Hi Teresa,

I read your profile and I am sorry to hear about your health problems. I hope you will be feeling better soon.

So far I feel well after TAVR, but it has only been about 3 weeks. So far, I have not needed a pacemaker. I think my last echocardiogram showed trace amounts of paravalvular aortic regurgitation. Not sure if this will end up a problem, but I think it can also be fixed by transcather procedure. I have a follow-up appointment with my IM cardiologist on June 12. My left ventricle ejection fraction was great at 68%.

Thank you for the link -- I will check it out. Regarding other radiation-related problems, I also have some scaring of the lungs, the area which was not shielded because of surrounding lymph nodes, and also have mild mitral valve regurgitation and atherosclerosis. I think the mitral valve can also be repaired via transcatheter procedure. I was not a good candidate for open heart surgery because of radiation induced fibrosis (RIF).

Ray