I was just reading the USA Today when I came across an article on Barbara Bush’s recovery from aortic valve replacement ^[1]. The article detailed her actions as she prepared for open heart surgery ^[2].  Here are some snippets from the story:

• Before her open-heart surgery last month, Barbara Bush wrote farewell letters that were to be sent if she didn’t survive to each of her children and another to her brother Scott Pierce that included $5 — payment for a wager on which one would die first. “I didn’t want my brother to think I’m a cheapskate,” the former first lady, 83, said in an interview at her home.

• “My worst expectations never happened,” she says. “I tell George — it sounds a little morbid — I don’t fear death at all, so I feel pretty good. I’ve done it all.” To read more about mortality rates associated with heart valve surgery, please click here. ^[3]

• Barbara Bush’s open heart surgery replaced a hardening and narrowed aortic valve ^[4] with one from a pig — a detail that resulted in much teasing by her family. A pig valve replacement is also known as a porcine valve ^[5] and is expected to last more than 15 years.

• “Everybody’s stopped going ‘oink-oink’ … because the pig valve ^[6] is working,” former president George H.W. Bush said in a separate interview.

• Barbara Bush had known since June, 2008 that she would need heart surgery. However, she didn’t tell her children until two days before the operation. “Not my greatest moment,” she admits, and “they were a little bit rude about it.”

To learn more about the medical preparations for open heart surgery, click here ^[2].

Keep on tickin!