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The informative post by flygal6 should be put in our collective wisdom section it may help allay some fears when someone is having surgery.

Thank you very much, flygal. Excellent post!

BrianRT said "Keep in mind that being intubated and extubated is traumatizing to the airway. This causes the throat tissue to develop some swelling, which can certainly exacerbate OSA."

When I was intubated for a diagnostic laparoscopy at age 39 my uvula was damaged when the tubes were removed and I felt like I was choking on food for the next 6 months. I wonder if I had a collapsing airway back then or if damage to my airway during that incident contributed to my developing OSA.

The article scares me, especially since I had an ECHO cardiogram yesterday and during the procedure the technician asked if I've been feeling well, a question that was never asked on previous tests (and I've been concerned over becoming short of breath when climbing stairs). Last year this time I was at 3 on a scale of 6 for valve impairment and now I'm worried that I am a step closer to valve replacement surgery.

Something I learned recently is that a history of heart disease in a sibling is considered more dangerous to an individual than is the same in a parent. My brother had 5-way bypass at age 57. He was very physically active (daily 45-min stairmaster) right up to failing a stress test.

http://www.usyd.edu.au/anaes/lectures/OSApatinfo.html

hope this helps

Di