Adam's Heart Valve Surgery Blog – Page 2

Patient Webinar: Ask Dr. Gerdisch Anything!

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page Last Updated: May 30, 2025

[May 30, 2025 Update: Great news! Our patient webinar, “Ask Dr. Gerdisch Anything”, with Dr. Marc Gerdisch was fantastic. You can now watch a video playback of the webinar below. You can also download the free eBook at this link.]

As many of you know, patients can be very confused about their diagnosis, their treatment options, and the lifetime management of heart valve disease.

For that reason, we are hosting a special FREE and LIVE webinar next Thursday, May 29, at 7pm EST.  The webinar will provide you a unique opportunity to ask your questions to Dr. Marc Gerdisch, the Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Franciscan Health, who is a world-renowned, minimally-invasive expert having performed over 5,000 heart valve operations.

 

 

Also… If you have any questions you would like to send me in advance of the webinar, I will get them answered during the webinar. Please email your questions to adam@heartvalvesurgery.com.

I look forward to seeing you on this interactive webinar!

Keep on tickin,
Adam

New Dynamic “Patient News Feed” Launches!

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: May 22, 2025

Hey Everybody,

Here’s a quick update regarding the launch of several new dynamic features at the Patient News Feed which is one of the most trafficked pages on our website.

 

 

If you would like to see the new updates at the Patient News Feed, click here.

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John Warns You About Tissue Valve Complications

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page Last Updated: May 23, 2025

I received a very interesting note from John Bryan, a heart valve patient. I share John’s story not to scare you but rather to educate you specific to the realities of valvular defects, heart valve replacement durability, and cardiac monitoring.

 

Patient Warning About Bioprosthetic Valve ComplicationsJohn Bryan (Heart Valve Patient)

 

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After Ross Procedure, David Teaches Dr. El-Hamamsy the Harmonica

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: May 14, 2025

What happened after David Herzhaft, an aortic valve patient from Idaho, had a successful Ross Procedure performed by Dr. Ismail El-Hamamsy at Mount Sinai in New York City?

To answer that question, here is a really fun patient success story as told by David.

 

Dr. Ismail El-Hamamsy with Ross Procedure PatientDavid with Dr. Ismail El-Hamamsy

 

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TAVR Powers Richard To Mount Whitney Peak

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: May 8, 2025

I LOVE getting inspirational updates from heart patients all over the world.

This time, Richard Godbey shared a big milestone for him after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

 

TAVR Patient Mountain ClimbingRichard Godbey (TAVR patient) with Son at Mount Whitney

 

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Patient Innovation: Will You Test Our New AI-Powered Heart Valve Chatbot?

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page Last Updated: July 22, 2025

Great news! To educate patients, their families and friends, we just released the world’s first Heart Valve Chatbot powered by artificial intelligence. The Heart Valve Chatbot was created with the support of 100+ heart valve doctors and 1000s of patients.

Below is a quick video that describes the futuristic features of the Heart Valve Chatbot. After you watch the video, I would really appreciate it if you would use the Heart Valve Chatbot and provide your feedback.

>>> To test the Heart Valve Chatbot, simply click the “Blue Chat Icon” at the bottom-right section of this page. When you’re done using the Heart Valve Chatbot, please click the three vertical dots at the top of chatbot and select “End Chat” to complete the survey.

 

 

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Ed Salutes Dr. Gillinov After Crossing Antarctic Circle

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: April 30, 2025

Hearing from patients about their heart valve surgery journey is my favorite part of running this website.

This time, we get to learn the amazing success story of Edward Rutkowski, a patient who underwent robotic heart valve surgery 15 years ago.

 

Dr. Gillinov Heart Surgery PatientEdward Rutkowski (Heart Valve Patient)

 
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Tammi’s 10-Year Heart Valve Anniversary!

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: April 24, 2025

How good can life be 10 years after successful heart valve surgery by Dr. Robert Saeid Farivar?

Thanks to Tammi Gunwall, a patient who recently celebrated her 10th heart valve anniversary, we know that life can be pretty darn great.

 

Tammi Gunwall 10th Heart Valve Anniversary

 

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How Does Blood Flow Through Your Heart Valves & Your Body?

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: April 15, 2025

The patients and family members in our community never cease to amaze me.

This time, John Berner, did something quite amazing.  To help educate himself, his wife (a heart valve patient), and our community, John took it upon himself to create a diagram that answers the very important question, “How does blood flow through your heart valves and your body?”

 

Blood Flow Through Heart Valves & Body Diagram

 

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13 Questions To Ask Your Surgeon Before Heart Valve Surgery

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: April 6, 2025

During our recent webinar, “6 Expert Tips for Heart Valve Patients”, our expert panelists including Dr. Doug Johnston, Dr. Melissa Medina and Dr. Kevin Hodges of Northwestern Medicine got into a meaningful conversation about the 13 questions patients should ask their surgeons and heart teams before scheduling a procedure. (Click here to watch a video replay of this special webinar.)

 

Questions to Ask Your Heart Surgeon or Cardiologist
 
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Dottie’s Travel Alert for TAVR Patients

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: April 2, 2025

Are you planning to travel this spring or summer? If you are a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) recipient, don’t be alarmed if you unexpectedly set off the airport security system.

 

TAVR Travel Alert and Security WarningDottie One Hour After TAVR

 
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Linda Travels to Germany for New JenaValve TAVR

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: March 27, 2025

Truly amazing. I just heard another extraordinary patient success story from our community.

As many of you know, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is often referred to as one of the greatest “medical breakthroughs” in valvular therapy.  Using this minimally-invasive approach, cardiac surgeons and interventional cardiologists can replace a stenotic aortic valve without breaking the patient’s sternum or ribs.  However, the use of TAVR has been limited to the treatment of aortic stenosis, a narrow valve.  The utility of TAVR for aortic regurgitation (a leaky valve) has not received FDA-approval for the treatment of aortic regurgitation here in the United States.

Given the limited access to TAVR devices for aortic regurgitation, Linda Nolan, a patient with severe aortic regurgitation, had options.  Linda could get open heart surgery here in the US. Or, Linda could transform into medical tourist and go abroad for a new type of TAVR called the JenaValve.

 

JenaValve TAVR Patient - Linda NolanLinda, John Sr. (husband), and John Jr. (son)

 
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Surgeon Spotlight: Dr. Gyu Gang Gets His 200th Patient Testimonial!

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: March 26, 2025

I am excited to share that Dr. Gyu Gang, a leading heart valve surgeon at the Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute just received his 200th patient review at HeartValveSurgery.com!

This is a wonderful accomplishment for Dr. Gang who provides advanced valvular therapies to patients at Central DuPage Hospital and Delnor Hospital in the western suburbs of Chicago.

 

Dr. Gyu Gang Gets 200 Heart Valve Patient Reviews
 

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123 Days After Heart Valve Surgery, Justin Runs a Marathon!

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: March 20, 2025

I’ve said it before and I look forward to saying it again… The patient success stories from the courageous members in our community are downright extraordinary.

This time, I am happy to share the story of Justin Chamblee, a heart valve patient from Georgia.

 

Marathon Runner After Aortic Valve Replacement Surgery
 
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Inside Access: The Ross Procedure Wet Lab at USC

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page last updated: April 7, 2025

In case you missed it… Earlier today, we had special access to the Ross Procedure Training Course taught by Dr. Vaughn Starnes and Dr. Craig Baker. As you may know, Dr. Starnes performed the Ross Procedure on me in 2005.  Nearly 20 years later, my heart is doing perfect and I do not take any medications or blood thinners.

This mazing event that was hosted by LifeNet Health, a special organization that provides the pulmonary donor valves used during the Ross Procedure.

Unfortunately, the video below was deleted following a Facebook Live policy change, effective February 19, 2025, which Facebook did not make us aware of.  Prior to deletion, that Facebook Live video had been viewed over 87,000 times.)

 

Ross Procedure Facebook Live

 
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Ross Procedure Patient Education Center Launches Now!

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Published: March 12, 2025

As many of you know, I had a Ross Procedure performed by Dr. Vaughn Starnes in 2005.  Since then, nearly 20 years ago, I have had no re-operations and I am not on any medications including blood thinners. While the Ross Procedure is not for everybody, I am getting many patient questions about this advanced form of aortic valve surgery given new research about patients who are experiencing (i) a return to normal life expectancy and (ii) long-term durability going out to the third post-operative decade.

For this reason, I am happy to announce that we just launched a new “Ross Procedure Patient Education Center” that was designed to educate patients about the Ross Procedure. Thankfully, many world-renowned Ross Procedure surgeons helped me build this educational resource.

Click here to experience the new Ross Procedure Patient Education Center.

 

Ross Procedure Patient Education Center
 
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NEW 3PM EST START TIME: Join Me LIVE In A Ross Procedure Training Course

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page last updated: March 7, 2025

Ready to experience something extraordinary?

This Friday, March 7, I will attend a live Ross Procedure Training Course taught by Dr. Vaughn Starnes, the Surgeon-in-Chief at Keck Medicine of USC.  (So you know, Dr. Starnes performed a Ross Procedure on me in 2005.  Since then, nearly 20 years later, my heart is perfect. I’ve had no re-operations. I am not on any medications or blood thinners. And, I am SCUBA diving again with my son.)

Here’s the fun part… Using Facebook Live, I’m going to broadcast several key moments from Dr. Starnes’ upcoming training that will include a “Wet Lab” in which cardiac surgeons practice the Ross Procedure using an actual pig heart.

To join me for this live event at Facebook, click here at 3pm EST on Friday, March 7.

 


 
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After Lifelong Broken Heart, Kevin’s Mojo Returns

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page last updated: March 3, 2025

The patient stories in our community touch, move and inspire me.  This time, it was the wonderful patient success story of Kevin Hornaday that got me.  So you know, Kevin has been a lifelong cardiac patient who was born a cardiac electrical issue.  Then, at 12 years of age, his heart broke in a different way when his mother suddenly passed away to a suspected aortic aneurysm.

 

Dr. Judson Williams and Kevin HornadayDr. Judson Williams, Kevin Hornaday and the WakeMed Cardiac Rehab Team

 
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45 Patient Questions Answered by Dr. Doug Johnston!

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Medical Expert: Doug Johnston, MD, Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Northwestern Medicine
Page last updated: March 3, 2025

Great news!

During our recent webinar, “6 Expert Tips for Heart Valve Patients”, I received 45 patient questions that we did not have time to answer during the live event.

Imagine my surprise (and thankfulness) when Dr. Doug Johnston, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern Medicine and a featured speaker of the webinar, typed up answers to each patient question and asked me to post them to help educate our patient community.

 

Dr. Doug Johnston Webinar Questions
 
 

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It’s Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day!!!

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page last updated: February 27, 2025

Today, on Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day, let’s raise awareness to this under-diagnosed disease and celebrate the life-saving heart valve surgery of Daphine, a courageous 12-year old girl from Uganda!

 

Gift of Life - Daphine, Adam Pick, Eric RoselliDr. Eric Roselli, Daphine and Me

 
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