Stephen's Profile

At the age of 61 I had lived a very active and adventurous life... sports, travel, high stress profession. Twenty eight years earlier my Dr. noted I had a "murmur" and we would watch it. In the fall of 2008 I attended a wedding north of San Francisco. My wife had never been and so we arrived early and did the town. I found I had real trouble walking the streets and ended up out of breath quite often. When I returned home my Dr. told me it was time to do something about my murmur. After a series of tests including cardiac catheterization I was told I had a severely stenotic aortic valve (it turned out to be bicuspid) that had to be replaced. I chose the bovine valve and was operated Feb. of 2009. After surgery I had dificulty with pleural effussions (sp) and was "tapped" four times. In total they removed almost seven litres of fluid. The last time I was tapped was June 2009...nine months ago. I walk 2-3 miles 4 to 5 times a week and am active but to a lesser extent.