Adam’s Heart Valve Surgery Blog

Blog Topics - Learning About “Pump Head” and Cardiac Depression After Heart Surgery

I’ll never forget the first time I heard the phrase “Pumphead”. I was interviewing a former patient about her heart valve surgery experience for my book.

She was discussing the short-term mental impact of open heart bypass surgery. Specifically, she was remembering a challenging time during her recovery when she suffered from cardiac depression.

The former patient ended the discussion by saying, “Oh well. I guess I was just a pumphead.”

I did a double-take… “Pumphead?” I thought to myself, “What is pump head?”

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Blog Topics - Aortic Calcification; Picture Of Calcified Heart Valve Leaflet

As you can read in my story, I had my aortic and pulmonary valves replaced (via the Ross Procedure) in 2005.

At thirty five years of age, my bicuspid aortic valve was worn down. My diseased valve suffered from stenosis and regurgitation.

After surgery, my heart surgeon, Dr. Vaughn Starnes of USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, informed me that my aortic valve was “very, very sick… and very, very calcified.”

“Calcified?” I thought to myself, “What the heck does that mean?”

Well… It turns out that heart valves can calcify. When valve leaflets calcify, the leaflets become thickened and hardened, producing a narrow valve opening.

To give you an idea of what a calcified aortic valve looks like, please see the picture below.

According to reports, Fibro-calcific degeneration occurs mostly in the aortic valve and it most commonly impacts adults over 65 years of age.

Pretty interesting picture, right?

Keep on tickin,

Adam

Adam Pick is the 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. This special book was designed to minimize stress and enhance the patient’s recovery. To learn more about Adam’s heart valve surgery book, click here.

There are a number of symptoms for mitral valve prolapse as I have written about in a prior blog. However, I just received an email asking, “Can you have back pain with mitral valve prolapse?”

This is a pretty interesting question. I’ll tell you why.

First, for three years before my heart valve surgery I had chronic, lower back pain. I saw chiropractors. I saw massage therapists. I had prolotherapy done. I had cranial sacral therapy. I even went to a Chinese healer.

Guess what? Nothing helped!

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I write this blog twenty months after open heart surgery. In 2005, I had a double heart valve replacement surgery via the Ross Procedure.

So you know, I am now fully recovered. I am back surfing and I just Scuba dived for the first time since my aortic and pulmonary valve replacements.

“Why I am I telling you this?”

I share this with you - the patient or caregiver - to help you understand that most patients do not die from open heart cardiac surgery. Trust me. The statistics are real.

Yes… There is some risk with open heart surgery.

However, on the whole, open heart surgery survival rates continue to improve. When I conducted my initial research for my book, The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery, the open heart surgery survival rate was 97% or 98% (depending on the reference).

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