Great news everybody!

Thanks to your support… Our free online surgeon directory has grown over 100% in the past three months. Right now, we have 1,250+ recommendations provided by former heart valve surgery patients. If you have yet to visit the Heart Valve Surgeon Locator, simply click here.

So you know, our community of patients and caregivers created this tool eighteen months ago to help future patients find trusted surgeons quickly. Again, thanks so much for your help advancing this cause. As we all know, finding the “right” surgeon to perform your surgery is critical. I know there is a lot more work to be done… But, I’m hopeful this tool is easing that process.

Keep on tickin!

Hi everybody,

Like always, I’m doing my best to improve your experience and use of this website. Thanks to your suggestions, I just posted a new website theme that we are testing. (You may have noticed a new look-and-feel to the this blog and the other sections of the website.)

If you are curious, here is what we hope to accomplish with the new theme.

• Integrated Navigation. One of the challenges with our old theme was… navigation. There was no easy way to click from one section (e.g. the Heart Valve Surgeon Locator) of the website to the next section (e.g. Heart Valve Journals). Now, as shown below, you can see that we implemented a global navigation — so you can jump from the blog to the Heart Valve Surgeon Locator to Heart Valve Journals with a few simple clicks.

• New Videos Section. Our “Surgeon Q&A Videos” continue to receive extraordinary feedback. So, we created a special YouTube channel and embedded it right into our website. Already, we have over 15,000 views! Click here to see our videos or you can always click the YouTube icon above.

• Website Search (Beta). Another request we received from patients and caregivers was specific to search. There are over 4,000 pages of content on this website. But, there was no way to search all of that information. To help you, we created a special search function in the top navigation. (Please note, we’re still enhancing this function. Although it’s working well, I still consider it to be in “beta” mode.)

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Hi everybody,

If you are searching for answers to questions about heart valve disease, I encourage you to attend, “Heart Valve Disease”, a live interactive chat with Dr. Thomas and Dr. Sabik from The Cleveland Clinic.

During this unique, one-hour event several topics specific to valvular disorders, including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation, will be discussed. Here is a quick summary of the event along with registration instructions.

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I’m not sure the Human Genome Project detected it, but I think we all maintain a unique gene that enables us to wish. Some people wish for peace. Some people wish for wealth. Most people, in this community, wish for healthy hearts.

Interestingly, Pat Studebaker had a lifelong wish to witness a heart surgery. Thanks to the Never Too Late organization and Dr. Marc Gerdisch, Pat got her wish last week.

Dr. Marc Gerdisch Explains Heart Valve Surgery To Pat Studebaker

At the St. Francis Heart Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, Pat Studebaker saw Dr. Gerdisch perform a 5-hour, double heart valve surgery.

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——- UPDATE START ———

Hi everybody,

I just learned that the web chat, “Stress, Depression & Heart Disease”, which was scheduled for today, has been postponed. According to The Cleveland Clinic, it will be rescheduled. When I learn more, I will let you all know.

Keep on tickin!
Adam

——- UPDATE END ———

Sorry for the last minute notice, but today at 12pm (EST), The Cleveland Clinic will host a special web chat titled, “Stress, Depression & Heart Disease”.  Dr. Leo Pozuelo, who is the associate director of the Bakken Heart Brain Institute, will moderate this very interesting session.

As I personally experienced issues with cardiac depression following surgery, I encourage all patients to attend this event. So you know, my research suggests that up to 32% of patients can experience depression after heart valve surgery.

If you would like to attend this free event, please click here to learn more.

Keep on tickin!