What a great write up. Hope that Shaun will have his surgery soon.
I underwent mitral valve surgery this summer due to mitral insufficiency. Fortunately the surgeon was able to repair my heart valve using a Physioring. This means that I will not need life long warfarin treatment, only 3 months post surgery (which is soon up).
When I woke up after the surgery my first thought was "I can no longer feel my heart beat". Before due to the insufficiency my heart worked hard and I could mostly feel every heart beat even at rest.
Now that its been a few months I'm feeling so much better than before the surgery - like I've been given my life and a future back.
Without the surgery I would have developed heart failure and died in a few years time. Now I have good odds at making it to retirement age and hopefully even more. Certainly a humbling thought.