3 St. Judes valves

Posted By T. David on April 16, 1999 at 11:11:13
My wife recently underwent her 3rd open heart surgery. First, she had rheumatic fever when she was a child. In 1988 she was diagnosed as having severe mitral stenosis. Her cardiologist suggested she try a balloon valvuloplasty to open the mitral valve. During the procedure the catheter ripped through the back of her heart. It took 9 hours to repair the damage, however nothing was actually done about the mitral valve. Then in 1989 she had open heart surgery to replace the mitral valve with a St. Judes valve. Her tricuspid valve was also replaced at that time due to calcification. Now 10 years later in 1999 her aorta valve was totally insufficient and needed replacing, as well as placing a pacemaker. The surgery was performed on 3-22-99. She developed a bleeding ulcer which caused some problems but she seems to be recovering slowly.
My question; How unusual is it for a person to have 3 artificial valves and a pacemaker, or is it not so unheard of?
Thank you,
T. David
  










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