Ron Broadhead - Heart Valve Journal

My Journal

1506 days ago

Arnold

Mark Haden Hey Ron, you know me. What kind of aortic valve replacement did the Governator have recently?He’s ... Read more

Mark Haden Hey Ron, you know me. What kind of aortic valve replacement did the Governator have recently?He’s had two other surgeries, but he’ll always be back. I have AS and will have TAVR soon. Shoot me a note.

Ron Broadheadposted an update

3090 days ago

Joanna Prisiajniouk, Darlene Smith, Emily Rowley and 1 other reacted to this

I received a call late last week from Nicole of Dr. McCarthy's staff at Northwestern. She was calling to check up on me - Saturday it will be 1 1/2 years since ...Read more

I received a call late last week from Nicole of Dr. McCarthy's staff at Northwestern. She was calling to check up on me - Saturday it will be 1 1/2 years since Dr. McCarthy replaced my aortic valve at Northwestern. It was great to receive that call and indicates continued interest by Dr. McCarthy after surgery. Fortunately I'm doing very well and can quite easily run long distances again. What a fine surgeon and hospital team with super results and a great long-term followup.

Emily Rowley That is great aftercare! Ah when you said you had your surgery in January I thought you meant Jan 201 ... Read more

Emily Rowley That is great aftercare! Ah when you said you had your surgery in January I thought you meant Jan 2016 like mine lol. Glad to hear you are doing well. How often do you visit your Cardiologist? And what type of Valve was your choice?

Ron Broadhead Hi Emily. That is fantastic aftercare and I was very pleasantly surprised to receive that phone call ... Read more

Ron Broadhead Hi Emily. That is fantastic aftercare and I was very pleasantly surprised to receive that phone call from Nicole. I've been visiting my cardiologist every 6 months. She gave me an echo in June of 2015, 5 months after surgery and another echo in June of this year. I'll see her again in November and we'll go from there.

I ended up choosing a bovine pericardial tissue valve (Edwards model 2700 TFX). I call it my "moo valve", or just "mooeey". When Dr. McCarthy examined me a month before my surgery, he gave me the choice between the moo valve and a mechanical valve. One deciding factor for me is that I'm a geologist. The tissue valve might make it a bit easier on me when I have to clamber on the rocks. Its definitely a trade off, but so far its working well which makes me quite happy. Of course my friends ask me if it came from a longhorn cow.

What type of valve did you get? From the photo you recently posted it seems as though its working really well.