{"id":1011,"date":"2009-12-23T12:37:03","date_gmt":"2009-12-23T17:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2009\/12\/23\/heart-valve-surgery-risk-weight-loss\/"},"modified":"2018-08-31T16:38:49","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T21:38:49","slug":"heart-valve-surgery-risk-weight-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2009\/12\/23\/heart-valve-surgery-risk-weight-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Michael Baity Loses 20 Pounds Prior To Aortic Valve Replacement By Dr. McCurry"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the past, we\u2019ve discussed how patients, like Sylvia Woolworth<\/a>, got physically and mentally fit prior to heart valve surgery. Specific to this topic, I recently opened an email from Dr. Michael Baity, a retired dentist from Michigan. Dr. Baity just had aortic valve replacement surgery<\/a> at the Cleveland Clinic. Here is what he wrote to me:<\/p>\n

Hi Adam – I live about 450 miles north of Cleveland, way up by the Mackinaw Bridge (Michigan).\u00a0 I am retired but was a dental specialist (Periodontics). I also taught graduate Periodontics at the University of Michigan, part time, for fifteen years, so I have had a lot of academic medicine as well as clinical practice.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

\"\"
\nDr. Michael Baity – Heart Valve Surgery Patient<\/div>\n

  <\/p>\n

Specific to heart surgery, distance from my home was not a consideration\u2026 experience and safety were.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My cardiologist, Dr. William Stewart, who has published over 180 articles on valvular heart disease, told me I had moderate to severe aortic stenosis<\/a> and calcification of the aortic valve<\/a> after an echocardiogram. Although the valve was diseased, Dr. Stewart suggested that surgery was not an immediate concern. Instead, he suggested that we monitor the stenosis with regular echocardiograms.<\/p>\n

After my examination, Dr. Stewart put his arm on my shoulder and said, “Here is what \u2018we\u2019 are going to do\u2026 I want you to read The Miami Mediterranean Diet written by Michael Ozner. Eat minimal saturated fat, no fast food, no deep fried food, no butter… As a matter of fact, just don’t eat anything shiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, Doctor Stewart asked about my exercise. I proudly told him I walk my dog three miles, five days a week. Doctor Stewart was not impressed. He suggested more aerobic activity and upper body conditioning. The cardiologist told me he wanted to see me in a year. Dr. Stewart also suggested that I would lose a significant amount of weight – which would reduce my surgical risk.<\/p>\n

One year later, I lost 20 pounds and was in the best physical shape ever.\u00a0 It was the best thing I have ever done for myself.<\/p>\n

Then, came the surgery. The surgery was mostly a breeze – except for that infamous second day (e.g. nausea, etc.).\u00a0 I was walking on day three and discharged the morning of the fifth day. If anything bothered me after surgery it was muscle spasms in my shoulders. I was tired the first week but now… I have more energy than before.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

\"\"
\nDr. Baity – One Day After Surgery<\/div>\n

  <\/p>\n

My surgeon was Dr. Kenneth McCurry<\/a>. Prior to coming to the Cleveland Clinic, Doctor McCurry was head of pediatric and adult heart lung transplants at The University of Pittsburgh for ten years.<\/p>\n

While discussing the type of incision to be used… Dr. McCurry he asked me if the post-operative scar would bother me. I told him to make whatever incision he preferred. I wanted Dr. McCurry to have the best access to my heart and perform the surgery as well as possible.<\/p>\n

Dr. McCurry chose a median sternotomy with a 6 and 1\/2 inch incision. Now, I am just three weeks post-op and the incision looks really good now. I was in the surgery area for nearly five hours. My calcified aortic valve was replaced with an Edwards valve. Doctor McCurry exudes a quiet confidence. I was very impressed.<\/p>\n

I hope my comments have been useful!<\/p>\n

Thanks for the great efforts you are making on behalf of valve replacement patients.<\/p>\n

Good luck,
\nDr. Michael Baity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aortic-valve-replacement"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}