Kristen's Journal

I was recently diagnosed with aortic stenosis, due to being born with a bicuspid valve. This was uncovered from an echocardiogram that was ordered after I had a TIA and then progressively worsening chest tightening and reduced ability to exert upon exercising. I recently had a fainting incident as well as an ER visit due to chest pain and feeling faint. My echo, performed last month, indicates my AVA is 1 cm, so the cardiologist on call at the ER told me there's "no way my symptoms are from the stenosis because it's not quite classified as severe yet." I have an appointment with her on Thursday (she happened to also be the cardiologist who read my echo and who I was referred to - I live in a small town). My question is - has anyone heard of symptoms of stenosis when the AVA is around 1cm? How common is it to make errors in measurements on an echo? It just seems really weird that I would have a TIA, chest pains and other symptoms, and then an echo that shows a heart disease, but the symptoms not be from the heart disease. Also, after my ER visit last week in which I was fairly certain I would feel more comfortable with a different level of cardiology expertise, I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Miyasaka at Cleveland Clinic, which I'll fly to, who will consult with Dr. Roselli, should I need surgery.