About Me (In My Own Words)
I was feeling fine until approximately two weeks ago. I always knew I had aortic stenosis, I had a pediatric cardiologist and eventually an adult cardiologist. However, as I got a little older and my yearly checkups came back good it largely drifted out of my mind. That’s until I began waking up in the middle of the night feeling like I couldn’t breathe. I checked my Apple Watch I had just gotten and my heart rate upon waking from a dead sleep was 152. I thought maybe I was just hyperventilating or something because this didn’t happen every time I slept but eventually it began to happen more often. It actually started winding me occasionally during the day after very little exercise. At this point I asked my doctor to look into it and he had me undergo an ekg immediately in office and I knew something was wrong when the nurse wouldn’t allow me to leave without my doctors ok. They set me up with an echo cardiogram the next day. I have had a large number of echos throughout my life and I knew something was wrong as the test dragged on and on, lasting approximately 3 hours. I had never had an echo come anywhere close to taking that long in my life. Anyways, after the echo my new cardiologist (My first adult cardiologist retired) set me up with a Cardiac Catheterization a few days later. When I showed up I was having difficulty breathing but my arteries were very good with little plaque buildup and no blockages. Nevertheless they admitted me and after some more tests (Ct scan etc.) it was determined that I was in heart failure, my aortic valve had given out about 10 days after my 36th birthday. During my stay in the hospital they put me on Lasix and I began to feel better, a second ct scan showed the presence of fluid in my lungs so I had a procedure to have it removed and felt immediate relief. When I looked at the containers holding the yellow liquid being packed up to be sent to the lab my first thought was omg that’s a lot of fluid. The two people who performed the procedure assured me that actually it wasn’t that much and that they see patients with much more which didn’t really make me feel better. Luckily I didn’t have pneumonia. Unfortunately I need a new aortic valve and possibly a new aorta as mine had distended quite a bit and the surgeon believes that if I’m having open heart surgery he should fix all problems that are occurring now and that might occur in the future while I’m opened up. Everything was moving so fast. They were preparing to schedule me for surgery either towards the beginning of the week that begins October 25th 2021 or the end of that week. However something happened that allowed me the time to put more thought into both the situation I was in and the surgeon who I just met briefly. I had forgotten that cardiologists and cardio thoracic surgeons really care about the condition of your teeth (because an infection of cardiac tissue can kill you) and I had two cavities. Everything was delayed until I get these teeth taken care of. I was put on diuretics and was released and I went immediately from the hospital to the dentist who told me my teeth were fine for surgery. I reminded him that the surgeon doesn’t think so and he sets the surgery so my two cavities will be fixed on October 25th 2021 after which I will have to set up a new surgical consult and eventually a new surgery date. In the meantime beginning while I was in the hospital I began researching my diagnosis and everything having anything to do with it especially after I heard that because of my age it would be best to have a mechanical replacement. I also learned about the issue of having a lifelong need for Coumadin. This actually led me to a YouTube video on research that is ongoing in the PROACT Xa trial. The video led me to this site full of information. It also led me to Dr. Marc Gerdisch. I have studied everything I can about Dr. Gerdisch, his methods, and his research. Luckily for me he is working out of Indianapolis and I am hoping to consult with him and possibly have him do my surgery. I was really interested in his thoughts on the elimination of the need for opiates, his thoughts on keeping surgery as non invasive as possible, as well as his preference for Rigid Sternal Fixation. Update: My virtual consult went as expected and I’m scheduled for surgery on February 11th. My pre-op visit is January 28th.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Goshen, IN
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My surgery date is:
February 11, 2022
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I was diagnosed with:
Aortic Regurgitation
Aortic Stenosis
Bicuspid Aortic Valve
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My surgery was:
Aortic Valve Replacement
Aortic Aneurysm Replacement
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