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Saunas, Scars, Sweat And My New Pal… Glenn

Posted By Adam Pick On March 7, 2008 @ 10:15 pm In Heart Valve Surgery | 1 Comment

This is an amazing story of sweaty coincidence and heart valve surgery.

Earlier today, I went for a swim and sauna at my gym. It was a very, very, very long day. That said, I was looking forward to the peace-and-quiet of the sauna.

As sweat began to form in little beads on my forehead, I looked across the sauna. There, right in front of me, was a long, vertical chest scar that looked incredibly similar to my incision scar [1].

I couldn’t resist. I spoke up and broke the silence of the wooden room.

“So, what did the surgeons do to you?”

Then, it happened.

“Uhh. Umm. I had a heart valve replacement,” the stranger responded.

I smiled.

“Really,” I said, “I had one too!”

His eyebrows popped up.

“No way!” the bald, athletic-looking man said to me with a smile, “I can barely see your scar!”
“Yep. I had a bicuspid aortic valve – so I had an aortic valve replacement [2],” I responded.

The stranger, who would eventually tell me his name was Glenn, said emphatically, “I had a bicuspid valve [3] too! One of my leaflets was in really bad shape. In fact, I almost died!”

For the next fifteen minutes, Glenn and I went into turbo-talk about our very similar experiences specific to heart valve surgery. We talked about the highs and lows of cardiac surgery. It was amazing!!! Glenn and I talked about:

I could go on-and-on but I’m off to see my sister-in-law perform in a local production of High School Musical.

By the way, if you’re reading this, “HEY GLENN!” :)

Keep on tickin!

Article printed from Adam's Heart Valve Surgery Blog: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog

URL to article: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2008/03/07/saunas-scars-sweat-and-my-new-bald-pal-glenn/

URLs in this post:

[1] incision scar: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2007/09/05/my-chest-scar-after-open-heart-surgery/

[2] aortic valve replacement: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/aortic-valve-replacement-surgery.php

[3] bicuspid valve: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/bicuspid-aortic-valve-symptoms.php

[4] Cardiac Depression: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2007/08/02/heart-surgery-and-depression-cardiac-depression/

[5] Fatigue After Heart Surgery: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2007/05/19/do-vitamins-nutrition-combat-tired-heart-valve-surgery-patients/

[6] Dr. Starnes: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/vaughn-starnes-heart-surgeon-doctor.php

[7] Pumphead: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2007/08/21/pumphead-and-cardiac-depression/

[8] Exercising After Heart Surgery: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/heart-surgery-blog/2007/12/16/stamina-after-heart-valve-surgery/

[9] Coumadin Therapy For Mechanical Heart Valve Patients: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/coumadin-therapy-valve-replacement.php

[10] The Ross Procedure: http://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/ross-procedure-surgery-aortic-valve-replacement.php