Adam's Heart Valve Surgery Blog – Page 13
Is Heart Valve Disease in “Phase 1c” for COVID-19 Vaccination?
Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: January 22, 2021
Many questions are coming in about whether-or-not heart valve disease is considered part of the qualifications for patients to be considered part of “Phase 1c” of the COVID-19 vaccination allocation.
For that reason, I just interviewed Dr. Marc Gerdisch, Dr. Joanna Chikwe and Dr. Ram Dandillaya to learn more.
See the physician responses at “Are Heart Valve Patients in Phase 1c of COVID-19 Vaccination?”
Keep on tickin!
Adam
Today’s Patient Webinar Registrations Soar to 479 Patients!
Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page last updated: January 24, 2021
[Update: Great news! You can now download the “Advances in Heart Valve Repair” eBook and watch the video playback at this link.]
Amazing!!!
Join 479 patients and me on our live and free webinar, “Advances in Heart Valve Repair”, with Dr. Pavan Atluri and Dr. Wilson Szeto today at 6pm EST!
This is going to be great!
Keep on tickin!
Adam
Patient Webinar: “Advances in Heart Valve Repair” with Dr. Szeto & Dr. Atluri
Written by: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page last updated: January 24, 2021
[Update: Great news! You can now download the “Advances in Heart Valve Repair” eBook and watch the video playback at this link.]
I’m excited to announce that our LIVE and FREE patient education events continue next Thursday, January 21, with a special webinar, “Advances in Heart Valve Repair”. Featured speakers include Dr. Wilson Szeto, Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and Dr. Pavan Atluri, Director of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Cardiac Surgery at Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular Center. The one-hour webinar will start at 6pm EST.
Traver Readies for Heart Surgery Thanks to Gift of Life & You!
Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: January 8, 2021
To keep 2021 going in the right direction, I have some joyful news to share with the HeartValveSurgery.com community.
Thanks to your extraordinary support, we have partnered with Gift of Life International to sponsor the heart surgery of little Traver (shown above).
Continue reading this post »
Are COVID-19 Vaccines Safe After Heart Valve & Aortic Aneurysm Surgery?
Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: January 3, 2021
I’m getting LOTS and LOTS of great patient questions about the COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Many of the questions are about the safety, efficacy and potential side-effects of these new COVID vaccines for patients who previously had a heart valve replacement implanted, a heart valve repair operation and/or an aortic root reconstruction for an aneurysm.
To help educate the patients in our community, I contacted several heart valve experts to better understand the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines for patients who already had some type of heart surgery.
The important information is in the new post: “COVID-19 Vaccines & Heart Valve Surgery: 10 Important Facts“.
Top 15 Heart Valve Surgery Posts of 2020!
Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page last updated: December 30, 2020
While 2020 has been a difficult year with many unexpected challenges, I am happy to share great news with our community.
Happy Holidays Everybody!!!
Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Post last updated: December 24, 2020
Dear Patients, Caregivers & Friends,
On behalf of Robyn (my wife) and Ethan (our son), I want to wish you and all those around you a safe and happy holidays!
All the best in 2021!!!
Adam
Woo-Whoo!!! My 15th Heart Valve Surgery Anniversary!!!
Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page last updated: December 21, 2020
It’s difficult to imagine that 15 years ago today… I was rolled into an operating room to replace my defective bicuspid aortic valve during open heart surgery.
Atrial Fibrillation & Heart Valve Education Center 2.0 Launches!
Written By: Adam Pick – Patient, Author & HeartValveSurgery.com Founder
Medical Experts: Dr. Marc Gerdisch, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Franciscan Health, and Dr. Patrick McCarthy, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern Medicine
Page last updated: December 21, 2020
If you have been diagnosed with heart valve disease, here’s a really important fact to know…
According to Dr. Marc Gerdisch, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Franciscan Health, up to 35% of patients with heart valve disease also suffer from atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm.
2020 ACC/AHA Guidelines Announced for Heart Valve Disease Management & Treatment
By Adam Pick on December 20, 2020
As valve disease progresses from mild to moderate to severe, there may come a time that patients hear something like this from their cardiologist, “After looking at your last echocardiogram, it appears the valve has gotten worse. Unfortunately, it is now time to start planning surgery to repair or replace your valve.”
A flood of emotions can impact the patient in that moment. As a patient, I distinctly remember being scared and confused about the next steps. I even began to question my cardiologist as I didn’t really have any symptoms. “I’m not sure my cardiologist is right,” I remember telling my mom. “I feel fine.”
Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular Center Joins HeartValveSurgery.com!
By Adam Pick on December 18, 2020
I am very excited to announce that Penn Medicine Heart and Vascular Center just became a new sponsor of HeartValveSurgery.com!
Is That Really Jeff’s Bicuspid Aortic Valve?
By Adam Pick on December 14, 2020
I don’t know about you… But, when I was first diagnosed with severe heart valve disease, I had no idea what a heart valve looked like. I really didn’t even know what my heart valves did. All I knew was that I was diagnosed with a heart murmur when I was five years old. That’s about it.
The more I researched my disease and my treatment options, the more I became fascinated by heart valve structures, function and disfunction. It turned out that I had a bicuspid aortic valve. Two of my aortic valve flaps (or cusps) had fused together during pregnancy. While a normal aortic valve is tricuspid, with three valve cusps, I was born with two. That’s why it’s called a bicuspid valve. As a result, my aortic valve suffered from both aortic stenosis (a narrow valve) and aortic regurgitation (a leaky valve).
Heart Valve Alert: Deaths Due To Mitral Regurgitation Increasing!
By Adam Pick on December 10, 2020
In case you missed it…
New research by the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggests that deaths due to mitral valve regurgitation in the United States have increased during the past six years after fourteen years of ongoing declines.
Patients with mitral regurgitation have a leaky heart valve which forces the heart to work “over-time” to re-pump blood into the body. The condition can cause patients to feel tired, short-of-breath, dizzy and experience chest pain. It is also important to note that patients can have severe mitral regurgitation and no symptoms.
MedCity News Posts My “Op-Ed” About COVID-19 and Heart Valve Disease!
By Adam Pick on December 9, 2020
This was unexpected!
Many thanks to MedCity News for posting my “op-ed” about the management and treatment of heart valve disease during the COVID-19 pandemic. The title of the article is, “Cardiac Patients Can’t Wait On Care During COVID-19”.
As you may know, I’ve been doing my best to help the patients in our community navigate this difficult time with educational articles, videos and patient stories during COVID-19. Here are several stories I posted at HeartValveSurgery.com about COVID-19 and heart valve disease.
Patient Webinar: “Advantages of the Ross Procedure” with Dr. Stelzer & Dr. El-Hamamsy
By Adam Pick on November 12, 2020
[Update: The webinar, held on November 18, was fantastic!!! You can now download the free eBook or watch the webinar video at this link.]
Great news!
I’m excited to announce that our LIVE and FREE patient education events continue next Wednesday, November 18, with a special “Advantages of the Ross Procedure” webinar. Featured speakers include Dr. Paul Stelzer, Professor of Cardiac Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, who has performed over 700 Ross Procedures, and Dr. Ismail El-Hamamsy, Director of Aortic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, who has performed over 500 Ross Procedures.
Space is limited to the first one hundred patient registrants.
Top 5 New Posts From The Heart Valve Learning Center!
By Adam Pick on November 5, 2020
Hi Everybody!
I recently posted some great new stories and educational videos over at the Heart Valve Learning Center. To ensure you saw them, here’s a quick list of the Top 5 stories that generated over 20,000 social media shares.
In case you missed it… Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former governor of California, just had his 3rd heart valve surgery.
Is This “Love Cat” with 3 Furry Hearts Trying to Tell Us Something?
By Adam Pick on October 22, 2020
I think you and I would agree that 2020 has been brutal. First, a pandemic. Then, economic fall-out. Riots. Fires. A chaotic presidential election here in America. It doesn’t seem to stop.
During these difficult times, I look for just about anything to conjure good feelings for my wife (who lost her job), my son (who spends 7 hours a days on Zoom), our family, friends, and the patients in our community (who are fighting a war against heart valve disease).
So… When I saw the picture below…
Take the Heart Valve Clinical Trial Survey for Patients!
By Adam Pick on October 13, 2020
[October 19, 2020 Update: Thanks so much to the HeartValveSurgery.com patient community for responding to this survey. We have received many more survey responses than expected and, as a result, are not accepting any more survey responses. To participate in future patient surveys, sign up to our newsletter at this link.]
[November 5, 2020 Update: Great news! The survey results were just posted in a special report. Click here to download the free report.]
Hi Patients!
Can I ask you a quick favor?
I’ve received lots of great questions about clinical trials for heart valve disease. To help patients, I want to learn how I can better educate patients about clinical trials. That said, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts! Click here to take the survey!
Keep on tickin!
Adam
Amazing! Jerome Flashes a Heart-Felt “Thumbs-Up” From the ICU!
By Adam Pick on October 7, 2020
How far will the wonderful patients in our community go to inspire one another?
Well… I’d say that Jerome Hill, a bicuspid aortic valve patient, can provide a visual answer to that question. Here’s Jerome, just a few hours after aortic valve replacement surgery, flashing you a “Thumbs-Up!” from the intensive care unit.
After Heart Surgery, Lee Feels Very Grateful!
By Adam Pick on October 2, 2020
When I see a patient picture like this come across my community newsfeed, I stop what I’m doing.
No joke.
Thanks to Lee’s wonderful photo – taken just before she was discharged from the hospital – the corner of my lips turned up and a fantastic smile stretched across my face. Today instantly fills with happiness.
