Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

I was just reading Scientific American when I came across a fascinating slide show presentation which explores the history of the artificial heart valve replacements during the past 40 years.

Cheers to Scientific America and Amber Dance (the author) for this information! To view the slide show, please click Artificial Heart Valve Replacement History Slide Show or click the image above.

I hope you enjoy!

Keep on tickin!

P.S. To leave a comment, please click here.

About The Author: Adam Pick is a double, heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. This unique book integrates the clinical facts of heart valve surgery with the personal experiences of 78 former valve surgery patients to help patients and caregivers better understand the opportunities, problems and challenges of heart valve surgery. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.

Over the past few years, I’ve suggested that my readers consider an investment in the stock of Edwards Lifesciences. As you may know, this company, based in Irvine, California is the world’s leading heart valve replacement device manufacturer.

Edwards stock, traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: EW), has outperformed almost every other stock that I monitor in the health and technology sectors. Even during the recession, EW has improved shareholder value.

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I’m not a fan of overused cliches. However, if there is one cliche I never get tired of it is, “Laughter is the best form of medicine.”

That said, Kerrigan just sent me this pig valve replacement cartoon that got a good chuckle out of me. Without further ado, I hope this injects some laughter medicine into your veins:

Keep on tickin’ and laughin!!!

P.S. To leave a comment, please click here.

About The Author: 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 78 former valve surgery patients. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.

I just received a great question from Wayne. He writes, “Adam - I’ve been following Barbara Bush’s heart valve surgery. Mostly because, at the ripe age of 62, I’ll be having my mitral valve replaced due to severe regurgitation from prolapse. I think Barbara was in the hospital for 9 days. Is it common for valve patients to be in the hospital for that long? Thanks for all that you do! Wayne”

There are really two answers to this question. The first answer I’ll provide is based on patient data I collected during a 2007 survey. In that survey, I asked over 75 former patients the question, “How long were you in the hospital?” As you can see on the chart below, the average response was five days. (So, that is considerably shorter than Barbara Bush’s stay at Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas.)

Patient Days In Hospital Following Valve Surgery

The second answer I’ll provide to Wayne’s question is less statistical and much more general. That answer is ‘it depends’. As I have learned over the years, every patient case is unique. In some situations, I know patients that have left the hospital after three days. In other cases, due to heart surgery complications, I know patients who stayed in the hospital for more than two weeks.

I hope that helps Wayne (and perhaps you) better understand how long heart surgery patients stay in the hospital.

Also, as many visitors to this blog are former patients… I’m really curious to know what you experienced. If you have an answer to the question, “How long were you in the hospital after valve surgery?”, please share your thoughts by clicking here!

Keep on tickin!

About The Author: 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 78 former valve surgery patients. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.