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Comment by FinnLeSueur | Hacker News Reader

I (29) had my aortic valve replaced (On-X mechanical) and an aortic graft done literally 8 weeks ago. The full procedure is called a Bentall[1]. It's pretty wild.

The mechanical valve was the best option for me as an active young person because it should last my whole life. Tissue values wear out in about ~15 years from what I've read. Sometimes closer to 10 if you are an active person. The warfarin and INR management is a little bit of a bummer, but I was provided with an INR testing device free of charge, which was rad.

I also wrote a blog post[2] about some of my experiences, although I've yet to write anything about the time post-op.

  [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentall_procedure
  [2]: https://finn.lesueur.nz/posts/a-heart-murmur/

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Hello, fellow On-X owner!

I understand the bummer that warfarin can be. I have two pieces of advice.

1. Don’t diet the dose, dose the diet. In other words, don’t try to adjust what and how you eat to fit the mg of warfarin you are taking every week.

2. I believe a large percentage of what you hear regarding warfarin is ridiculously overblown and I almost never place limits on what I do because of some fear of a bleeding event (within reason, of course.)

Thanks for the message! It's always nice to hear from others in the same position.

Re sport: I'm not too concerned about it, honestly. I do a lot of backcountry adventuring, rock climbing and pack rafting and I'm not about to stop because of an elevated increase bleed risk. I won't push it right to the edge, but I'll keep enjoying life.

Re diet: I agree! Drastically altering my diet isn't something I particularly want to do. I'm quite happy to adjust my dose as necessary.

You’re already doing much better than I was when I went through it. Best of luck to you!

Can you hear the ticking now? Is it annoying?

Yeah, absolutely! I hear it whenever the space I'm in is relatively quiet. I also hear it a lot while wearing earbuds and listening to something, especially while walking. I presume it will be quite loud when I get back to running, but perhaps it'll be covered up by the sounds of my suffering.

As for the annoying: nah. It never bothered me, although I've been told that some people find it hard to get used to. Apparently, I made a groan of realisation in ICU post-surgery when my partner described the high pitch metallic clock/watch ticking noise to my parents to help them identify it. My partner pretends to be annoyed by it, but she doesn't _really_ mind.

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