About Me (In My Own Words)
I'm the healthy one of my family. I am not overweight, my cholesterol is great, blood pressure is good. I exercise. (Okay I would not be telling the truth if I said I exercise as much as I should) I am active . . .I ref high school basketball, I scuba dive, I love to water ski, I play tennis and a bit of basketball.
This past December I got a hernia. Since I had recently moved to a new area I had to find a new doctor. In my checkup he mentioned I had a pronounced heart murmur. I told him I wasn't too worried about it since I had a bit of a murmur for years and my previous doc had checked it out and it was okay. (6-7 years ago). Well, my new doctor insisted, and we found out I have severe Mitral valve regurgitation.
It sounds a bit scary, okay a lot scary, with the thought of open heart surgery to fix it. Remember, I'm the healthy one, I have had a bit of chest tightness, but haven't worried too much about it. Other than that, I have no symptoms.
Like every other person in the era of google I started searching for information. I found a doctor whose youtube video instilled within me a new found confidence. I thought, "wouldn't it be great to find a surgeon like him?" Then I saw that he was at the Cleveland Clinic, the same place where my son is in medical school and a few miles from where my brother lives. Long story short, I am thrilled that I have been accepted as a patient of Dr. Marc Gillinov. The confidence I have in him is amazing considering I have never met him. I am scheduled for surgery in July, and I'm a good candidate for robotic mitral valve surgery, which has a recovery time of weeks instead of months.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
-
I am from:
Central, Arizona
-
My surgery date is:
July 17, 2014
-
I was diagnosed with:
Mitral Regurgitation
-
My surgery was:
Mitral Valve Repair
-
My surgeon is:
Dr. Marc Gillanov
-
My hospital is:
Cleveland Clinic