Jamie Barclay

For the first few days I was pretty wasted.  I focused on resting and eating lots of good quality protein.  My wife, my mother in law, Dad and stepmum all helped me immensely, I had a lot of support and care from everyone.  Over the next couple of weeks I built up my walking and slowly went for gentle walks around the village.  After a week I was pleased to make it to the top of Moel Faban the hill behind our village.  I would normally run up this in about 15 minutes. This time it took me nearly 2 hours!  Mo was a massive support and encouraging.  It was good to be back home in Snowdonia.  Three weeks after the operation I caught up with my Brother and sister in law for a family get together, and thought I would join them for a walk up Snowdon. I didnt intend to go all the way, just to the half way point, but although it felt slow, I was otherwise fine, so kept plodding and made it to the summit with everyone. For the next couple of months I f...

Video of Operation The following link gives you an idea of generally what is done. Though this is a valve sparing operation - mine required new valves to be stitched into the heart as well.  I think the jazz-funk soundtrack during the operation is an optional extra. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iSraYGcHBk Pre-Op In the 18 hours before the operation, I saw my surgeon, Mr M who introduced his senior registrar, both would be operating.  They went over the details and options again - if it was not possible to re-used my own aortic valves ( a valve-sparing procedure) then the next option would be to use donor valves from a cow.  I think the term "donor" is a little misplaced as I am not sure how much say the cow had in the whole process. If this was not possible then metal valves would be used, which would mean I would have to be on Warfarin (a blood thinner) for life after the operation.  We were all hoping for option 1 or 2 to work out. I met the anaestheti...