I often receive questions about pregnancy concerns from women wanting to have children before or after heart valve surgery. That said, here is an update from Melinda Hacker, a bicuspid aortic valve patient who just welcomed Alex, her new son, to the world:

Alex Hacker – Born To Melinda Hacker,
Bicuspid Aortic Valve Patient

Adam,

I wanted to give you an update on an email I sent to you about 8 ½ months ago telling you that I have a bicuspid aortic valve with a dilated aortic root and… I had just found out that I was pregnant.  Do you remember?

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In the past, we’ve discussed how patients, like Sylvia Woolworth, got physically and mentally fit prior to heart valve surgery. Specific to this topic, I recently opened an email from Dr. Michael Baity, a retired dentist from Michigan. Dr. Baity just had aortic valve replacement surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Here is what he wrote to me:

Hi Adam – I live about 450 miles north of Cleveland, way up by the Mackinaw Bridge (Michigan).  I am retired but was a dental specialist (Periodontics). I also taught graduate Periodontics at the University of Michigan, part time, for fifteen years, so I have had a lot of academic medicine as well as clinical practice.

Dr. Michael Baity – Heart Valve Surgery Patient

Specific to heart surgery, distance from my home was not a consideration… experience and safety were.

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Sarah just sent me another interesting story about women, optimistic thinking and heart disease that was recently posted at the Los Angeles Times. Here are the details:

Many studies suggest that people who possess a sunny outlook on life tend to have better health and live longer. Here’s more evidence for the theory. A study by cardiac researchers showed that optimistic women had a lower risk of developing heart disease or dying of any cause compared to pessimistic women.

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I just received an interesting email from Sarah about a recent CNN story that details the impact of loneliness on cardiovascular disease. I found the story fascinating, so I posted the first few paragraphs below. I also included a hyperlink to the rest of the article after the snippet.

Here is the beginning to Ray Hainer’s article title, “Loneliness Hurts The Heart”:

People who lack a strong network of friends and family are at greater risk of developing — and dying from — heart disease, research shows. According to some studies, the risk of solitude is comparable to that posed by high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and even smoking.

Experts haven’t pinpointed exactly how social networks protect against heart disease, but there are a number of probable explanations. People who are socially isolated are more likely to drink, smoke, and get less exercise. And once someone has heart disease, friends and family often provide key support, such as picking up prescriptions, encouraging exercise, cooking healthy meals, and helping with household chores.

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Any guesses as to how much blood your heart pumps each day?

Need a hint? It’s more than 10 gallons.

Need another hint? It’s more than 100 gallons.

To find out how much blood your heart pumps each-and-every day of your life… Scroll down below the beating heart animation.

According to The Texas Heart Institute, most healthy hearts can pump up to 2,000 gallons of blood during each twenty-four hour period. Isn’t that incredible?

I just did the math. During the time you just read this blog (I assumed one minute), your heart pumped 1.38 gallons of blood through your body!!!

Why am I writing about this? Well… This is exactly why our heart valves need to function properly. If our valves do not open-and-close tightly, the heart needs to pump even more blood which puts additional strain on the heart. If the heart “works overtime” for long periods of time, the cardiac muscle can thicken, dilate and, ultimately, fail.

Keep on tickin!