I just received this educational and inspirational note from Dr. Leo Hernandez, MD. I thought you might enjoy reading, seeing and learning about Leo’s heart valve surgery journey. He writes:

Good Morning Adam:

My name is Leo Hernandez and I had my bicuspid aortic valve replaced on my 57th birthday on January 6, 2009 by Dr. Richard Shemin at Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

I have read your book – which I found very inspirational – and have been reading your blog for the past few months. I would like to share my story with you in the event you would like to include it in your blog.

I am a Dermatologist, UCLA Medical School Alumni, member of the UCLA Clinical Faculty, mountain climber and a private pilot. I first found out I had a bicuspid valve when a new systolic murmur was picked up during my routine bi-annual physical exam by my FAA doctor in the year 2000.

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Wow! Talk about a response!

The comments and emails for “Heart Valve Stenosis – The Severity Of This Valve Disorder” have been non-stop for the past 24 hours. Thanks to everybody for sharing your thoughtful ideas, patient stories and questions. It’s great to see everybody participating in this discussion about aortic stenosis.

As I previously wrote here, I was alarmed by the mortality rates presented by Dr. Hong. From your comments, it appears you shared those feelings. To help, here is some additional information specific to severe aortic stenosis as they relate to your questions and comments:

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This is fun…

I’m noticing a fantastic, new trend as of late. Many of my readers are now sending me pictures of themselves with my book. Here are two examples of Peter (from California) and Emmanuel (from United Arab Emirates).

I can’t tell you how great it makes me feel to receive your pictures, your emails, your phone calls and your cards. To know that I am making a difference in your lives is more rewarding than anything else I have experienced thus far in life.

That said…  I’m smiling from ear-to-ear right now!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Keep on tickin!

Adam

As a follow-up to our ongoing discussion about insurance (health, life) for heart surgery patients, I just inquired about getting health insurance from a local agent here in Los Angeles. The agent asked me some questions, we discussed my heart valve replacement surgery, and then… he went off to look into an individual health insurance policy for me.

Within three hours, the agent called me back saying that an individual policy would (most likely) not be possible. He informed me that when he called Blue Cross, one of the Blue Cross underwriters told him, “If the valve has been touched, it’s an Auto Decline!”

My agent then told me that I would need to set up a group policy for coverage. For me, my wife and our baby (expected on 4/11/09), the cost would be around $925 a month.

That’s a lot of money! I now know why over 46 million people in the United States don’t have health insurance. Then again 99.8% of the uninsured don’t have heart valve surgeries in their medical record (which makes it even more expensive).

I’ll continue to update you as I learn more.

Keep on tickin!

I was just listening to Dr. John Hong, M.D. discuss aortic stenosis on a webcast.

The data shared by Dr. Hong was quite alarming, even for me (considering my ongoing research into heart valve disorders). Specifically, Dr. Hong presented mortality rates for asymptomatic patients diagnosed but not treated for aortic stenosis, one of the more common heart valve disorders.

What caught me by surprise, during Dr. Hong’s discussion, was the significant mortality rates of patients with severe aortic stenosis.

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