Adam's Heart Valve Surgery Blog

You may have noticed that my blog postings about heart valve surgery have stopped over the past five days.

Well… There is a good, 7.6 pound reason for that!

My son, Ethan Bradley Pick, was born Saturday at 5:29am. Ethan is the first child for Robyn, my wife, and me. Needless to say, we are rapidly adjusting to the parenting role – an outpouring of love and appreciation for every little thing he does including burps, wiggles, hiccups, stretches, coos, yawns, poops, toots… I could go on and on and on. So far, the lack of sleep is an easy trade-off for the love we have for our little boy.

Ethan Bradley Pick – Born April 4, 2009

Thanks so much for all of your thoughtful support during our pregnancy. As we consider all of you an extended part of our family, I have attached a few pictures which capture Ethan’s entry into this world.

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In 2006, I developed this website and published my book with a simple goal… To help future patients and caregivers better understand the challenges and opportunities of heart valve surgery.

Today, three years later, I believe we are taking one more, significant step in achieving that goal. Thanks to the efforts of this community, I am excited to share that the Heart Valve Surgeon Database is now available for use in “beta” mode.

As we have discussed, finding good, reputable and trustworthy surgeons is often challenging for patients and their caregivers. For this reason, the Heart Valve Surgeon Database was developed with many unique features:

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I’ve posted a number of patient success stories about running after heart valve surgery. From the sounds of it, I believe we are about to add Iris to that special, patient list.

Iris Vinegar, an 82-year-old grandmother from Raleigh, North Carolina, is preparing to join 32,000 other runners for the Monument Avenue 10K this Saturday.

Iris Vinegar (Left) – Grandma, Runner And
Heart Valve Replacement Patient

Vinegar, a devoted distance runner, underwent four hours of open-heart, valve-replacement surgery on January 30, 2009 to replace her aortic valve which suffered from aortic stenosis.

“[My doctor] says I should be able to run twice as fast as before,” Vinegar said. Then she laughed. “I’m not sure that would be such a good thing. If I’m that fast, they’ll probably hand me a urine cup instead of a trophy or a medal when I cross the finish line.”

Vinegar’s condition, aortic stenosis, was detected four years ago. She ran three marathons — each preceded by a comprehensive check-up — and three Monument Avenue races before her aortic valve became severe to the point where surgery was required.

Picture of Diseased Aortic Valve (Aortic Stenosis)

“Physicians said I was in tip-top shape except for the valve,” Vinegar said. “They said my heart was in excellent condition and my arteries were beautiful.”

Now, with a new, fully-functional aortic heart valve, Iris Vinegar is set on completing her first race since surgery.

Keep on tickin’ (and runnin’) Iris!

You are an inspiration to us all!

As a follow-up to an earlier blog about stroke and heart surgery (see “Is Stroke A Risk During Heart Surgery?“), I just received this patient update from Jeff. You can tell that Jeff’s positive attitude is going to help him throughout his recovery. Here is what he writes:

Hi Adam,

My name is Jeff Stoveken and I am 46 years old.  I was diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve at age 40.  It was discovered during a routine physical when my doctor heard a murmur.  It was confirmed with an echocardiogram.

Jeff Stoveken – Heart Valve Surgery Patient

In August of 2008, during a visit to the emergency room for some chest pains, I was diagnosed with a five centimeter aortic aneurysm. One month later I had my valve replaced, along with a section of my aorta containing the aneurysm, by Dr. John Brown, III at Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey.  I have a St. Jude’s Mechanical valve.

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As you may already know, there are several, different surgical procedures used to correct valvular disorders (e.g. aortic stenosis and mitral valve prolapse). Accordingly, the patient – or their caregivers – typically develops a mental or written “question list” about each surgical option available to him or her.

Many of the questions I receive are about… patient risk. Those risk-related questions focus on a few, common themes including cardiac procedures, surgeons, valve replacement devices, surgery timing, recovery, age issues, hospital issues, mortality, etc.

In fact, I just opened an email from Harvey that reads, “Adam – Yesterday, I was diagnosed with severe mitral regurgitation due to ‘floppy mitral leaflets‘. The prolapsed valve needs to be fixed quickly, according to my cardiologist. It feels like a ton of bricks just landed on my head. I’ve been up all night researching my options and I was curious to know more about robotic surgery. Is robotic surgery more or less risky? I’ve read it might be 100% risk-free. Is that true? Thanks, Harvey”

In review of Harvey’s questions, I have three immediate thoughts for him:

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