Charles's Guestbook

Dan Rhoden  Charles, hope surgery went well and you'll be on the other side of it before you know it. By the way, Dr. Gerdisch is my surgeon as well, March 28 is my surgery date. He's very impressive, replacing aortic valve and ascending aorta.

Heather Kelly  Yes I completely agree Charles. You are young and I would absolutely go with the Mechanical X Valve and get use to the Blood Thinners if I were your age. I will be having surgery this week and have chosen the Bovine Tissue Valve the Inspiris because they hopes of it working longer term is great and it has been around for a long time. I will say though it will require future procedures but easier than this first for sure. I too was born with Bicuspid Valve and am going to be 52 I have a generation on ya. Best of luck to you. Keep us posted on your plans and as the time approaches how you are feeling. Modern medicine is such a blessing.

Charles Stults  Thanks Andrew and Heather. It’s nice to have people to talk about these things with that understand. Andy, I looked into a Ross but the one guy in my state (Indiana) that is well respected and has done a lot of Ross’s retired during the pandemic. He did call me personally and recommended some surgeons in NYC. I reached out but it ended up not working out because they are so backed up on surgeries. I was looking at 16 months and my cardiologist doesn’t want me waiting that long as a result of my worsening ascending aorta and difficulty breathing. I am happy with the surgeon I selected (Dr. Gerdisch) I will be getting an On-x mechanical valve and will be participating in the Proact XA trial which will allow me to take Eliquis instead of warfarin. So no testing and no worries about diet. I don’t really like the idea of blood thinners but I’ve accepted it. My Dr. Said he has patients who still participate in the activities I enjoy. So it is what it is

Karen Marvenko  Hi Charles, I have bicuspid aortic valve too with aortic stenosis and and aneurysm (at 4), my surgery is February 8 to provide mechanical valve and do an aortic root replacement.. like you said they thought it best to go in one time and fix everything or get a tissue valve and face going back in two years for open-heart anyway to fix the aneurysm. wishing you the best of luck with your procedure. As crazy and life changing as this all is it’s nice to talk to other people facing the same thing.

Charles Stults  Hi Janelle, we might very well see each other walking around. My surgery is scheduled for 12:30 pm with arrival at 10:30 am.

Janelle Hurst  Mine is scheduled for 7:30am, arrival at 5:30am...maybe I'll be too tired to be nervous, haha, yeah right. Do you have family or a support person that will be with you? It looks like their current visitor policy is just allowing 1 specific person only...hoping COVID calms enough that they loosen that up when we are there. My fiance will be my main person, but my parents (who live in Michigan) will also be there, and I'd love for them to be able to visit me.

Charles Stults  Yeah, my family all wants to be there and we’ve Airbnb’d a house for them to hang out in. I’m not sure who I’m going to appoint as my hospital person. I need to pick the person who will ask the appropriate questions. Hope all goes well. All the best

Janelle Hurst  10 days away! How are you feeling now that surgery is so close? That's awesome that you will have family there to support you.

Charles Stults  Yeah, we discussed it. I don’t like the idea of lifetime Coumadin but I’m 36 years old and the likelihood of many more procedures weighed heavily on me. Dr. Gerdisch and I are beginning the process to get me into the PROACT Xa trial.

Andrew Dial  That’s good to know. I’m 32 and will need a new valve in the next 12 months or so. I’m looking into Ross Procedure….

Timothy Stoner  Charles I went with on-x valve last Wednesday . I asked about Ross and all other options as I love to do research . I found I’m ok with warfarin therapy because I will need lower doses plus in the future maybe I can take eliquis after they wrap up the 10a trial with on-x.

Charles Stults  I also researched the Ross procedure, I found a great surgeon in Indiana named Dr. John Brown and his partner/protoge Dr. Herman who have a lot of experience with the procedure. Unfortunately after looking at my echo, ct, and medical information I wasn’t very suited to the procedure due to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis at 26. So I’m going to have to go with the on-x mechanical valve.