TV, read and listen to music for long stretches at a time. I don't feel nauseous or bored although I do get some discomfort in the back and the chest. I am looking forward to the next couple of months when I can catch up with reading, and relax away from work.

I hope this was of interest to some of you.