Good news.......kinda. My heart doctors made it sound like I had no choice but to have the valve replaced. Well I just got back from the sit-down with the heart surgeon and he said that normally he would go ahead and replace the valve, but of course little is ever normal with me. Due to my other health problems and scar tissue from the bypass, he said that I am a very high risk. He told me that he is not convinced that all my pain is heart related, though some most certainly is, and that I can live with things as they are indefinitely if I'm careful. He said eventually I will have to have the valve replaced but it's just not a good idea at all to try and do it now. He told me that one of the many risks is that my heart is completely encased in scar tissue, as well as my chest walls, and that that complicates things considerably. Soooo, no operation. That's a big load off my mind because frankly the odds of surviving it were not good at all. I'm not only happy I won't have the operation but I'm happy my wife and kids don't have to see me like before with wires and tubes stuck everywhere. Thanks for the prayers everyone. In my mind they worked.
As I said, eventually there won't be a choice, but untill then I intend to enjoy every minute of life best I can. Now I can truly look forward to hunting season.
On another note, my son will have to be operated on for a hernia and is recovering from a severe bad reaction to a antibiotic. I'd rather be ill myself than see him ill.
