Pat's Journal

Just wanted to thank everyone on this site for sharing their stories, challenges, and triumphs as they’ve gone through their personal journey. Since September, l’ve been amazed at the wealth of information and compassion/support each of you have shared across this community. All of this has been instrumental to setting my mind at ease as I prepared for tomorrows AVR surgery. Without a doubt, this web site, the commitment to continuous improvement (thanks Adam), and the community of folks that make it up has been the best resource I’ve utilized to help me understand what to expect and to realize there could be bumps along the way which is just part of the process. While truly inspiring, I am confident that Anthony’s record for running a full marathon 108 days after AVR surgery will NOT be in jeopardy from me. I look forward to catching up with everyone’s progress in a couple days and hearing the clicking from my new mechanical valve. Till then… Pat

Talked to my surgeon last Friday and told him that a mechanical valve is the way I wanted to go. They use a Sorin mechanical valve and what I've been told is that at this point in time, most mechanical valves on the market from the leading manufacturers are all primarily the same. Are there really any significant difference across the variety of mechanical valves out there?