Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

Aloooooooooha Everybody!

Robyn (my wife) and I just returned from celebrating our one-year wedding anniversary in Hawaii. Needless to say, our vacation was incredibly fun and most importantly… relaxing. The weather was spectacular and the food, especially the fish, was extraordinarily yummy.

I uploaded two pictures below. In one of the photos, you can see that my open heart surgery scar continues to fade through the years.

If you are curious, I used Mederma Scar Gel to help heal my incision scar during the recovery from aortic and pulmonary valve surgery.

Keep on tickin!

Adam Pick is a double, heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery, a unique book which integrates the clinical facts of heart valve surgery with the personal experiences of an actual heart valve surgery patient. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.

This is slightly off-topic but…

Since my aortic valve replacement, I have slowed down a bit. (I don’t mean that I have physically slowed down. Nope. I’m still exercising about five times a week.)

The slow down I’m referring to is my enhanced ability to better appreciate all that life has to offer - especially my family and friends. I believe the most fitting cliche for this thought process is simply, “Stop and smell the roses.”

Well… Guess what?

I decided to take the cliche literally.

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Okay. Okay.

I know if I titled this blog ‘Happy Thanksgiving From The Heart’ it would simply be too much of a cliche. So, I decided to edit that title and reshape the focus of this blog a little.

If you are a newly diagnosed patient (with severe heart valve disease), you may be going through some fear, uncertainty and doubt right now.  If you are a caregiver, I can imagine that you may have a whole lot of concern for the patient that you’re looking after.

Well… I’m here to show you how this former patient looks back upon his heart surgery as a fantastically positive experience.  That’s right! 

“How is Adam going to do that?” you may be wondering with a raised eyebrow.

Well. I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

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Konichiwa!

After eight very busy days in Tokyo, I am back in Los Angeles.

I have to admit, Tokyo is one impressive city.

Great trains, great clients and unbelievable sushi!!!

So you know, I’m a sushi addict.

I’ll never forget the first sushi bar I went to in Tokyo. I ordered tuna and the waiter responded with, “How fatty do you want your tuna?” That was a great sign I was in the right place for the freshest raw fish on the planet.

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Konichiwa!!

Twenty three months after double heart valve surgery, I find myself in Tokyo, Japan for a week of work. (I’m speaking at a conference here.)

Luckily, I have today (Sunday) to wander through the city. The weather couldn’t be any better - high 60’s and no clouds.

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Blog Topics: Heart Valve Replacement Forum; Heart Valve Surgery Blog; Heart Surgery Forum; MedHelp.com; ValveReplacement.Com Forum; American Heart Association Forum; Heart Valve Repair Forum

So, I just got an interesting question in my inbox. It reads, “Have you ever thought about including a heart valve replacement forum or heart valve repair forum on your website about heart valve surgery?”

Hmmmm. It’s a good question. And, so you know, my friend Joe Abelson has suggested, over-and-over again, that I create both a heart valve replacement forum and a heart valve repair forum on my site. Joe is always telling me that forums would be soooooo great because all the heart valve replacement patients and heart valve repair patients could use the forum to compare notes on the surgery, hospitals, surgeons, cardiologists, drugs, etc.

I definitely agree with Joe. Having a heart valve replacement forum is a valuable means of communication. However, there are a number of heart valve replacement forums and heart valve repair forums already on the Internet. Some of these heart valve replacement forums have been around for years.

For example, the American Heart Association has a forum for patients and caregivers dealing with heart disease. Within the forum, there is a separate section that deals with heart valve surgery. The other heart valve forum is located at ValveReplacement.com. MedHelp.org also has a heart valve replacement forum. Another is Heart Surgery Forum that appeals mostly to medical professionals. All of these forums are helpful and I spend some time on most of them.

For me though, a heart valve replacement forum or heart valve repair forum could be tough to manage. Forums need moderators and can take up a lot of time. That is why, for now, I have decided to pass on a heart valve replacement forum and focus on my heart valve blog.

This heart blog is very fun. I’m meeting people from all over the world. Plus, I get some great questions sent to me at adam@heart-valve-surgery.com. Plus, I have a few surprises up my sleeve. We’re getting ready to announce some very unique additions to this heart blog that will be very exciting.

Anyways, thanks for asking me about heart valve replacement forums and heart valve repair forums. If you would like to subscribe to this blog simply insert your email on the right sidebar. If you subscribe, I will automatically send you all the latest and greatest information about heart valve surgery. So you know, its FREE!

Keep on tickin,

Adam