My best friend has a heart valve disease - shes 19, 5 foot 3 and 126lbs, She was once told how long she had left to live, and lived past that, she was also told she could die anytime now, since then she has got seriously drunk several nights and it s not affected her, she smokes a couple cigarettes atleast three times a week, her doctor had emailed her telling her to stop fighting because it s making things worse. She did an exercise lesson called Zumba for 45minutes the other day and the raise in heart rate didn t affect her... i m a bit suspicious. Should I be questioning all this? Her scar is at the bottom of her ribcage to her belly button, she says she chose to have the operation lower? Is that possible? I m very confused, as I don t know alot about heart diseases, but i m sure with the way she is acting she would not be around by now? Also, she once went for an operation [was 18 at the time] and discharged herself after 3 days, can you even do that?? Surely she would have no energy? Please help me work out what is going on!!