March 3rd, 2010
I just received a very, very, very educational and inspirational story from Kevin Haines about stroke, heart valve replacement, rehab, Coumadin and cardiac depression. That said, I thought you might enjoy it…
Greetings Adam:
I have written you in the past but wanted to give you a post-op update. My aortic valve was replaced in October 2008 with a St. Jude mechanical valve. I also had a root repair completed during surgery. I was 38 years old when we discovered calcified aortic valve leaflets. So you know, a piece of calcium broke free and traveled to my brain causing a stroke.
Kevin Haines After Stroke and Aortic Valve ReplacementSince the stroke and surgery, I continue to make progress towards a healthy life. I have come back from the procedure very strong. I credit my recovery to my support group (especially my wife), my heart and stroke teams at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and my rehab nurses who helped me through 26 cardiac rehab sessions. Your book, blog, and the readers comments have also been a huge help.
Calcified Aortic Heart Valve
Continue reading this post »
February 28th, 2010
Earlier this month, Dr. Marc Gillinov - one of the leading heart valve surgeons from The Cleveland Clinic - held an exclusive, online chat with our patient and caregiver community. Thanks to your interactive participation, this event was an overwhelming success!!!
Today, I am excited to announce that the written transcript of Dr. Gillinov’s chat, “Advancements In Heart Valve Surgery”, is now available for free download. Simply click here to download the 27-page transcript.
Thanks again to The Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Gillinov and, of course, all of the patients and caregivers who attended the event and submitted questions.
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. This unique book integrates the clinical facts of heart valve surgery with the personal experiences of 135 former valve surgery patients to help patients and caregivers better understand the problems, the opportunities and the realities of heart valve surgery. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.
February 26th, 2010
There is nothing better than waking up, enjoying a cup of coffee, turning on the computer and finding a patient success story in my inbox.
Today, I received a patient success story all the way from Portugal. It’s about Filomeno Faustino’s recent aortic valve replacement with a Carbomedics Top Hat mechanical device. Here is what Filomeno wrote to me:
Filomeno Faustino - Nine Days After Valve Surgery
Dear Adam,
Recently, my aortic valve was replaced because I had a bicuspid aortic valve caused by a genetic problem. I have attached a picture which shows me nine days after surgery.
Continue reading this post »
February 25th, 2010
Since launching this website in 2006, our community has grown way, way, way beyond my initial expectation.
As a result, several new features have been created to help patients and caregivers through the heart valve surgery process. Two recently released services include the Heart Valve Surgeon Database and Heart Valve Journals.
To help you quickly access these tools, I just acquired some easy-to-remember domain names, also known as URLs. That said, here they are:
I hope these new domain names help you remember and visit the different services available at this website.
As always… Thanks to all of you who emailed me with this request!!!
Keep on tickin!
