About Me (In My Own Words)
When I was a little girl my heart made a very audible squeaking sound which I thought was what everyone’s heart did. When mom heard it she took me immediately to our pediatrician who told her she was hearing things or maybe she was crazy. After listening he had his nurse come in to take blood from my finger. As soon as she jabbed me I told him he could hear it and voila he believed her. But in the early 1960s there was not a name for this.
Fast forward many years of watching my heart and my mitral valve to Fall 2020. At my routine checkup with my cardiologist when I mentioned that I was getting winded climbing my stairs and tired he decided to explore. After an echocardiogram followed by a TEE (trans esophageal echocardiogram) he concluded that in addition to having bi-leaflet mitral valve prolapse the regurgitation had become severe (his words when i woke up were I had many, many leaks).
We saw our local Cardiothoracic surgeon. Since everything about me is complex he explained that a valve repair would be too complex for him and he only felt he had about a 50% chance of success. He ordered a full cardiac catheterization to reveal if I had any coronary artery disease (luckily they found none). He felt seeing a mitral valve specialist was my best chance for a repair which is a much better long term solution to my problem.
After several weeks of hunting and begging for copies of my health history we shipped a huge box of test results on cd discs and paper copies. It arrived at Mt Sinai during the middle of a blizzard, so it was several weeks before I heard from the surgeon. When he reviewed and discussed with me, he felt very confident in their ability to successfully repair my valve. So now off to NYC we shall adventure.
My surgery was a success but my recovery has some bumps along the way. Dr Adams repaired my mitral and tricuspid valves and did an atrial appendage clip. In July 2021 I developed recurrent pericarditis. I have continued to have flares until Nov 2022. I traveled to Cleveland Heart clinics center for the study of pericardial disease and saw Dr Debra Kwon. In Jan 2023 I began weekly Arcalyst injections. Thankfully this has stopped my flares and my heart continues to be strong. There is still a journey ahead but I have been able to restart some of my pre surgery activities however I still miss being able to ride my bike or walk a 5k.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Deltaville, Virginia
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My surgery date is:
May 21, 2021
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I was diagnosed with:
Mitral Regurgitation
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My surgery was:
Mitral Valve Repair
Tricuspid Valve Repair
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My surgeon is:
Dr. David Adams
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