{"id":269,"date":"2007-11-20T13:07:15","date_gmt":"2007-11-20T18:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2007\/11\/20\/two-years-later-still-very-thankful-for-my-heart-valve-surgery\/"},"modified":"2023-10-03T11:00:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T16:00:46","slug":"two-years-later-still-very-thankful-for-my-heart-valve-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2007\/11\/20\/two-years-later-still-very-thankful-for-my-heart-valve-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Years Later… Still, Very Thankful For My Heart Valve Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay. Okay.<\/p>\n

I know if I titled this blog ‘Happy Thanksgiving From The Heart’ it would simply be too much of a cliche. So, I decided to edit that title and reshape the focus of this blog a little.<\/p>\n

If you are a newly diagnosed patient (with severe heart valve disease), you may be going through some fear, uncertainty and doubt right now. If you are a caregiver, I can imagine that you may have a whole lot of concern for the patient that you’re looking after.<\/p>\n

Well… I’m here to show you how this former patient looks back upon his heart surgery as a fantastically positive experience. That’s right!<\/p>\n

“How is Adam going to do that?” you may be wondering with a raised eyebrow.<\/p>\n

Well. I have a few tricks up my sleeve.<\/p>\n

As many of you know, this is the second year after my Ross Procedure<\/a>. Needless to say, it has been an amazing twenty-four months.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I’m recovered. I’m married. And, my book is helping thousands of patients and caregivers in over 35 countries around the world.<\/p>\n

There is ab-sooooooooooo-lutely no doubt that I’m very, very, very thankful. In fact, I could write for hours (actually) about how thankful I am. But, I know time is precious. And, I know we all need to get ready to travel. OR, baste the turkey. OR, make the pumpkin pie.<\/p>\n

But, I would like to share a few elements of my life that I’m thankful for – many of which relate to my heart valve surgery experience. (Imagine that?) I’m going to use pictures to help me!
\nWithout further ado… Here are several things I am thankful for:<\/p>\n

I am thankful for my wife, Robyn Elizabeth Pick. We were married on July 7, 2007.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am thankful for the Pacific Ocean and her waves. After a challenging recovery, I’m now surfing after heart valve surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am thankful for my new nephew, Brandon Meyer Pick. (He’s only five days old.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Brandon<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am thankful for Airlife incentive spirometers. Ooooh, was that pneumothorax a pain in the butt!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Incentive<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’m incredibly thankful for Dr. Vaughn Starnes, my surgeon. As far as I’m concerned, Dr. Starnes is one of the ‘Michael Jordans’ of heart valve surgery.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am thankful for my cardiac rehab program. Without it, I don’t know where I would be. Thanks again to Dr. Ben Rosin and his team at Torrance Memorial Hospital in Torrance, California.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Adam<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am very thankful for each and every email I receive from my readers – both heart valve surgery patients and their caregivers. I will never get over the wonderful and supportive emails from Taylor and Michelle Browning. Thank you!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am thankful for the donor of my pulmonary valve. I’m sure it’s a woman. Ever since my surgery, I’ve been so emotional. Robyn, my wife, loves when I ‘share’ these days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Tissue<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’m thankful for Mederma, the skin cream that has made my 9-inch scar go away!!!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Mederma\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Patient<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"10<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
My family is definitely something I am beyond thankful for. Such a great group of people who truly know what ‘Support Group’ means!<\/div>\n

\t\t <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\"Adam<\/div>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Adam,<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’m thankful for all the 78 former patients who completed my survey. We are all helping patients and caregivers understand the realities of heart valve surgery – especially second opinions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Second<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

And finally…. I would like to thank YOU… WHOEVER YOU ARE… Whether you are a patient or caregiver, you are at this website trying to educate yourself or someone you love on the topic of heart surgery.<\/p>\n

And for that, I wish you….<\/p>\n

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!<\/p>\n

GOBBLE! GOBBLE!<\/p>\n

Oh yah, and…<\/p>\n

Keep on tickin!
\nAdam<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adams-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","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=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37771,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions\/37771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}